[970902]
                                                                      [Preview]
EarthAstro, the yellow Astroranger, would face her ultimate fate as Pleadia has
Beverly Tenmei within his clutches for assimilation. Is the end of the one hero
the Astroranger task force has relied on so heavily?  Discover with Beverly her
fate in Episode 41, "Her Darkest Hour!  The Interplanetary Rescue" -- Next!  

                                                                  [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

    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.  Putting
  her hands on his chest, she began kissing him softly and his eyes opened
  with confused surprise. 

Meanwhile Beverly walked her dog while taking a walk on the beach with Sasha.
  "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 bathroom,
I'll be back."
...
    The Armaton with the rifle shot down Beverly and sparks broke out of her
  left bikini strap knocking her into the sand.  The soldiers of relentless
  pursuit picked up all four of her limbs and carried her away.  Walking
  away, they suddenly vanished into a bolt of lightning that smoked the sand.

Finding herself caged at the Nazitan outpost within Pluto, Beverly came to,
realizing her fate.
    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."

In the sixth dimension of Venus, Tortan began he assault to obtain the solar
sphere but met severe resistance that the Armatons were called in to resist
with little success.
    "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 jets spread out; one of them fired back.  A bolt
  of light impaled one Armaton as it instantly exploded.

After failing to find the location of the solar spheres by scanning Beverly's
mind, Pleadia prepares her for the next stage of his fiendish scheme.
  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.
    "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," Pleadia 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."
    Alone again in the darkened chamber, Beverly would now know what lies in
  store for her in the short few moments to come.  She looked at a chart to her
left and saw photographs of other mutations Pleadia had created.  Her heart had
pounded through her chest when she looked down, terrified.  "I need help," she
desperately gasped.  "Where are my friends?  Why can't they save me??"


                                  Episode 41:
                 "Her Darkest Hour!  The Interplanetary Rescue"               

   Walking across the hall, from his laboratory to his workshop, he was stopped
by Igan, jogging down the hallway towards him.  "Pleadia, Adol has sent me."
  Pleadia stopped before entering his chamber and looked at Igan just arriving.
"What does he request, Igan?"
  "Tortan reports he and the Armatons are overwhelmed on Venus in the sixth
dimension and they need a cyborg to assist him immediately."
  Pleadia sulked.  "Why?  What's going on?"
  "They there have their men in robots and android-like humanoid birds," Igan
answered.  "The Armatons are getting destroyed."
  Pleadia sighed.  "Tell Adol that I will launch a cyborg as soon as possible.
When I do, let him know I will tell him who it is, what it does and all that."
  "You seem really distracted, Pleadia," Igan noticed.  "What's on your mind."
  "Nothing, Igan; just go back to Adol and tell him Tortan should have a cyborg
helping him out shortly," Pleadia snapped.

     The view of Earth was occupied by its moon when orbiting the lunar body in
its dark side was the sphere-shaped opal space station. Onboard the Astroranger
SpaceBase--Australis, Sheratan and Nashiran and Lotia were joined by Messuta as
they prepared to change form.  Suddenly, a triple beep emanated from one of the
stations on the right wall.
  "Now what?" Lotia asked.
  Commander Leto read information scrolling across the screen. "Armatons have
been detected in Dimension VI of Venus accompanying Tortan.  It also seems like
a cyborg is on its way there, I'm not sure."
  "Damn," Sheratan exclaimed.  "We can't go into the jaws of hell and expect to
win if we gotta split up the team!"
  Nashiran crossed his arms.  "This is obviously what they had in mind.  What's
the plan?"
  "Somebody's going to have to go the Venus while the rest of us attempt to
rescue Beverly," Messuta replied.
  Lotia looked at him.  "I'll go."
  "No way," Sheratan said.  "If anything were to happen to us, somebody needs
to be able to come back with the solar sphere alive.  You should help the guys
try to rescue Beverly."
  Australis exhaled. "Lotia can take care of herself and I believe that we will
need somebody who will be able to stay alive, get the solar sphere and bring it
back here, safely."
  Leto nodded.  "Agreed, in case there is a titan awaiting you on Pluto, you'll
need our more heavily armed AstroShuttles."
  "All right then, let's do it.  We don't have a whole lot of time here,"
Sheratan said to everyone.  "Everybody right?"  They all nodded while bringing
up their right fists.
  Sheratan did as well.  "AstroCharge!"  Forcing their rings ahead of
themselves, the five stones flashed brightly.
  Sheratan's face was before a black background as it began to dissolve into a
black silhouette; his body also a shadow in front of a red grid, a white bar of
light scrolled across his body from left to right.  The light returned to the
left, leaving Sheratan in the red shiny uniform of MarsAstro.
  The shadows of the other four Terranians transformed into the green, white,
black and pink Astrorangers as a brilliant white light flashed once again.
  In the zero-gravity take-off bay at the bottom of the SpaceBase, the force
field maintaining air-pressure activated in the take-off bay as the bay doors
began to open--as indicated by the warning signal.
  Seated, JupiterAstro had been lowered inside of the cockpit of CommandShuttle
as the lights came on.  The console slid towards the him and locked into place.
  In CombatShuttle, MarsAstro pushed up the slider on his console.  "Take off!"
The TurboShuttle's rocket boosters fired up.  Inside of the TurboShuttle
cockpit, MercuryAstro's head was pressed back against his seat's headboard.
  The moon spinning into the background, the five AstroShuttles lined up with
the noses of the jets pointed ahead.  Flying by, the group of space ships had
energized their rocket boosters and flew out of sight.
  VenusAstro was seen through the window of her pink ship while flying it at
high speed.  "This is RescueShuttle to shuttle fleet, preparing to enter sixth
dimension.  Course set and laid in for Venus, please acknowledge."
  MercuryAstro looked at his screen featuring an inset-window of VenusAstro. "I
acknowledge that; good luck, Lotia.  TurboShuttle out."
  RescueShuttle split off from the flying V-formation.  Red CombatShuttle and
Green CommandShuttle took front and rear center with the two black and white
rockets on either side--forming a diamond.
  MarsAstro asked.  "What's our E.T.A., Messuta?"
  "Hard to say, this will take a while," MercuryAstro replied via radio.
  MarsAstro's hearts raced being worried over the well-being of both Lotia and
Beverly.  An inset-window opened on screen showing JupiterAstro.
  "Keep your eyes on the long range sensors in case some nasty trap gets wicked
on us," JupiterAstro told everybody.  "Nashiran, watch our backs."
  SaturnAstro nodded.  "I'm on top of it."
The red, green, white and black AstroShuttles flew by the red planet Mars on
their journey to Pluto.

