Spoilers: Uniquely Trip

The Team Nobody
by Selma McCrory
copyright 2001

I feel so stupid sometimes. Oh, I know that Circuit will try to cheer me up, assure me that all beings make mistakes. It's just that I want to be admired, too, and that doesn't happen easily when you're the worst fighter of the team. Yeah, I'm the team techie. The team nerd, in twenty-first century slang. My expertise is different from the rest; they pound mutants with so much flair that I just don't stand out most of the time. What do I do? I get Circuit kidnapped by Nadira, and then today I try to pull off a move and get hurt! I can't even get a girl, not like Lucas!

It hit home today when I saw those kids playing. It was just like I feared, that the other four were popular, not me. I'm the team nobody, the one who's out of action because of the stunt I pulled. Jen has no idea how badly she hurt me when she commanded me to stay there, never mind that she's my superior officer and has every right to do that.

Why did I ever come when Jen told the four of us that she had a plan to capture Ransik? A plan that involved stealing the only currently functioning time ship and going to an unknown time with no support? A time that has never heard of my people and where I'm forced to blend in, this asian punk with green hair? That's what people in this time see when they see me. There are no aliens on this world, apart from a visit from some Aquitians a couple of years ago. A short, weak guy with an orange jacket and green pants, futilely trying to hide green hair. An abortive attempt to be cool.

At least back home they could compensate for my weakness. Here, I'm worth nothing, despite what Circuit says. A liability to the team, and they know it. They have to keep me on for the same reason that Jen was eventually forced to accept Wes as a member of the team: we're the only ones who can do our jobs. Thanks to the DNA lock on the morphers, I can't just leave here. I'm stuck in this century, I'm stuck on this team, and sometimes I think it'll only get worse.

I've got to get in there, even if it means disobeying Jen's orders. I have to help. I have no choice. The team has no choice. But what can the team techie, the team nerd, the team nobody, do?