Original air date: March 20, 1998.
Earth, March 16, 2018. An outpost in a disclosed location houses the crew of Cyberproject Gamma, all except one person.
Bryan Stone: This is the personal log of project leader Bryan Stone. Scientific discoveries have already made contact with innerspace and outerspace. Even the ocvean floor is not left untouched by human hands. There is but one realm has yet to be discovered by the eyes of humans: a realm known as Cyberspace. Originally, there was a plot to send humans into Cyberspace. I didn't know how far that plot would send me from home.
Lt. Katsuhiro Koike: (sighs)
(Project leader Bryan Stone enters)
Bryan: You wanted to see me, sir?
Koike: Yes. You remember that satellite you launched?
Bryan: Yes; that was the pinnacle of the CPG. Those were your words exactly.
Koike: Well... I take those words back. (Brings up visual on monitor) As we speak, viral infections are plaguing our probes. All the data we have created has been erased.
(Virus code appears)
Bryan: Wait a minute... I've memorized all of Cyberproject's codes... That isn't one of them. At least, not from our computers.
Koike: Then who?
Bryan: Well, I recognized the code as coming from a system at the Namrock Industry building.
Koike: (thinks for a minute) Did you not use to work for Namrock?
Bryan: Well, not voluntarily, I have to admit, but it is true that I made that satellite before I joined the Cyberproject. In fact, it's because of that satellite that I'm working here. (flashback sequence) When Eli Namrock disappeared mysteriously I had a chance to escape to the Cyberproject. Everyone who was working on the satellite did. A couple of weeks later, the Cyberproject joint venture began, and I was hired on the spot. I haven't left the compound ever since.
Koike: Then it can't be one of us. The question is, how do we get rid of the virus?
Bryan: I am way ahead of you, sir.
(The scene switches from Command Central to Brian's personal quarters.)
After programming the probes for interactive travel, I did a little side project based on a classic television format that originated in Japan, eventually spreading throughout the world. Tell me, Koike, are you familiar with the term "chou sentai"?
Koike: I think I remember it from my youth in Japan. My favorite was always that one with the dinosaurs... umm... what was it?
Bryan: Dinosaur Task Force ZyuRanger, 1992.... Way before my time.
Koike: But tell me, what do Japanese teenagers in color-coded helmets and spandex jumpsuits have to do with your "side project"?
Bryan: I did a little research and I found this. (pulls out a FileCoin.) This is the Filecoin of Jupiter. There are four just like it, but they were all stolen, and eventually destroyed. The research tells of an immense filetype protocol embedded within the coin, but I never figured out how to decode it, until now.
Koike: Interesting...
Bryan: Wait.. there's more. I develooped a way to use the Coin to tap into CyberSpatial programs without risking erasures from the Namrock viruses. (Hands Koike a wrist-mounted device.) This is called a Cyber Loader. With the right Filecoin, it will chane the wearer into what I'd like to call a "GammaRanger," member of the Cyberspace Task Force.
Koike: Cyberspace task force... An ingenious plan... But if my memory serves me correctly, were the Filecoins not stolen from your father's lab some twenty years ago?
Bryan: True... But I plan on getting them back.
Koike: (Frustrated) I'd like to hear how.
Bryan: I don't know.. But there has to be a way... Maybe the pilots aboard the satellite.
(Silence.)
Koike: I will try to establish communication with them. I hope we can get to them before the viruses do.
(Back in Command Central, some loud buzzing and disconnection takes place, until they finally make contact.)
Koike: Crew... (buzzing) This is Katsuhiro Koike of Cyberproject Gamma... Please respond...
(Nothing.)
Please respond! It is urgent!
(A sinister voice responds.)
Voice: Terminate communication.
Koike: What?
Voice: There is no crew on this vessel. Terminate communication or I will be forced to infect your entire system...
Koike: This is Lieutenant Koike. I want to speak to the crew.
Voice: And I want you... dead. Now terminate!
(A silent hush falls over the Cyberproject crew. From the newly-named Satellite Namrock, the life essence of the crew was "deleted" and used to materialize four beings from the "Namrock virus." As they begin to form their plot against the Userworld, a dark figure looms in the darkness.)