     In the steel but plastic-like world of Venus's sixth dimension, the well
pumping site in the vast white desert plane became a battlefield.  The
civilization on that world, a society of humanoid bird-like men and women,
watched while the black Armaton soldiers had exchanged fire with the ExoGuards,
their men in giant armored robots.  In the sky, ExoJets, hawk-like warriors in
silver armor were being shot out of the sky by the soldiers and Tortan below.
However, massive explosions surrounded them from the growing number of birdmen
in robotic exo-suits arriving to contain Tortan's forces.
  Suddenly, the robots were torn apart and exploded due to an invisible force.
The ExoJets were pulled out of the sky and burst into dust upon breaking up
against the ground.
  Standing on red feet with two toes was a metal and leather clad troll.  It's
hands were massive accompanied by huge rippling muscles and giant pects.  This
three eyed monster had wild black hair, drooling fangs, and a dark jewel in its
belly. Cyborg Juryok controlled the forces of gravity with its high-powered gem
while flexing its muscles.
  Tortan looked to his side to see Juryok cause ExoGuards to fall to the ground
while lifting others up, smashing them into other robots.  "This must be the
re-enforcement I requested."
  An ExoGuard knocked an Armaton into flipping over onto its back but suddenly
Cyborg Juryok was found behind that robot.  Juryok's mean and ugly face became
even more distorted when its hair started growing rapidly.
  Streaming through the air were the black strains of its hair.  The ExoGuard
found itself completely wrapped up by the hair as it keeled over onto the dirt.
  Juryok was tough; two ExoJets fired rapidly at him and harmless sparks popped
from its thick skin once he was shot.  The cyborg's three eyes began to glow as
they formed an arc of red electricity that jumped into the sky.
  Like thunder, sparks exploding clipped the wing of one ExoJets. Juryok turned
to face more opposition while behind itself, the ExoJet crashed and exploded.
  "Armatons, return to Pluto where you are needed!" Tortan commanded.  "We will
handle things now."

