Voyagers: Tunnels of despair and tracks of hope
Chapter 1
New York City, 1905
"Bogg, why won't you let me come with you? I'm cooped up in the hotel all day. It's so boring. I feel useless on this voyage!" Jeffrey Jones begged his partner.
"Because the rules are no kids allowed, and anything can happen down there. You heard what the guys said. And you're not useless, kid. This is my job for now, I'll be up when my shift ends. Are you sure you can get to the piers by yourself when it's over?"
Jeffrey kicked debris beside the tunnel entrance. "I'm sure, Bogg, this is still my turf, even if it's 1905. I don't understand why it's a red light, or why you even have to be down there. You're not a sandbagger, you have no idea what you're doing!"
Phineas Bogg ran his hand through his wavy, dark blonde hair. He crossed his arms frustrated. "You must think I have a head full of sand! I'm a grown man and I know how to follow directions. If you don't want me to treat you like a little kid, then stop treating me like an imbecile, okay, Jeffrey?"
The gritted words and warning glare in Phineas' bright blue eyes compelled Jeffrey to hold his tongue. He backed away from further confrontation with his tired partner. Phineas had taken on the role of sandbagger for the last three days. Seeing he was young and able-bodied, the contractors signed him to the arduous job with no questions asked. They needed more workers to make their deadline.
Jeffrey was secretly frightened out of his wits to watch his partner enter the depths of the unstable tunnels below the river. He lowered his eyes and sighed.
"Okay, Bogg. I'm sorry. Just don't get hurt, please?"
Phineas tucked his cap under his arm and knelt to Jeffrey's level. He held his shoulder. "Jeff, I'll be fine. The omni landed us in this area of New York City for a reason. It might involve the sandbaggers, it might not. I'm banking on it that it does. But without my Guidebook and you not sure of the current history, we're stuck. Not to mention that I don't know anything going on here either, but that's a given, right?"
Jeffrey narrowed his eyes. "Don't trick me into agreeing with that one, Bogg. Just because you don't know much about history, you're not dumb."
Phineas chuckled. "Thank you, but as a matter of fact, I do know history, a lot of it, just not the way you were taught."
"Come on, Bogg. You barely know Eisenhower from Einstein." Jeffrey rolled his eyes.
"Hum. The history I know, I won't tell, because it'll probably disillusion you. Maybe one day I'll write my own history book." He grinned.
"That'll be the day! But I'd love to read it." Jeffrey smiled at the thought. "I bet it'd be hilarious."
"Yeah, I'm a pretty funny guy. I'll put it on my to-do list when I retire from the field."
"I have to wait that long?"
"We don't have time to be writing history when we're traveling from era to era making it. Well, fixing it anyway. After this voyage I'm going back to VHQ to get that Guidebook. It's about time we had one."
"I guess so. I'm sorry I'm no help."
"Jeff, you can't know everything about history." He nudged him and winked. "You're allowed a mistake now and then. Just don't make it a habit, okay?"
The workman's bell rang and Phineas hugged him quick. "They're calling me. Please don't get lost. You have some money, do a little sight-seeing if you want."
Jeffrey's eyes widened. "Are you serious? You'll let me do that?"
"You want me to stop babying you, don'tchya?"
"Heck yeah!"
"Then here's your chance. You have to investigate like I told you. I trust you not to get in trouble. And keep the omni out of sight."
Phineas didn't have much time to carry on conversation with all the noise and labor in the tunnels. The rumors of subway tragedies swirled around him, but he wasn't sure where the real history was altered. He hoped Jeffrey could get to the bottom of the situation.
Jeffrey shoved it into the deep pocket of his brown overcoat. The weather was still chilly in late March. He patted it down securely.
"No problem, Bogg! Thanks!"
Phineas looked around wistfully. "Ya know, when I was your age I used to travel around on foot for miles…literally on foot."
"I remember you said your family were poor, peat bog farmers in Norway. I can't imagine working without shoes."
"Work? I did everything barefoot. I used to sneak off to the seaside every chance I got to watch the ships. The lure of the sea was too strong for me to stay…among other reasons." Phineas' expression darkened and Jeffrey noticed a wave of sadness overtake him. But his partner shrugged the emotions off before Jeffrey could question him.
"All that's over with! We have to focus on the present. Uh…past…well, ya know. I gotta run. You be careful." Phineas turned and jovially greeted his grungy and tough-as-nails co-workers.
Jeffrey waited until they all made their way down the Joralemon street North tube tunnel entrance by the East River. Phineas Bogg had become part of grand history in the making–the creation and building of one of New York City's famed subway tunnels. It was a mode of transportation that in a green light zone would eventually spread confidence and a hope for a better and more integrated New York.
The Voyagers discovered that the entire New York subway project was dwindling, and the city had sold back most of the rights to private companies. New York was losing faith in the project as a whole, and certain subway lines that'd recently been built were being abandoned left and right. The city was falling into bankruptcy from trying to fill in those tunnels over again and there was not enough manpower for the job.
The people of early twentieth century New York had lost interest in the whole enterprise. That was a giant red light, but the Voyagers needed an exact time, place and date.