[971015]
                                                                      [Preview]
Tonight on Astroranger: 
    "Good, you appear obedient," Amy said.  "Now tell me--what is the
  location of the Venus, Saturn and Neptune solar sphere?"
    "Drive southbound on Hawthorne Boulevard to termination on Palos Verdes
  Drive and eastbound on that road is a cave near a chapel where buried are
  spheres in a triangular pattern to avoid immediate discovery," Dave answered.

    Ron looked worried.  "What?  What happened?"
    "Aw God...  Amy showed up and we were making out in my car when all of a
  sudden I blacked out.  Then I wake up thinking that I went into the store!"
    Ron's eyes jumped wide open.  "WHAT?  Did you ever go in the store?"
    "Now that I think of it, I didn't," Dave answered harshly.  "Damn it!
  What's goin' on around here!?"
    "I don't know, man--but you better drive STRAIGHT home," Ron said to him
  via Dave's phone.  "William and Tom are already on their way to the beach
  to find out what this is all about."

    Amy looked at Beverly and smiled. Down the opposite end of the beach,
  walking southbound was Amy in a pink t-shirt and jeans appearing as if she
  were looking for something.  Suddenly, Beverly stopped walking which also
  caused Amy to stop before she pointed.  "Amy, look!"
    Amy began to walk towards them when suddenly, she stood still; her
  clothes and lit up brilliantly causing Beverly and Amy to shield their
  faces.  Standing before them was then a humanoid in what appeared to be a
  white wet-leather bodysuit.  Beverly and Amy jumped back defensively.

                                                                  [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:

     Pluto--the gray, ice covered planet remained in the slow distant and orbit
only to receive a fraction of the sun's heat and light.  Beneath the surface, a
massive bunker housed the Nazitan outpost installed by their battleship, nearly
a year ago prior to their attack on Earth and on going struggle with the Galaxy
Task Force, Astroranger.  Within the primary chamber, torches were mounted upon
the brown, stone walls of the oval room.  The ceiling was a dark, crystal dome
and, on one end of the chamber, a stage that supported a large iron clad
throne.  Toward the steps was a gray crystal ball that was held up by a
clay-like pedestal.  On the floor below stood Tortan, the samurai-style armored
warrior and his mate Ginara in metallic Ninja garb. Beside her was Pleadia, the
short and elderly scientist in what appeared to be a lab coat and his assistant
Igan. From out of the many dimly lit caverns which traveled throughout the
artificial subterranean structure walked the tall and majestic Adol the Great,
the mission commander in a dark cape and scarf that masked his face.
 Holding his pinwheel-tipped wand, he sat within his throne and looked back and
forth at his servants.  "Nazitans.  Today we will begin the most triumphant and
most magnificent mission we have ever orchestrated in the proliferation of our
species."  The four standing before him all nodded affirmatively.
  Adol stood up again and approached his crystal ball.  "It has been discovered
that Galaxy Task Force  Astroranger has managed to withhold three solar spheres
from Venus, Saturn and Neptune.  What we were given were mere dummy spheres."
  "They were no more powerful than a dead battery," Pleadia interjected.  "I
found this when attempting to energize all of the spheres we own."
  "Yes," he replied while nodding. "They will pay for this.  Once we take those
those spheres, we will core the planet Earth until we find it's sphere. At that
time, there will be nothing or nobody to obstruct our path to victory!"  Tortan
raised his fist, clenching it while nodding affirmatively, exhibiting his
enthusiasm.
  Adol looked down at his sphere and touched the surface beginning the playback
of previous conflicts with other worlds and other species.  "On other worlds, a
fraction of the forces we have used against Earth were necessary in conquering
worlds many times as advanced as that one. Earth should have been defeated long
ago."  Ginara nodded angrily to this fact.
  He looked at the others and exhaled.  "No longer will this be the case.  This
is where we shall turn the tide.  We have come this far and will continue to go
farther in the destruction of the Astroranger battle team and the assimilation
of Homo Sapien humanoids."  Adol turned around and sat back in his throne.  "At
this time, I have requested the aide of Lord Vahorra." Tortan looked surprised.
  "He has agreed to aid our plan one last time," Adol continued.  "He knows our
intelligence agents were deceived into underestimating Earth's forces.  No one
knew there would be group of warriors more powerful than every single one of
our cyborgs and Armatons put together.  However, until we can attack Earth with
Vahorra's assistance, we need a way to gain those three solar spheres."
  Igan stepped forth.  "I believe that I have sufficient knowledge about the
battle team to present a plausible solution to obtaining those last three solar
spheres."