     Costing through outer space, the four AstroShuttles still maintained their
high speed.  Onboard the white rocket TurboShuttle, MercuryAstro looked at his
console and then at the main screen.  "Well, the scan at the SpaceBase was real
close," he reported.  "There really is an artificial atmosphere here."
  JupiterAstro looked at the white Astroranger on his screen.  "Obviously
something very sophisticated is living here."
  "Don't forget, the signals used to control the cyborgs come from Pluto,"
SaturnAstro said.  "There's a good chance that the Nazitans are transmitting
from this location."
  MarsAstro looked at them both on his screen.  "Could this be their base?"
  "If it is, this will be deadly," JupiterAstro answered.  "There's no way they
would cause us to come here unless it wasn't an extremely dangerous trap."
  SaturnAstro, piloting his black rocket nodded.  "You know, the funny part is,
if it weren't for lack of authorization from the Uton Government, we could get
every task force on Terrania to storm that planet and wipe out the Nazitans."
  "As they proceed to replace them and attack us the same way," JupiterAstro
replied.  "Don't forget, they're not alone.  I'm pretty sure that they're a
small sample of what their entire forces has to offer."
  "This has got to be it, though," MercuryAstro replied.  "It looks as if
something huge removed a massive area of land," he said while looking at his
cockpit's console.  "15 meters deep by 135 meters long by 100 meters wide--and
replaced it with a giant underground structure composed of something stone-like
but a lot stronger than even titanium."
  "Sounds like a bunker," MarsAstro assumed.  "Find anything else?"
  "I'm afraid not, there are force fields blocking certain scans but there is
a deck located near the surface," he answered, "and a long narrow tube leading
to the surface located at the far end of the underground structure."
  JupiterAstro looked to the side.  "This place sounds interesting."
  SaturnAstro nodded.  "Yeah, but what I wanna know is, how do we get in this
place?  They can go back underground if they shut that atmosphere off but we'd
be history."
  "Not necessarily.  Above the bunker, but still underground, is a cave that is
accessible from the surface protected by another forcefield," MercuryAstro had
radioed back.  "And thermo-scans say there is heat being given off in this area
as well."
  "Good, there's light under there somewhere," SaturnAstro replied.  "Whatever
happens, we have to make sure one of us is able to find a way in, find Beverly
and get her out of there."
  MarsAstro nodded.  "Okay, we're within landing range, cut main engines and
reduce to coasting speed using navigational thrusters only."
The four shuttles lined up in single-file flying formation as they flew by near
the gray, ice covered planet Pluto.
     On the crystal ball, motion pictures of the the shuttles entering the dark
entrance of the cave was shown to Adol who sat in his throne. Igan stood before
him awaiting orders.  "Sire, the Astrorangers are approaching the flight deck."
  "Have the army of automatons greet them on the observation deck once they are
clear," Adol said.  "It is a pity they failed to bring the entire team but soon
the whole task force will be eradicated once Juryok has completed its mission
on Venus."
     Blackness surrounded the task force, though the ground was perfectly
visible, illuminated normally. The four Astrorangers ran through the hollow
caverns that echoed their voices.
  "I'm glad this place has a vertical clearance of over seven meters, otherwise
we wouldn't have made it inside," MercuryAstro said.  "I wonder how we find our
way in and find Beverly?"  SaturnAstro stopped to look around; the ground and
horizon like the surface of the moon, he shook his head.
  "Let's just keep moving," MarsAstro said.  The four of them ran ahead in the
area housed by a land mass overhead.  JupiterAstro stopped and turned his head.
  MarsAstro noticed he stopped  "What?"  A noise was getting louder.
  "Shhh," JupiterAstro hissed.  "Listen...  Do you hear that?"
  SaturnAstro did hear the sound.  "Yeah I do."
  "What is it?" the green Astroranger asked.  Out of the shadows, coming into
plain view were dozens and dozens of Armaton soldiers that walked out from the
Nazitan outpost below.
  "Holy cow!  I've never seen so many of them!" MercuryAstro exclaimed.
"There's no way we're..."
  MarsAstro stepped forth.  "Yes we are, Messuta; we've gotta do it for Bev."
  "We didn't come all this way for nothing," JupiterAstro said.  "We're going
to show them what an Astroranger can do."
  SaturnAstro nodded.  "You said it.  Celestial Weapons!"
The four of them holding their weapons they shouted, "ASTRORANGER!"  MarsAstro
held out his sword standing in front.  "Attack!"  The other three broke their
position and charged ahead.
     SaturnAstro tumbled over and struck up with his scythe.  Sparks flew out
of an Armaton's body when he turned around to perform his Saturn ring kick.
     MarsAstro knocked a rifle away with the blade of his sword and struck the
chest of another soldier.  Sparks also broke out of its metal body and the one
the red Astroranger struck next to him.
     MercuryAstro twirled his staff and looked back and forth at all the
soldiers attacking, preparing for all of them.
  One came within his range and he swung down his staff knocking it in the back
of the head as the soldier flipped over.  MercuryAstro jammed the staff into
the abs of one approaching to his side and pulled his staff back.  The
opposite-end of his staff causing sparks to explode out of the soldier
approaching from behind.
  Two Armatons struck down with their bladed rifles and MercuryAstro turned his
staff around to block both in the air.  Bringing his staff down, he had the
left end out further than the right.  When the white Astroranger pushed the
right end out further than the left, the Armatons were knocked in the back and
chest.  So one back flipped while the other one flipped onto its back.
  Holding one end of his staff, MercuryAstro whacked across the face of one
Armaton soldier and then swung back the other way, striking three soldiers at
the same.  After the triple-blast of sparks knocked them down, the white
Astroranger used the rear end of his staff to knock down the, now, tenth
Armaton approaching. 
     JupiterAstro fired an arrow from his bow and shot down an attacking
Armaton.  Shooting again, another soldier was shot as well.  Armatons
lined up to shoot at JupiterAstro; the green Astroranger leaped out of
the way and brought up his ThunderBow.  "ThunderBow SplitShot Fire!" he
called while pulling on his bowstring.  Five glowing arrows caused multiple
towers of sparks to explode, knocking down Armatons like bowling pins.
  SaturnAstro's spinning strikes caused Armatons to go twirling away, each blow
causing sparks to fly everywhere.  "We can't keep this up forever!"