Lord Namrock: Phase one is complete. My minions from Cyberspace have materialized nicely. And, what is more, none of the Users are the wiser of their impending doom. Galevan, report!
Galevan: We intercepted a strange communication, but thankfully for us. I terminated it.
Namrock: Good. Continue the plan.
Galevan: Shall I take Chouzo and attack the Userspace?
Namrock: Not just yet. We need to give our little User friends... a test. See if their world is as defenseless as we make them to be. For this we need warriors.
Chouzo: I'll get Rhexus on our development.
Namrock: The Users... (turns toward screen) All these years, they have used our power for their own purposes... I think it's the time... For a little payback.
(Sinister laughter fills the room and fades to the G-Project Command Central.)
Koike: I have declared a state of emergency under your command. Stone, with your leadership and my tutelage, GammaRanger project has now begun. I am willing to send you back to look for volunteers and the Filecoins, but there is a damaging risk. If I send you back, ther might be a chance that you would coexist with yourself on a smaller scale. This occurrence could cause a rift in the Space-Time Continuum that would permanently erase you from existence. (Opens a wormhole.) With full knowledge of this, do you still want to take that risk?
Bryan: (stands before wormhole) That is not a option. I started it; now I have to end it.
(A gate of flashing light and color gets stronger as Bryan prepares to jump into it.)
Koike: Good journey to you, with hopes for a safe return. And if not, then may God have mercy on your soul.
Bryan: Come on... It's not like I'm getting executed...
Koike: I'm just saying is all.
(With a blinding blast, Bryan isinstantly sucked into the vortex. When the ride was over, Bryan found himself twenty years in the past, our present time. A stranger in his own land. Unfortunately, danger follows him as well.)
Namrock: (watching from his satellite) So, the little User went back into the twentieth century. I never knew he was so clever... or so stupid. This gives me the opportunity to eliminate him before he can cause any further damage.
Rhexus: Lord, the Balzac are ready. Warriors of supreme strength, just like you asked.
Namrock: Ahh, there we are.. My own fighting drones. Chouzo, take them and Galevan and follow him through the time portal.
Chouzo and Galevan: Aye, sir. (Runs off)
Namrock: And hurry while it's still open!
(On Earth, March 16, 1998)
Bryan: (thinking) A stranger in a strange land, yet I was so familiar with these surroundings. I know I must be careful, because if I wasn't then the whole world could be at risk. The fae of humanity depends on what I have started. And I'll only find the answers I seek, when find the coins.
(Meanwhile, from behind, a band of Balzac Warriors prepare to storm Bryan.)
Chouzo: Behind you...
(Bryan turns around and gets his butt beat by a Balzac. Bryan tries to fight back and succeeds, only to fall again. Then he turns to his last resort.)
Bryan: You... The Viruses... What the hell?
Galevan: Hell? You should be so lucky, User...
Bryan: (to himself) No time to test it. I'll just have to see what happens.
(He pulls out his Filecoin and places it inside the Cyber Loader.)
Jupiter file.... DOWNLOAD!!!
(In an instant, he is engulfed in red light and energy. The Henshin sequence appears on the screen on his Cyber Loader. He transforms into RedJupiter, the first of the GammaRanger.)
(From a distance, two onlookers watch as RedJupiter begins to fight all the Balzac, but then witness something wrong. One of the onlookers is wearing a blue flannel shirt over a white t-shirt with blue jeans. The other one is wearing a light blue tank top and white pants.)
Galevan: Sure you may have had a chance with the Balzac, but how could you do against me, champion of Cyberspace!
(Galevan and RedJupiter begin fighting. With one lucky whack, Galevan manages to knock out RedJupiter. Chouzo is about to apply the death blow, when suddenly...)
Galevan: No, leave him. We have more pressing matters to attend to with Namrock. (The two dematerialized back onto the Satellite, leaving RedJupiter for dead as he reverts.)
Bryan: unhhh... rrgg...
(The two onlookers approach Bryan's body.)
Boy: Are you alright?
(no responce.)
Laura, call 9-1-1.
Laura Mendes: Gotcha.
Bryan: (thinking) Here I lie. My quest over before it even began. As helpless as the ground I lie myself on.
For comments on this episode, or teasers for the next episode, mail the author at dralexan@email.unc.edu.
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