                                  Episode 47:
                             "The Fatal Encounter"                            

     White foamy waves from the blue Pacific Ocean crashed against the beach of
Smuggler's Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes from the San Pedro Channel. 60 foot tall
cliffs of rock shielded the muddy sands on the deserted beach. In the east, the
dawn sun was just making it's appearance over the horizon.  In a pink, triangle
topped bikini, Amy sat with her arms around her knees next to Beverly in a high
cut yellow bathing suit on a towel.
  Amy grinned.  "I don't know how you talked me into going out and being at the
beach half past six on a holiday Friday morning ON...  A February day."
  "Perhaps I just have that certain undeniable charm?" Beverly rhetorically
asked.  "Besides, Amy, the paper said it was going to be an unusually warm day
and I don't work until much latter so, I decided that while I'm still living at
your place that I'd get you up bright and early and join me at the beach."
  "I must admit, despite being rather chilled from the coastal winds, it is
amazing to watch the sun rise at the beach," Amy replied.  "What I don't get is
why you chose this one, Beverly?  You went to the Santa Monica Pier the last
time you went in the morning."
  Beverly looked at Amy with one eyebrow up.  "Believe it or not, the beach is
well populated even that early as well.  I like a little privacy outdoors as
unrealistic as that might be to achieve."
  Amy looked at the tide wash up against the rocks.  "It's hard to believe
anything is real."
  "Heh," Beverly chuckled.  "You're telling me."
    "Hehe, no what I mean is; after the past six days of Dave and I rushing
through the arrangements and helping Tom and Ron set up music, my mind hasn't
had a chance to actually realize that I am about to spend the rest of my life
with Dave."  Beverly nodded and layed back to stretch out on the blanket.
  Amy smiled wider after looking down.  "Especially after thinking at some
points in my life that I'd never find anyone that could ever appreciate the
simple things in life."
  "I know how you feel," Beverly replied.  "I can hardly believe that Sasha and
I have spent the past seven years together."
  Amy crossed her legs and held her toes for comfort while sighing.  "It seems
like in either world we live in, you have to be able to pay for services or
things to keep a mate.  Take them places all the time and be always doing
something.  It's as if they can't appreciate the simple things that life has to
offer."
  "You're right, Amy. There are aspects about a relationship that extend beyond
the financial and social benefits," Beverly replied.  "What I like about Sasha
is that I don't feel as if I owe her more than just a night with her and I
together just watching television.  And she doesn't feel like she has to buy me
things or take me places to have a good time."
  Amy nodded and smiled at her.  "Before I joined the task force, I wasn't a
rich girl.  After my father no longer served the government, he tried to get a
job but both my parents had a hard time getting a career going because of the
rumor that he'd made it with ``someone from the other side''."
  "I see," Beverly answered.
  Amy looked up into the sky, knocking her bangs away from her eyes.  "I guess
that's why I kept on trying to socialize with people here on Earth.  I always
thought that the prejudice against my father was why I had to spend all of my
childhood poor and in a lame neighborhood.  We couldn't afford the education
that everyone else had so I had to study at home."
  Beverly leaned up, interested in the story.  "So how'd you live?"
  "I basically didn't.  I worked off the record and helped my parents by doing
things like getting food and running errands while they worked all day and
night, piecing together low paying jobs," Amy answered.  "As the years went by,
it was getting lonely.  Heh--cute guys to and from doing the laundry, picking
up food and so on.  All I could think of was what I would say; I mean, what was
I going to do?  Tell 'em, `Hi, I'm an underage girl with no money, no
transportation and I really don't want to mess around, just have fun?'  They'd
think I were a slut, to say the least.  I really didn't care after a while."
  "What happened after you grew up?" Beverly asked.
  "I was what they call here a waitress for about a year until one day this guy
who looked like he had tons of cash dripping from everything he touched asked
if he could see me on my break," Amy answered.  "Turns out, he wasn't asking me
out; what he was, was a high-class panderer.  He recruited young girls to make
a percentage off of their earnings appealing to guys who were willing to pay
for our services."
  "In other words--prostitution," Beverly abbreviated.  "That's what really
brought down L.A. through the 1980s."
  "Yeah, except in that world, it isn't illegal."
  "So, did you go for it?" Beverly asked her.
  "Yeah, I did but not for long.  My first ``client''," Amy described using her
fingers for quotation marks, "was a really shy guy.  I mean, I knew what I
wanted at his age but he was getting ready to piss himself."  Beverly laughed.
  "Anyway, we started talking and found out that he had such bad luck with the
opposite sex that he'd pay for sex," Amy answered.  "I couldn't take his money;
but I did help him out a little.  I didn't have sex with him but I thought hand
job would suffice."  Beverly cracked up chuckling.
  "Aheh--so anyway," Amy continued, "I quit.  One day, I heard that they needed
more special task force agents because the original ones were retiring so I had
decided why the hell not.  I'd already been real good with fists from dealing
with my rough neighborhood.  Guess who was at my graduation?"
  Beverly shrugged and threw up her hands.  "I couldn't even begin to guess."
  "That guy who was my first and last client," Amy answered for her, watching
Beverly's response.  Before she could say, 'No way,' Amy interrupted.  "Yep! He
was SO embarrassed to see me there too.  And get this--do you know who it was?"
  Beverly started laughing and put her hand over her forehead.  "Oh God, who?"
  "Dave."
  Beverly fell back laughing.  "Oh, Amy...  You make me want to cry."
  Amy grinned widely.  "We never ever talked about that day a year before we
graduated from the academy and after about a year, we forgot all about it but
about a year later still--I began to actually like him a lot.  He's actually
the first person I've ever actually felt sorry for but more importantly, I
identified with him.  I felt that I owed it to myself and to him that we both
get together.  Then all of a sudden we got transferred to this mission on
Earth."
  "I see," Beverly said.  "Wow, I never would've thought..."
  Amy nodded.  "It's wild where destiny takes you; it's almost unreal, but one
thing that I know is real is my love for Dave."  Beverly smiled at Amy.
  