                                                                              
 ACT II:

     In the white desert lands of the pumping fields on Venus, the bird-like
humanoids in the exo-robot suits were pulled apart resulting in explosions. Two
more were also destroyed by Cyborg Juryok, the red troll with living hair and
three eyes.  In the sixth dimension of this planet, Tortan prepared to make his
move to the elevator shafts for the workers to use in servicing the equipment
they used to bring up water from the wells below.
  Approaching at high speed was the Pink HydroCycle driving over the white dirt
as the sound of her engine whining indicated its driver, VenusAstro, had it in
its highest gear.
  Tortan turned his head and looked at VenusAstro arriving dead ahead.  "Oh no,
not her.  Cyborg Juryok--annihilate the pink Astroranger."  Stepping away from
smoking ExoGuards it destroyed, Juryok flexed its muscles.
  VenusAstro's white-gloved thumb hammered down on the red button on her handle
bar and blazing bolts of light came shooting out of the front of her motorcycle
causing all sorts of fireworks to burst from the ground by Tortan and Juryok.
  Somersaulting overhead, she landed on the ground and put her arms up into her
battle pose: the Libra Scales.  "VenusAstro!"
  Tortan pointed his sword at her and looked at Cyborg Juryok.  "Fool!  I said,
kill her!  Don't wait!!"  Juryok grunted; it did not like to be yelled at.
  "While they're trying to get their act together," VenusAstro said to herself,
"Moleculatom Weapon!"  She drew the weapon from the holster on the left side of
her belt.
  The three eyes of the troll acted separately, one beam of light from it's
third eye while its two eyes fired separate shots of light.  Sparks bounced all
over producing huge clouds of white smoke.
  Tortan clenched his fist.  "Yes!"  VenusAstro came tumbling through and fired
a ray of yellow soon replaced by an electric blue beam of light.  Cyborg Juryok
was shot in the chest causing sparks to blast it into stumbling backwards.  She
shoved her weapon back into her white holster.
  "Get her, Juryok!" Tortan ordered.  The angry troll ran in and charged after
the pink Astroranger.
     Juyrok's punch was defeated when VenusAstro turned around and
kicked across its face.
  Its head was knocked to the right but the cyborg came back and blocked her
shin-kick to its side.  She found her punch was stopped by thick forearm.
  Cyborg Juryok turned her around and put her in an armlock.
VenusAstro dropped to one knee and pulled the red troll over her body
smashing it into the ground.
     It turned over, stood up and put both arms on her shoulders.  The pink
Astroranger threw off its arms, quadruple-punched its abs and then its face.
  No effect came of the blows when it hop-kicked her in the helmet.
"Oogh!!" she exclaimed when she dropped onto her back.  The dark jewel in the
belly of the cyborg shined.  Juryok wiggled its four fingers and used its
powers of gravitational manipulation to lift her up.
  VenusAstro found herself lifted into the air.  "Woah!!" she screamed while
being flown through the sky. Cyborg Juryok waved its hands to the side, causing
her to fly back in the opposite direction.  Moving its hands again, the pink
Astroranger flew backwards through the sky.  Juryok used its third eye to get
free shots at her as sparks broke out of her shiny pink uniform.
  Cyborg Juryok fired more shots from its third eye and she hollered from the
hard and hot shots bouncing off of herself while suspended it in the air.
  Juryok waved its hands again and VenusAstro found herself cast up against an
elevated structure in the industrial fields.  Her body crashed against the
building frame made out of a kind of plastic as strong as steel.  VenusAstro
free fell out of the sky after being banged up against the undone building.
  Upon hitting the ground, VenusAstro was seen rolling over, trying to get up
between Juryok's feet.  Its dark jewel of a navel shined again and the cyborg
forced out the palms of its hands.
  VenusAstro, barely holding herself up off the ground suddenly dropped to the
white dirt, almost as if she was pushed down.  The pink Astroranger was trying
desperately to push herself up off the desert plain but it was if the force of
gravity was magnified thirty times over.  "Why can't I get up!!" she gasped.
  Tortan walked up and looked down upon her.  "The force of gravity will
eventually crush you to death, pink Astroranger.  This will be the fate all who
come between the Nazitans and what is theirs." Her pink helmeted head strained,
indicating she was trying to get up.  Tortan walked away as he made his way to
the elevator shafts.  ``I've got to get up!  I can't let him get the sphere!''
she thought to herself.

     Underneath the surface of the ice planet Pluto, the four Astrorangers were
fighting with literally dozens of Armaton soldiers.  SaturnAstro's spin kicks
combined with his swinging black scythe caused many soldiers who even came near
the black Astroranger to fall, most of them exploding from having his metal
blade slice through their chests.
  Left and right, Armatons were knocked around by MercuryAstro's PowerStaff; at
right, MarsAstro chopped through the rifle of one soldier as sparks flared from
the blow.  The soldiers that came shooting from behind had caused sparks to
break out of the red Astroranger's shiny uniform.
  MercuryAstro whipped his head around to see what happened to him. "Sheratan!"
  MarsAstro got up on one knee, "I'm all right!  Just keep them at bay--they
cannot win!!"
Lightning cracked and clouds rolled rapidly upward while JupiterAstro put out
his ThunderBow.  "Celestial ThunderBow!"  JupiterAstro pointed his fist into
the air.  "Cosmic Arrow!" JupiterAstro shouted when a green beam of light
materialized into a glowing arrow.  "Fire!!"  Letting go of the bowstring, the
arrow shot forth.
  Standing single file, Armaton soldiers running after the green Astroranger
were impaled by the glowing green arrow that penetrated them head on, through
the chest. Sparks breaking out of their chests and backs knocked them all down.
  The peculiar symbol of Saturn appeared as the cosmic backdrop revealed a shot
of the beautiful planet.
Rising from below, the black Astroranger took his battle pose while holding up
his Celestial Weapon.  "Saturn Ring BattleScythe Strike!" SaturnAstro called
out as lightning caused the blades of his scythe to glow. The black Astroranger
then cast his scythe to the sky.
  The spinning scythe became a purple glowing disc.  Armatons looked up and saw
the razor sharp laser disc come out of the blackness from above and circularly
dismember each one of themselves.  The soldiers had sparks exploding from the
destructive force of the disc.
The crescent, circle and cross symbol of Mercury painted themselves onto the
backdrop of outer space while the planet Mercury itself faded into view.
The white Astroranger rose up holding his staff and held it up.  "Celestial
Weapon!"  MercuryAstro twirled his Power Staff in his hands and then lifted it
to the sky as clouds gathered and formed lightning.  The PowerStaff became
brilliant with electricity as he aimed it for his target.
  "Power Staff Electro-Charge!" MercuryAstro shouted as he thrust the weapon
ahead of himself as the electricity jumped off the tip of his long weapon.  The
lightning bolt totally smoked one soldier and caused another to spontaneously
explode into a tower of sparks as well.
  "Good work, everybody," MarsAstro said kicking down an Armaton.  "I think I
see a way in so I'm going for it!!"
  "Sher, be careful!" JupiterAstro said.  "You don't know what's down there!"
  MarsAstro stopped running down the slanted ramp to look at the him.  "Yes I
do.  Beverly."  The red Astroranger continued to run into the darkness while
MercuryAstro and SaturnAstro continued to fight the seemingly endless Armatons.
   MarsAstro walked into this hollow chamber with blackness all around himself.
He stopped from seeing nothing but the floor beneath himself. "Uh oh this isn't
good," he said to himself noticing no way in. Suddenly from behind, a hatchet's
blade on a rope came swinging at him.  Hearing the metal pierce the air,
MarsAstro jumped out of the way.  "Woah!!"
 He stood up and started running but his white boot-covered foot stepped inside
of a snare trap on the floor.  Instantly, the red Astroranger was pulled upside
down, hanging by his foot in midair.  "E-ay!  What the?  Hey!!"
  Sharp iron cones were fired from all around himself and his uniform burst of
sparks when they crashed up against him.  MarsAstro then found that swinging
hatchet approaching once again.
  "Oh no!" MarsAstro said.  With his Moleculatom Blaster, he shot at the rope
holding it up.  Sparks broke out of the cord, dropping the blade to the floor.
  "I gotta get down from here," MarsAstro complained; suddenly two more curved
blades came swinging in on ropes.  "Uh oh!!"  The red Astroranger shot up at
the rope holding himself up.  Sparks severed the cord dropping him roughly on
the hard floor.
  Standing up, MarsAstro dusted himself off.  "Well, at least I'm -- down....."
he yelled when a trapdoor opened up under himself.
  In a stone hallway, he dropped onto the ground.  "Oogh!"  The red Astroranger
stood up and shook his head.  "It's just one thing right after another, isn't
it?"  Suddenly a rumbling was felt and heard as a massive object was heading
down the hallway towards himself.
  "Somehow, I don't like the sound of that," he said.  "I gotta--Eeyee!!"  That
sound was caused by a rolling boulder that rolled through the maze of walls.
  MarsAstro was cornered with the only way out was ahead, where the boulder was
aiming to crush him.  He looked up and saw the ceiling.  "I can do this..."  He
jumped up and used his feet and hands to suspend himself above the ground.  The
boulder finally lodged itself in the wall blowing out a good quantity of dust.
  "Well, that was ridiculous," he said jumping on top of the huge rock and then
onto the ground again.  "But now I gotta get moving."  He started to run ahead;
watching him on the crystal ball was Adol the Great in his throne.  "The booby
traps don't end just yet, red Astroranger."