    The two story house on the corner of the block south of Los Feliz Boulevard
was brightly illuminated by the sun rising in the east.  Inside, Ron pushed the
buttons on a black box on rack within the study.  Tom nodded and smiled.  "That
is the sound, let's go with that organ."  Ron nodded, in a pair of jeans and a
pink t-shirt, Amy walked into the study.
  Ron momentarily looked up at Amy and nodded.  "Hey."  She merely smiled.
  "Home already?" Tom asked.
  Amy looked really confused.  "Uhhh...  I was wondering if you knew where Dave
was."
  Now Tom appeared to be confused.  "He's at the South Bay Galleria, remember?
He took the Harbor Freeway south to drop you off at some beach, Amy.  How'd you
get back?"
  Amy looked down to think.  "Uh, I caught a cab?"
  "You could've called Dave on your cell phone," Ron said.  "Where's Beverly?"
  "She, uh, decided to stay behind," Amy answered.  "Anyway, I gotta go.  Bye."
  "Yeah, bye," Ron replied, almost asking.  He looked at Tom and he shrugged.
Something wasn't quite right with what was going on in her head, Tom thought.

     Underneath the surface of Pluto, within the underground compound, Pleadia
had sat before a circular workstation within one of his laboratories.  Removing
a helmet with visor giving him 3-dimensional view of what his latest creation,
Cyborg Morpher III, saw; he stood up and found Igan right behind himself.  "How
many times do I have to tell you not to sneak up on me."
  "Never mind that, Pleadia; Adol requests a status report on the construction
of the machine to convert light to energy and then to matter."
  Pleadia sighed.  "The computer reports that automated robot construction is
half way complete.  Right now, I am operating the most advanced Morpher cyborg
ever created.  This thing is impervious to water, bleeds when you cut it--the
works."
  "Sounds good," Igan replied, "what are you doing with it?"
  Pleadia grinned before taking his seat again.  "I'm going to trick one of the
Astroranger's into volunteering the location of the solar spheres they held
onto.  And I will do this using Morpher III to pretend to be someone special to
the one who with held the spheres we want."
  "How will you accomplish this?" Igan asked.
  "According to the information Cyborg Illusion had gathered while triggering
the nightmares in the other Astrorangers, the red Astroranger has a
vulnerability.  I intend to exploit this weak spot to make it so he will have
no choice but to tell Cyborg Morpher III what we want to know."
  Igan nodded.  "I will tell Adol soon; for now, I'd like to try operating this
cyborg of yours."
  "What do you have in mind?" Pleadia had cautiously asked.
  Igan smiled and put on the cyborg operation helmet.  "You'll see."
  "Okay, Igan, but be careful," Pleadia warned.

     The South Bay Galleria was just opening when Dave's red Mitsubishi
convertable drove into the parking lot off Artesia Boulevard in the city of
Redondo Beach.  The driver side door opened and Dave got out.  He slammed it
shut but, before he could use his key chain to arm the alarm system he noticed
Amy was standing beside him.  "Amy?  Hi!  What are you doing here?  I thought
you and Beverly were going to hang out at that weird beach before I came to
pick you up?"
  Amy stepped closer to him.  "I just couldn't wait to see you again."
  "I did want us to pick out the wedding rings together," Dave said. "How'd you
get down here?"
  Amy walked around the hood of the car and opened up the passenger door. "That
isn't important, but what's inside of the car is."  She got inside and closed
the door, rolling up the tinted windows.  Dave looked around the vacant parking
lot, smiled and then got inside.
  After closing the door behind himself.  Nobody was in the passenger seat but
he looked to the backseat, finding Amy who was taking off her sandals.  "Think
you could make it back here?"
  "Heh, uh, okay," Dave agreed.  He opened the door and stepped out to push the
front seat forward so he could crawl to the backseat of the two-door car.  When
he closed the back door, he turned his head to look at Amy.  "Okay, so what are
we doing back here."
  From her point of view, she looked at Dave while answering, "Me." When saying
so, she crossed her arms in front of herself and pulled her shirt over her head
and threw it at him.  His reflexes dead as a doorknob, Dave let the silk shirt
hit him in the chest before the topless woman slid across the seat and started
to kiss him deeply.
  During his distracted state, Dave did not notice Amy's hands unbutton his fly
at an almost inhuman speed.  He did, however notice her trying to drag them off
his waist.  "Woah.  You're quick."  Amy merely giggled while he let her get the
jeans off. After Dave stripped off his red t-shirt, they continued to kiss even
more while her hands rolled over his pects.  Dave had combed Amy's hair with
his fingers while moistly kissing down her neck.  He licked over her clavicle
and descended towards her chest.
  His fingers had struggled with her jeans' fly while Amy had pushed her palms
up and down Dave's back.  Focusing a little more intently, she had pointed her
fingers in a particular way to press upon specific regions of his skin.
  When he began to moan a little and work harder, she knew she'd gotten the
right area.  Jeans were thrown up against the steamed windshield while in the
back of the car, Amy pushed Dave down against the seat and climbed over him. He
smiled very widely at her and she grinned back while raising an eyebrow.
  "With a session like this, there wont be any need for a bachelor party," Dave
commented.  "Shall you or shall I?"  Amy grinned and slipped her fingers inside
of her lace panties.
  Dave's heart raced with anticipation before perspiring.  All of a sudden, Amy
took out a something black that looked like a wedge sliced lemon.
  "Hey!  What in the..." Dave asked.  Amy took his boxers and stuck her fist
inside, squeezing the slice.
  "Aw, not again..." Dave said just before losing consciousness. Amy leaned
down and grabbed her shirt from off the floor.  After putting it on, she
snapped her fingers in front of his face. Dave's eyes flipped open, staring
blankly.
  Amy put the black lemon slice away.  "Identify yourself."
  Dave looked straight into the ceiling of the car, not blinking once.  "I am
Sheratan Kasei, red Astroranger and leader of the Galaxy Task Force with the
rank of Mars.  My code name is Dave Marcello."
  "Excellent," Amy replied.  "Name the location of the pink Astroranger."
  "Lotia Kinsei, otherwise known as Amy Leven, the fifth Astroranger with the
rank of Venus is located at Smuggler's Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes," Dave said.
  "Directions?" Amy asked.
  "Drive southbound via interstate 110 until termination in San Pedro.  Drive
west on 25th Street," Dave recited.
  "Good, you appear obedient," Amy said.  "Now tell me--what is the location of
the Venus, Saturn and Neptune solar sphere?"
  "Drive southbound on Hawthorne Boulevard to termination on Palos Verdes Drive
and eastbound on that road is a cave near a chapel where buried are spheres in
a triangular pattern to avoid immediate discovery," Dave answered.
  "Explanation for strategy."
  "It was decided the Earth is the last place the Astroranger task force would
store something of value as oppose to a more secret location," Dave replied
without inhibition.  "Earth would also be guarded by Astroranger and thus the
Nazitans would be resistant to attempting a mission to retrieve solar spheres
located on this planet."
  "Here are instructions, Marcello:  They were out of stock for the items you
had intended to purchase.  You drove directly home from the mall upon leaving;
do you understand?"
  "Yes," Dave immediately answered.
  "Repeat," Amy ordered."
  "The store did not have the wedding rings, I drove home as soon as I left the
mall," Dave answered.
  "Excellent.  You will now sleep for twenty minutes and believe you woke up
too soon and dozed off.  When I snap my fingers, you will become asleep.  Do
you understand, Marcello?"
  "Yes," he answered.
  Amy nodded.  "Good."  She placed her hand in front of Dave's face and snapped
her fingers. His eyes fell shut immediately and Amy began to gather his clothes
so she could dress him.
  Fully dressed again, Amy stepped out of the car, closed the door and walked
away.  Dave sat in the driver's seat with his head leaned back against the head
rest not realizing he was hypnotized by Cyborg Morpher III.


 ACT II:

     On a piano keyboard, Tom finished holding down a chord while Ron, sitting
on a stool facing a mixing console had watched level meters wearing earphones.
Ron looked at Tom and nodded.
  "We're done?" he asked.
  Ron gave a thumbs up.  "Crystal clear recording."  The telephone on the desk
behind them had ran.
  William yelled in through the open door of the study, "I'll get it."
  "Okay," Ron called back.  "Okay, Tom.  Let me back this up to DAT tape, get
something to drink and then work on the one we sequenced last night."
  "Great; this stuff sounds incredibly professional.  How'd you figure out how
to record this stuff?" Tom asked.
  "I called up some local recording studios and asked one of the people down
there what the engineers work with," Ron answered.  "There's a little bit more
research involved than that but I've been dealing with sound equipment every
since Uton had me working for their audio/video analysis and operations
department."
  Tom grinned.  "Basically, spy work."
  "Yeah," Ron answered.  He saw Will come into the study.  "Hey, Will--who was
that on the phone?"
  "Uh, Amy, she called to say that she and Beverly will be coming home soon."
  "Huh??" Tom exclaimed.  "But, she was just here!"
  Will looked confused.  "Where?"
  "Uh, here--at the house," Tom answered.  "At least..."
  "Wait a second--she couldn't have been here, Dave dropped them off at the
beach and went to the mall to pick up some stuff for the ceremony," Will
contradicted.  "That means that unless they'd called a cab, there isn't anyway
for Amy to have come home from the beach and gone back again in less than..."
Will checked his watch, "...a half an hour."
  "But, Will, it'd make no sense for her to call if she'd already come home!"
Ron insisted. "In fact, she wouldn't call here at all--she would've called Dave
to catch a ride home because there's no other way they could go home from
that beach.  Not even by bus."
  "Was Beverly with Amy when she showed up?" Will asked.
  Tom shook his head.  "She said that Beverly decided to stay behind."
  "It's possible that Amy took a taxi by herself and called to let me know that
BEVERLY wanted Dave to come pick her up but," Will thought, "she was calling
from the beach and Beverly could've called Dave herself."
  "Something weird is going on around here," Tom said.  "When Amy did show up,
I didn't exactly get typical mental output from her.  And she looked real
confused when she showed up as well.  Asked where Dave was."
  Ron stood up.  "I'm going to call Dave and have him check out the beach to
see what the story is down there.  This is very strange."
  "No wait a minute," Will cautioned.  "What beach did you say they were at?"
  "Dave said that since Sasha needed Beverly's car that they needed him to take
them to Smuggler's Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes," Ron answered.
  "I can find it," Will replied.  "At the very end of the Harbor Freeway?"  Ron
nodded affirmatively.
  "Okay, great.  Listen, you go ahead and try to contact Dave, I think I should
pay a visit to this beach."
  Tom stood up.  "I'm gonna go with you.  This all doesn't seem quite right."
  "All right then, let's do it," Will said.