   Meanwhile on the predominately white world of Venus, in its sixth dimension,
A stone cave beneath the planet surface had a yellow shimmering reflection from
the water wells.  Large tubes were connected to them from out of the ceiling; a
platform lowered Tortan onto a catwalk that the workers used to service gear as
well as other equipment.  "Finally, I have arrived," he said to himself.  After
getting off the platform, he saw the sphere lying within the water in the well.
 Tortan's armor-gloved hand pushed inside of the water as he removed pulled the
pink sphere up out of the ground.
  Meanwhile, VenusAstro continued to be compressed into the white desert sand
by Cyborg Juryok, a red troll with three eyes, snarling fangs and rippling
muscles.  Wiggling its four fat fingers, it continued to use the power it had
from the jewel in its belly.
  VenusAstro found her body was not able to resist the intense pulling from the
increased gravitational pull.  "Uhn, I can't breath!" she gasped.
  Suddenly returning was Tortan holding the pink solar sphere.  He stepped up
and looked down upon her once again.  "I admire your courage, you put up quite
a fight, pink Astroranger.  However, you have thrown your life away--as I now
have the solar sphere of this planet."
  "You wont ever get the others!" VenusAstro cried out.
  Tortan laughed.  "That remains to be seen but not by you, my long time foe,"
he concluded.  Looking at Juryok, hard at work at keeping her down, Tortan
said, "Full power."  Suddenly, she let out a loud scream as the gravitational
pull reached it's maximum.
  Back up ExoJets flying in fired into the ground knocking Cyborg Juryok down,
catching him off guard.  Tortan turned around and looked into the sky. "Oh no!"
VenusAstro climbed up on one knee while trying to catch her breath.  One of the
ExoJets, their hawk-like people in silver armor, came flying down by her side
and helped her to stand up.
  ``Thanks,'' she telepathically said to them.  She assumed they could not
speak her language.  ``Can you help me?''
  ``We will try,'' the soldier said. ``Thank you for intercepting the intruders
as soon as you did.''  VenusAstro looked at the two of them running away. "He's
got the sphere!  Galaxy Task Force Command: HydroCycle!"
  Tortan ran through the desert as fast as he could when, gaining on him was
VenusAstro driving her pink HydroCycle--easily overtaking him in speed. She had
jumped off her bike and tackled Tortan into the ground.
  Cyborg Juryok used its gravitational manipulation powers to swing ExoJets
around in the sky at random, crashing them into each other and into high-rise
equipment, knocking them out the process.
  The pink Astroranger somersaulting overhead, leaped into a flying side-kick
shouting, "Flying Comet Kick!!"  Juryok's body was hurled through the sky.
  VenusAstro landed and brought up her arms, "Celestial Weapon!" she shouted.
Changing positions she was instantly armed.  "Sonic Boomerang!"  Cyborg Juryok
stood up but noticed it had lost the jewel in its belly and had begun to panic.
  VenusAstro clenched her fist and shook her head, "You're finished!"
  The pink circle and cross insignia of Venus was large and bright as it spun
around.  It flew backwards while spinning when it eventually reached the top of
VenusAstro's pink helmet above her visor.
  VenusAstro held up the end of her boomerang and pushed her fingers the length
of the weapon causing it to become a pink arc of light.
  "Sonic Boomerang Thunder Blow!" she called out as she flung it into the air.
The pink disc bore through the cyborg's torso, splitting it in half.  Suddenly
erupting into a fountain of sparks, Juryok's body burst into flames.
  Tortan's shoulder was grabbed by a white gloved hand.  He stopped and turned
to see VenusAstro right behind him.
  VenusAstro crossed her arms while looking at him.  "Going somewhere?"
Tortan's face was frozen with shock; VenusAstro's arm was already launching her
white-gloved fist right into him.  A white flash was all he saw when Tortan was
found falling onto the dirt.
  VenusAstro caught the pink solar sphere that came flying out of his hands and
saluted him with two fingers.  "Seeya later, Tortan."
  "What?" Tortan asked as he turned over.  VenusAstro was already driving away.
"Augh!!" he shouted.