     Big white clouds blocked the sun in the blue sky enough to provide bright,
warm light without the harsh dry heat also blown away by the coastal winds. The
only two people on the beach were Amy and Beverly walking along the shoreline.
  Amy sighed contently.  "We should do this more often, Beverly."
  "February has a lot of holidays in it and I get those days off," she
reminded.  "Perhaps if the weather holds up, we can, Amy."
  Amy looked at Beverly and smiled. Down the opposite end of the beach, walking
southbound was another Amy in a pink t-shirt and jeans appearing as if she were
looking for something.  Suddenly, Beverly stopped walking which also caused Amy
to stop before she pointed.  "Amy, look!"
  Amy's eyes had opened widely when she looked directly into Amy's eyes.
  "Oh no," Amy's duplicate groaned.
  Amy, in the bikini looked at Beverly.  "What is that!?!"  Amy began to walk
towards them when suddenly, she stood still; her clothes and lit up brilliantly
causing Beverly and Amy to shield their faces.  Standing before them was then a
humanoid in what appeared to be a white wet-leather bodysuit.  Beverly and Amy
jumped back defensively.
  "It's a cyborg!" Amy angrily said.  "What's it doing here?!"
Cyborg Morpher III's plastic-like face feature crystallized eyes that began to
glow white repeatedly.
  "I don't know, but I've dealt with the ones that can shape-shift before," she
replied while putting up her fists.  "And I plan on doing away with this one in
the same way I got rid of the last one!"
  Beverly got ready to start running but Amy stopped her by holding onto her
shoulder.  "Beverly, wait!  Let me help you!"
  She turned around and looked at Amy while holding her shoulders. "If anything
were to happen to you, I would never forgive myself for letting Dave down."
Beverly turned and left Amy to run away.
  Amy held her fist while watching her charge ahead. "Be careful, Beverly!"
The sunlight shined on the ocean from the horizon to the shoreline as Beverly
and Cyborg Morpher III ran after each other on the beach.
     She jumped up into a spinning kick and Morpher III ducked
and blocked side kicks one after another.
  Even though the cyborg caught Beverly's punch, she immediately
upper-cut punched it in the abs.  Beverly used her elbow to stomp
its shoulder.
  Cyborg Morpher III came up again and punched dead ahead.  She
cartwheeled away and turned around to karate-chop against its head.
  Morpher III brought up its forearm to block her hand and hop-kicked
her arm high.
  The cyborg low-punched towards Beverly's abs and she chopped down
with her hand blocking the attempted blow.
  When Beverly punched back, Cyborg Morpher III had grabbed Beverly's
wrist and kicked her leg at the shin.  She flipped over onto her back
into the sand.  "Ugh!"
     Her legs spinning in the air, Beverly spun around on her back and
onto her hands and feet.
  The cyborg came in and pulled Beverly's body up by her shoulders as
she found her stomach catching its fist.  Cyborg Morpher III tried
again but she turned around to kick its fist away.
  Stepping in closer, she tried to restrict its arms with a hold on its
shoulders.  Morpher III grabbed Beverly's hips and then jumped into the air.
  "Woah!!" Beverly shouted as they'd flown through the sky.  The two them had
crash landed into the water.
  Running down the shore before stopping at the line of the tied, Amy screamed,
"Beverly!"  The two of them splashing about allowed made it hard for her to see
what was going on.  "Why is it still alive?"  Amy knew Morpher-class cyborgs
have never been able to survive in water before.
  Beverly had resurfaced and treaded water.  "What the?"  Beverly looked around
and the coast was clear but suddenly, she was dragged screaming beneath the
waves.
  Amy gasped.  "What happened to her?!"  Under the sea, Beverly's arms and legs
rotated in her attempt to regain control of herself.  Morpher III started
swimming through the water after her when it's outer skin became a totally
white asymorphic blob.  Beverly came up for air but she was brought back down
under the waves again.
  Cyborg Morpher III had become an octopus, with robotic limbs and a glass-like
bulb for a head; Beverly tried to swim backwards by kicking her heals and arms.
Morpher III began to eject a black oil from the base of its bulb.  This was not
merely ink, but a sticky string like gum that taped itself to the front of
Beverly's yellow swim suit.  Fussing, Beverly tried to free herself but she was
only wasting energy and time while she began to tire of holding her breath.
  Amy stood in front of the waves, taking off her beach sandals.  "I'm coming,
Beverly!"  Running down the sand, Amy had jumped into the air.
  In the sky, Amy somersaulted overhead, flipped over and dove into the beach.
Cyborg Morpher III, in the form of a robotic octopus, tried to wrap its limbs
around Amy.  She, too, was dragged beneath the surface of the beach when it
pulled her down.
  Underwater, Amy's hair was everywhere because she twisted back and forth to
free herself.  Yet another tentacle came after Amy.  Her midriff was wrapped up
by Morpher III's elongated arm.  The second tentacle tried to tie down her neck
but Amy pushed the metal goose neck appendage away; and, the metal octopus limb
tip punched her in the chest instead, breaking the undewire of her swimsuit
from the force of its attack.
  Meanwhile, the gum that Cyborg Morpher III attached to Beverly's abs held her
in place underwater.  Fighting it to keep from drowning, Beverly found no ways
to free herself from the black gum that had anchored her down.
  Morpher III attempted to tie Amy's arms down with another one of its eight
tentacles coming up from behind.  Amy, floating underwater, turned around,
grabbed it with both hands and broke Morpher III's arm on her knee.  The arm
that held Amy had suddenly came loose from temporary losing control.  Amy swam
away from the cyborg and her head came up out of the water.
  Taking deep breaths, Amy pulled hair away from her face and wiped the water
out of her her eyes. "I've gotta get Beverly out of there, she isn't gonna make
it, oowmm!!"  Her ankle was pulled by Cyborg Morpher III's metallic tentacle.
  Under the sea, Amy pounded on the tentacle that began pulling her further
deeper under water.
  Another tentacle came after her like a snake and Amy batted it away with her
hand.  The rubber tip on the long metal arm was knocked off course so it had
thrust against her shoulder.
  Beverly had run out of breath to stay under the water so, she pushed down the
shoulder straps of her yellow swimsuit and pulled her arms out.  Abandoning the
spandex, Beverly swam up to the surface.
  Amy kicked Cyborg Morpher III's tentacle off her ankle and horizontally swam
away but another tentacle reached out at her.  Amy's waist squeezed through
Morpher III's tentacle while she used her thighs to kick her legs.
  Beverly treaded water with just her head above the surface.  "Amy!?  Amy?!
Where are you!?"
Splashing was heard in the distance when Amy came up out of the water and took
deep breaths.  "Come on, Beverly, we gotta get outta here!"
  Beverly swam towards her.  "We need to contact the others."
  Amy looked around.  "Hey, where the hell did it go?"
  "I don't know," Beverly replied. "Uh oh!"  Cyborg Morpher III came out of the
tower of water bursting into the sky.  Out flying was a white robot bat that
flew around.
  "Dive!!" Amy said.  Both flipping upside down, their feet sunk under the
surface of the water.  Morpher III flew by the surface of the water as a bat.

     In the parking lot of the South Bay Galleria, Dave's red car was parked in
one of the spaces while inside, his thin cellular telephone had been ringing
continuously.  Dave moaned while waking up and when he tried to move, his body
had ached all over.  Lifting his head, a pounding headache caused Dave to
whisper, "Ow!"  It eventually dawned on him that his cell phone was ringing for
the five dozenth time so Dave reached over and pushed the talk button before
holding up the receive to his ear.  "Talk to me."
  Ron turned around in the room he shared with Will at the house holding the
telephone.  "Dave!  I've been standing here for five minutes waiting for you to
pick up the phone! Not to mention having called you at least six or seven times
already--what gives?"
  Dave strongly frowned.  "Hey, take it easy, Ron.  I'm still tryin' to get the
number to that bus that must've run into me from behind."
  "What??"
  Ron listened to Dave reply, "Figure of speech, man.  Me and my car are fine
but I've just got nasty headache; I must've fallen asleep.  Woke up too early."
  "Did you get the rings?"
  "No, they were outta stock; I was supposed to drive straight home when I left
but I guess I dozed off when I got in the car," Dave told him over his phone."
  Ron replied via his phone, "Wait a second, Dave--you called the store before
you left.  They said they had exactly the ring you were looking for and even
had called to make sure they held onto it for you, remember?"
  "Hey...  Wait a sec," Dave pondered.  "You're right.  (But...  How did),"
  Ron looked out of his bedroom window.  "Dave, when did you last see Amy?"
  "When I dropped her off at the beach but then when I parked here at the mall,
I saw her and...  Ohhh, man," Dave groaned over Ron's phone.
  Ron looked worried.  "What?  What happened?"
  "Aw God...  Amy showed up and we were making out in my car when all of a
sudden I blacked out.  Then I wake up thinking that I went into the store!"
  Ron's eyes jumped wide open.  "WHAT?  _Did_ you ever go INTO the store?"
  "Now that I think of it, I didn't," Dave answered harshly.  "Damn it!  What's
goin' on around here!?"
  "I don't know, man--but you better drive STRAIGHT home," Ron said to him via
Dave's phone.  "William and Tom are already on their way to the beach to find
out what this is all about."
  Dave started up the ignition in his car.  "I'm on my way, Ron.  Seeya."
  Ron nodded.  "Bye, Dave."  He hung up and rubbed his chin nervously.