    The tunnels under the surface of Pluto were getting darker as MarsAstro had
run the corse of the narrow hallways.  Ahead of himself, the walls, actually
storage closets, featuring hundreds of dormant Armatons, opened as their eye
lights activated.  They brought up their rifles and began to march out of their
cells.  MarsAstro ran down the halls but heard more noise.  Foot steps--lots of
them.  No, dozens of them; the loudness was increased as he came closer and
closer to the lit chamber at the end of the tunnel.
  A giant hallway featuring multiple decks of steel housed Armaton soldiers in
rows of booths.  Suddenly entering the massive hangar was the red Astroranger.
"This is like, a nightmare or something!" he said looking around.
  "Your nightmare has only just begun, Astroranger," Adol announced; his voice
echoing through the massive chamber.  "Surrender, red leader and we will spare
your captive comrade."
  "Never!!" MarsAstro replied, his voice strongly echoed out.  "Show yourself!"
  "All in good time, red Astroranger," Adol said.  "In the meantime, do your
best to survive within _my_ dwelling."  Suddenly, down the ramps came the many
hundreds of soldiers.  MarsAstro breathed deeply but put away his Moleculatom
weapon.  "This isn't the end of the battle until I say so!  Celestial weapon,"
MarsAstro called out while placing his hands where his Moleculatom Weapon hung.
"FireSword!"  Drawing his double-sided sword, MarsAstro brought it beside his
helmet.  Light gleamed across his black visor, terminating as a twinkle in the
corner of his shiny visor.
  He ran into the heart of the mob that came after him.  It was one against an
impossible number of adversaries as sparks exploded everywhere.  With one thing
on MarsAstro's mind, to save Beverly, he destroyed every soldier he saw
instantly.  "Time to break out the heavy artillery!" he shouted.  Jumping into
the air, he landed on a higher deck. "Mars FireSword Flaming Blaze!"  The blade
of his sword shot down multiple a wide rays of light that caused explosions of
fire to blow the soldiers into the air.  "Don't _mess_ with an Astroranger!"

     Meanwhile in the special chamber Pleadia had prepared for Beverly, being a
unique operation, Igan had secured her ankles to a cold aluminum-steel like
table and also locked down her wrists as well.  Strapped in very tightly,
Beverly fussed and resisted with all of her remaining strength and energy.  At
the station that surrounded Pleadia's seat, he pushed multiple backlit buttons
on his console.  "Deploying surgical operation cluster."
  Overhead, doors in the ceiling caused light to come through the crack as it
sounded as if it had released a great deal of pressure when opening.  Beverly
looked in terror as a huge complex array of instruments of all sorts had began
to descent upon her nude and vulnerable body.  She groaned while pulling trying
to pull herself off the table.  "No!  You can't do this!!"  Beverly watched the
machine's lights blink as a low hum meant it reached full power. 
  Pleadia looked up from his workstation and at Beverly.  "You will feel no
pain."
  ``That's not exactly what I'm worried about!'' she thought.  A thin tube in
the array of probes and other assorted machinery generated a thin red laser. It
began to approach the center of her neck.  Her eyes tightly closed, forcing a
tear to push out of her locked eyelids.
  All of a sudden, the wall in the side of the room exploded violently, casting
all sorts of debris into the air.  Igan ran in and looked around.  "What the
hell is going on in here?"
  MarsAstro climbed through and kicked back an Armaton soldier grabbing at him.
"Beverly?!"
  She looked down and ahead at him.  "Sheratan??"
  Pleadia stood up, ran down the stairs and approached MarsAstro.  "What is the
meaning of this!?  This is an outrage!  I wont have this in my laboratory!"
  The red Astroranger came up to him and picked him up by his neck and looked
him in the face.  "Now you get one thing straight, you Nazitan piece of crap:
When I get the chance, your body will be made into compost after I break it in
six different places!"  He threw Pleadia into the workstation's booth, causing
him to flip over and hit the floor.
  MarsAstro had jumped over to the table where Beverly was.  "I came as soon as
I could," he said ripping off the cuffs.  "I sorta had to fight with about a
million soldiers."  MarsAstro picked up Beverly's limp body with both arms.
  "My ring," Beverly tried to say in her sedated state.  "Hurry..."
  Pleadia pulled his sore body up off the floor by holding onto his booth,
looking with contempt.  "Armatons!!"
  "I'm afraid they can't help you right now," MercuryAstro said holding his
smoking Moleculatom Blaster.  "They're sorta out of order."  The others joined
him through the other entrances to the chamber.  Beverly was glad to see them.
  MarsAstro ran towards the hole he made in the wall and stopped to look at the
other Astrorangers.  "Messuta!  Get Beverly's ring!  We're outta here!"
  "I don't know how you ever made it, Sheratan but it'll take them a while to
replace all of the Armatons we've demolished," SaturnAstro said.  "How did you
get in here?"
  "I'll tell you on the way out of here," MarsAstro said.  "Right now, I'm kind
of hoping Beverly is all right."
  MercuryAstro came up holding the golden jade-stoned ring.  "Found it!"
  "Good, then let's go!" JupiterAstro said.  "I just know they're already
sealing off the exits!"  The four of them ran like the wind while being chased
by remaining soldiers.
  Out of the caves, MarsAstro ran with Beverly in his arms towards the red
CombatShuttle while the other three Astrorangers followed.  They fired from
their Moleculatom Blasters at the Armatons who ran after them who shot back
with their rifles.
  Inside of the cockpit, MarsAstro sat down and activated his shuttle. "Time to
go, guys!"  Beverly started to come to while laying on the floor.
  JupiterAstro flipped switches on the ceiling of his cockpit as the sound of
his engines activating indicated it was ready for take off.  "This is         
CommandShuttle ready for take off and awaiting your signal, Sheratan."
  MarsAstro looked at JupiterAstro on his screen and pushed up the sliders on
his console.  "Do it!"  Bright yellow streamed out of the aft section of the
two rockets, star ship and shuttle as they lifted off the ground with thrusters
and left the surface.
  The four AstroShuttles through the underground cave as the door closed ahead
of them.  On the other side, the ships busted through the wall on their way off
the planet Pluto.
  Eventually, all of the shuttles left the ice planet behind while maneuvering
into position to hit top speed, taking them clear out of sight.