     An artificial satellite orbited the planet Uranus.  Aboard the metallic
multi-platform station, Pleadia stood at a station behind a wall. He looked out
of a massive window that viewed a contraption in the gigantic cubic chamber
beyond the wall.  The machine suspended the Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and
Pluto solar spheres in an arrangement orbiting a special crystal.  The crystal
had a section in the center that was the shape of an eight turned sideways.  On
the ceiling descended an array of thin tubes.  These instruments would enable
Pleadia to measure and manipulate every aspect of his experimentation.
  Pleadia shook his head while looking a the dynamic meters on his console.  "I
can hardly believe the amount of power that each one of these spheres contain."
A bell had signaled him that he was being paged.  Pleadia turned around and
flipped a switch on the wall.  "Remote Station--go ahead, Local Outpost."
  "Pleadia, this is Igan.  Adol wishes a status report on experimentation on
the theoretical formulation of the Infinitum Genesis ring."
  "All calculations lead me to believe that my current reconstruction method is
as accurate as possible but without the last four solar spheres, I will not be
able to complete re-construction."
  "Understood," Igan answered.
  Pleadia flipped from receive mode to transmit mode.  "What is the status on
Cyborg Morpher III?  It's in battle mode now so it should be able to take care
of itself."
  Igan looked at Pleadia on the screen within his chamber.  "It has engaged two
of the Astrorangers--the female ones. It was forced to go into rudimentary mode
to fight them."
  "Did it find out where the Solar Spheres are?" Pleadia asked on screen.
  "Yes, Pleadia."
  Pleadia nodded.  "Good.  Have Armatons get them and bring the back there. I'm
going to prepare another cyborg to find the one inside of Earth."
  "Acknowledged, Adol will be informed immediately," Igan replied.  "Local
Outpost out."  Pleadia let go of the switch on the wall and returned to the
console.  Pleadia noticed the meters were flat.
  "Hmmm," he'd groaned.  "I need to find the right catalyst to sustain power
levels until they are self-regenerative."  Pleadia didn't have the first notion
on how to do this.
  "Oh well--back to the drawing board."

     Under the towering cliffs of the beach was the vast sandy shore while, out
in the ocean close by were Beverly and and Amy who swam to shore. Amy walked up
onto the sand.  Beverly was about to follow but Amy heard her rising and turned
around to look at here.  "Wait a minute, you lost your suit--wait there until I
can call the others."
  "I'm not gonna let you get ripped up by that cyborg if it comes back.  It had
left to go find what it was looking for before," Beverly reminded.  "It'll be
back to kill us, I just know it."
  "That is why you should stay in the water where you'll be safe and let me get
the others to back us up," Amy insisted.  "Even as Astrorangers, we wouldn't be
able to stop it alone.  Escalating the battle would be deadly."
  In the sky, the robot bat had came flying by when it it had forward flipped,
transforming back to normal again in the process.  When Cyborg Morpher III
landed on its feet, Amy defensively shifted her shoulders, preparing to fight.
  While breathing heavily, she still noticed Beverly trying to surface.  "Stop!
I'll handle this."
  A sledge hammer was pointed to the sand within Cyborg Morpher III's grip upon
raising it in front of itself, holding it with it's left hand.  Amy assumed her
Libra scales position before running after Morpher III.  Beverly treaded water,
looking concerned for Amy's life.
     Cyborg Morpher III swung down and Amy spin-kicked the hammer away.
She tumbled onto the sand to duck a sideways swing.
  Amy came up and side-kicked the cyborg's abs before punching towards
it's knobby head.  It smacked her fist away and kicked at her side.
  Amy blocked the kick and cartwheeled away from another downward swing.
     Cyborg Morpher III twisted the head of its hammer, pulling it off        
to throw into the air.  The metal end was tied to the handle that
Morpher still held by a chain.
  The metal head wrapped the chain around Amy's ankles and she looked
down at her feet and then up at the cyborg.  "Oh no!"
  Morpher III raised the handle high into the sky and pushed a button,
causing the handle to reel the head of the hammer back.
  Amy was pulled into the air and flew backwards through the sky.
The cyborg yanked the handle in another direction, causing Amy to swim
through the sky again.
  She was heading for the stone wall of the cliff when suddenly, the
chain around her ankle had been severed by sparks caused by a green arrow
shooting through the linked metal.
     Amy fell into SaturnAstro arms and the black Astroranger let her stand on
her own when JupiterAstro had joined them.  She looked at the green Astroranger
and bowed her head.  "I am so glad you got here!!  How did you know to come??"
  "We ran into your doppelganger at our place asking for Dave," SaturnAstro
answered.  "If that was what Dave came into contact with, we're lucky he is
still alive."
  Gasping, Amy put her hands in front of her nose and mouth.  "Oh my God, is
Dave all right?"
  JupiterAstro nodded.  "He's on his way back to our place."
  "Where's Beverly?" SaturnAstro asked.
  "She's still in the water," Amy answered.  "We'll need HydroCycles."
  "Deal with this cyborg, Nashiran," JupiterAstro said, "I'm gonna get
Beverly."  The green Astroranger ran out to the tide.
  SaturnAstro crossed his arms.  "Why can't I go get her?"  Amy looked up and
smacked the black Astroranger's arm.  While JupiterAstro walked away from the
ocean, Beverly had piggy-back rode on his back.
  "Problem, Aust," SaturnAstro said.
  JupiterAstro sighed while putting Beverly down behind himself.  "What?"
  "The cyborg is gone."  Amy and Beverly looked at each other with confusion.