     On a chilly night in Los Angeles, the heating system was in use for the
first time at the Terranian's house in the Los Feliz community of the Hollywood
hills.  Inside, Amy and Tom stood in the hallway beside Amy's room door.  Amy
nodded.  "So what happened after Sara kissed you?"
  "She giggled and said 'seeya later.'  I've been trying to ignore it but that
doesn't seem to work," Tom answered.  "It's been on my mind every since."
  Amy laughed.  "Of course it would.  Anyway, how come you're so stressed out
over it?"
  "I'm not sure that this is what I wanted out of this relationship, Amy," Tom
explained.  "I just saw an opportunity to have a friend.  You know I already
have a wife on our world."  Amy nodded.
  Tom sighed.  "I want to call her back and tell her I don't want this to get
romantic but I don't want to hurt her feelings."  Amy looked confused.
  Tom perceived her facial gesture was confused.  "What?" he asked.
  Amy smiled with surprise.  "I've never seen you be this concerned with what
somebody thinks."
  "Well, it's not every day I can run into someone as unorthodox as her," Tom
replied.  "She is liberated in a great many ways--mentally, physically.  She is
worthy of our culture."
  Amy shrugged.  "Wish I could help you out there, Tom but things are sort of a
mess for me right now and I need to see how Beverly is doing before I go to bed
tonight."
  "How is she?" Tom asked.  "And where are you going to sleep since she's in
your bed?"
  Amy shrugged.  "I guess in the same one; it's a large bed.  Beverly looked
real tired when I last checked but well.  Is Dave sure that nothing happened to
her yet?"
  Tom nodded.  "As far as he could tell.  They were just about to start doing
things when he busted her out of there.  Anyway," he said giving her a hug.  "I
will see you in the morning, Amy."
  "Goodnight, Tom," she said.  He walked further down the hall towards Dave's
room.  She yawned and stretched as she entered her room.
     Beverly was finishing a cup of tea Amy'd prepared for her while she layed
in the bed by the lamp on the night stand.  Looking at her, she said, "Hey."
  Amy smiled.  "Hi, Bev.  Feeling better?"
  "I'm still sore all over but nothing a little sleep and maybe a hot bath wont
fix," she answered then yawning.  "I swear, hell hasn't got a thing on that
place, Amy.  I don't _ever_ wanna be anywhere near that place again."
  Amy laughed while getting an oversized shirt to sleep in.  "I can believe
that.  God, I can't believe you were _there_.  On Pluto."
  "Neither can I," Beverly sighed.  "Anyway, I'm ready to sleep.  I gotta find
something to come up with to tell the Captain at the division."
  Amy got in on the other side of the bed. "I'm sure you'll think of something.
We'll help, as you probably already figured." Amy yawned.  "Anyhow, I could use
some rest too."
  "Okay," Beverly said putting her mug down on the nightstand. "Goodnight, Amy;
sweet dreams."
  "G'night," she said turning over.  Beverly pulled the chain on her lamp which
turned it off. The only light in the room now originating from the moon shining
through the window.  When Beverly turned over, her hair was pulled up by her
head's weight on the pillow showing more of the back of her neck.  Just below
her hair line was a black dot.  Was this a mole or actually, upon closer sight,
a tiny spider-like piece of electronics attached to her neck?  What other cause
could there be for its stem making small mechanical movements.

                                                           TO BE CONTINUED    


Next week on Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . . 

As Dave realizes he can't stay away from Amy, Peter, a small boy, gains a crush
on her.  Meanwhile, will Lotia give the Nazitans the solar spheres to spare 
Beverly their wrath?  Find out in Episode 42: "Ultimatum!" 

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"Galaxy Task Force Astroranger" is a trademark of Artist Bros. Enterprises. The
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Unauthorized duplication,  distribution  or  exhibition  may  result  in  civil
liability and criminal prosecution. Copyright (c)1997 Artist Bros. Enterprises,
Artist Bros. Music and Dairenn Lombard.  All Rights Reserved.  Country Of First
Publication: United States of America.  Artist Brothers and Dairenn Lombard are
the author of the preceding text.  The characters and events depicted  in  this
story are fictional.  Any  similarity to  actual  persons,  living or dead,  is
purely coincidental and unintentional.  This copyright notice does  not  extend
to infringe upon the  existing  copyrights for `Super-Sentai' titles maintained
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and Ishimori Productions.                                                [TV-M]
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