     That mid-morning in the Los Angeles suburb of Los Feliz, Dave's red
Mitsubishi convertable rolled into the drive-way in front of the garage in the
back.  Inside of the house, Ron paced back and forth while Will stood pondering
what he'd just told him.  "Are you sure?"
  "That's what he told me on the phone."  Tom walked down the stairs into the
living room and Ron noticed him.
  Will did as well.  "How's Amy and Beverly?"
  "Miraculously, they're fine," Tom answered. "Beverly's taking a shower so she
can go to work."
  Ron looked at Will.  "So what happened out there?"
  "I'm not sure but when Tom and I arrived, Beverly had lost her..."
  Dave opened the front door and slammed it behind himself, silencing all three
of them in the living room.  They have seen Dave mad before but he was furious.
  "Dave, are you all right?" Ron asked.
  "Oh yeah, Ron.  Just peachy keen," Dave sarcastically answered.  "You know, I
think there's something mighty _sick_ about the Nazitans if you ask me."
  Will looked at him.  "Why?  What happened?"
  "I remember everything now.  (God, I can't believe I was tricked like that!)"
  "Hey, take it easy, man," Tom said.  "What happened to you?"
  Dave couldn't sit down so he finally exhaled.  "All right.  I'm getting ready
to go to the store to buy the wedding rings, right?  Well then, I get out of
the car and Amy shows up out of nowhere!  God only knows how that happened but
before I could think, we were in the back of my car and I'm not even thinking
at all.  We're just goin' at it real hot and heavy like."
  "Uh huh," Ron responded.
  "All of a sudden, she shoves something that stung like nothing else down my
shorts and then I'm out like a light," Dave recalled.
  "So then what happened?" Tom asked.
  "Well, I'm asked who I am, who Amy is and where the solar spheres are...  And
me, like an idiot, starts spewing information like there is no tomorrow.  Just
singin' like a bird.  (I swear, I must have my head snugly stuffed up my ass or
something.)"
  "Now hold on a second, it seems like to me you could have been under some
kind of strange trance," Ron said.  "There's just no way you would've just gone
and volunteered this information on your own."
  "Obviously.  But it's like I'd lost control of myself.  I was thinking: move,
get up, stop talking...  But everytime she told me something, I had no choice
but to listen and do as she said," Dave said.  "I'm telling you right now I did
NOT like that.  Not one damn iota!"
  "This isn't good you guys," Tom said.  "When Amy got out of the shower, she
told me that the cyborg they had run into was originally a look-a-like Amy.
After it forced Beverly and Amy into the water, it disappeared."
  "Wait a minute--wait a minute, what happened again?" Dave asked.
  Ron looked at him seriously.  "While you were out, someone who _looked_ like
Amy came home asking where you were."
  "She or actually, the cyborg," Tom corrected himself, "was probably searching
for the only Astroranger who would know the true location to the last three
solar spheres."
  "Which means that when the cyborg that looked like Amy had left right after
fighting Beverly and the _real_ Amy, it took the solar spheres and ran as soon
as it saw Tom and I show up at the beach," Will said.
  Dave sighed heavily.  "I don't believe this.  This is just so...  UGH!"
  "Relax, Dave," Ron consoled.  "I don't know how they ever made a duplicate
Amy.  They haven't been able to do that before."  Dave shook his head.
  "Of course, there hasn't been a cyborg like that, that could survive water
either," Tom replied.  "According to Beverly, she and it dove in together."
  Will crossed his arms and sighed.  "That's not the worst of it, guys.  Now
that the Nazitans have all but _one_ solar sphere, they are  not only that much
closer to having the Infinitum Genesis Ring, but they are going to devastate
the world searching for that final sphere."
  Tom nodded.  "There is no doubt that the Nazitans will do everything they can
to make sure they get it too.  This might very well be the most challenging
battle we will ever fight."  Dave started walking towards the front door.
  "Yeah, well," Dave grumbled, "until that happens, I'm outta here."  
  "What?  Wait a minute, Dave," Ron halted.  "Where are you going?"
  Dave opened the front door.  "Out--need to cool off.  Besides--you guys would
probably be better off without someone who can't tell the difference between
their own fianc‚ and a cyborg."  After saying that, Dave walked out the door,
slamming it behind himself.  Everybody looked at each other knowing that he was
truly mortified by the entire experience.

                                                           TO BE CONTINUED    


Next week on Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . . 

Cyborg Morpher III returns to take Beverly again so that the Astroranger battle
team will be forced to allow the Nazitans to take Earth's solar sphere. In this
attempt, the most powerful and deadly cyborg ever created attacks Los Angeles;
Cyborg Akuma!  In episode No. 48, "Begin the Final Battle"


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"Galaxy Task Force Astroranger" is a trademark of Artist Bros. Enterprises. The
above text is protected under laws of the  United States  and other  countries.
Unauthorized duplication,  distribution  or  exhibition  may  result  in  civil
liability and criminal prosecution. Copyright (c)1998 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
by  Toei Company LTD., Toei Agency, Toei International, Asahi-TV, Marvel Comics
and Ishimori Productions.                                               [TV-MA]
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