VOYAGERS!
The Voyager Chronicles – Book 2
TASTES OF FREEDOM
By Dennis A. Daugherty
DISCLAIMER: Voyagers!, and it's associated characters are registered trademarks of Scholastic Productions, James D. Parriott Productions and Universal-MCA Entertainment. This story is written and provided for entertainment purposes ONLY. No copyright infringement is intended by the author.
FORWARD
Well folks, it's been a while, but another adventure has come to fruition. I want to take this opportunity to thank those who read and reviewed the first installment of this series. I only hope this next one lives up to the standards of the first.
In this the second installment of The Voyager Chronicles series, our two Voyagers experience first hand, the trials and tribulations of those who came to this land in search of freedom. After finding no sign of civilization in their visit to Philadelphia in 1776, the two visit the Jamestown settlement and the Plymouth colony as they attempt to figure out what happened. During these visits, they see the hardships the colonist's faced as they began their lives again in this new land.
In addition, Bogg and Jeff continue building and strengthening their relationship as partners. Their friendship grows stronger with each passing day.
I guess I better stop here, otherwise I'll give away the best parts. So at this point, find a quiet place, grab a cup of hot cocoa and sit back and enjoy the ride.
Again, thank you for your interest and taking the time to enjoy my story.
Dennis
(VoyagersFan)
VOYAGERS! - The Voyager Chronicles
TASTES OF FREEDOM - BOOK 2
(Sequel to Discoveries)
By DA Daugherty (VoyagersFan)
March 2007 (Revised 05/2009)
Previous disclaimers apply
Chapter 1 – A HOT DOG IN THE BIG CITY
With Columbus' mission to discover the Americas now completed, Bogg and Jeff had left their new found friend on the beach attempting to communicate with the natives of the new world. Currently, they were flying through the time vortex well on the way to their next assignment. Or were they? Before they left, Bogg had misled his young partner into believing they were proceeding on with their next assignment. This bit of information, as Jeff would soon learn, couldn't have been further from the truth. Bogg would come to regret keeping their true destination a secret, for it soon would put him in a very awkward position with his partner.
For months, Bogg had been itching to return to Jeff's hometown of New York, ever since his last unscheduled visit there with Cleopatra. However, unlike most who visit that grand city to experience the nightlife, the shopping and the shows on Broadway, his reason for going there was quite different altogether. A Hot dog! During their last visit, Jeff had introduced his partner to this delicacy without realizing the effect it would have on him. Now, Bogg was craving one in much the same way as a pregnant lady craves her proverbial pickles and ice cream. As close as the two were, even after sharing the many experiences both past and present with each other, Bogg was all too embarrassed to tell his partner about the uncontrollable craving he had.
It was a beautiful day in the big city. The sun was shining brightly and reflected off the glass of the tall buildings in a way that made them look like giant icicles reaching up toward the sky. A warm breeze was blowing and the temperature was just right for a Fourth of July celebration. In the distance, a band could be heard playing the national anthem.
As the time portal opened, both voyagers fell ungracefully through and landed with a thud on the sidewalk.
"Owww! Couldn't the omni have chosen a softer landing place for us?" Jeff said as he picked himself up off the sidewalk. He walked over to Bogg and held out his hand to help him off the ground.
"Bogg, where are we?" Jeff asked curiously.
Bogg slipped the omni from his belt and opened it "New York City. July 4th 1976"
"Let me guess we have a red light."
"Nope, it's green!" Bogg said rather nonchalantly.
In all his travels with Bogg, Jeff knew from experience it was quite unusual for the omni to drop them in a time zone where there were no problems. Now puzzled by this strange occurrence, he continued to badger his partner.
"Ok, is there something wrong with the omni again?" Jeff asked.
"Nope, the omni is just fine."
"Then why are we here?" Jeff asked impatiently.
"Don't worry kid. There's absolutely nothing wrong." Bogg reassured. "I just wanted to come here again."
Jeff rolled his eyes. "Right…You just wanted to come here again." He said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "You can't be serious?"
"Yea kid, I just wanted to visit one more time." Bogg replied in an unconvincing manner as he turned away from his partner.
Jeff jumped in front of Bogg and put him on the spot. "Ok, Bogg…'fess up! Why are we really here? Is it a beautiful female?"
"Nope, not a woman." Bogg quipped.
Bogg looked at his partner with a somewhat shameful disposition on his face and then bowed his head.
"Uh… kid… I have been just dying for one of those…uh…you know… what did you call them? Oh yea! Hot dogs! You know, a big juicy one loaded with all the trimmings."
"C'mon Bogg! A hot dog!" Jeff exclaimed in disbelief. "You brought us all the way to New York City for a hot dog! Give me a break!"
At this juncture, the shameful disposition on Bogg's face rapidly dissipated and was replaced with a look of annoyance as he went on the defensive.
"Yea kid, I came here for a hot dog! What about it?"
Jeff threw his hands into the air. "We don't have time for this!" He exclaimed. "What about our next assignment?"
"We'll get around to it. There's plenty of time." Bogg reassured in a sort of carefree manner.
"But Bogg, we're Voyagers! We can't stop on a whim just to grab a hot dog!"
As Bogg continued to defend his position, he put both hands on his hips, looked at his partner with a raised brow and responded rather curtly.
"And why not? Kid, every Voyager is entitled to some time off every decade or two and I'm taking mine right now."
"Time off? For a Hot Dog?" Jeff shouted. "I can't believe my ears!"
"It's all in the Voyager handbook." Bogg quipped. "Kid you're a Voyager now, if you don't believe me… go look it up!"
"But I don't have a Voyager handbook!"
"That's your problem." Bogg said with contempt.
Having been thoroughly agitated by his partner, Bogg turned away and took off walking down the street.
"Bogg, where are you going?" Jeff pleaded. "Boooogggggg! Come back! Please!"
Bogg paid no attention to his partner and just kept on walking. During this time he began to reflect on the current situation. He knew what he had done was wrong and his conscience was rubbing his nose into it with passion. He would have never dreamed this situation could have ever sparked the argument they just had. Bogg knew he had to put an end to this once and for all, but had to be very careful with regard to how he went about it. "But how?" He thought. "If I come across too harshly it will hurt Jeff's feelings and that would do neither of us any good."
"Bogg!" Jeff cried out from the distance. "You are not going to leave me here, are you?"
For Bogg, the answer finally presented itself. The powers that be had put one more ace up his sleeve and the time had come to play it. "I've got it!" He thought. Clenching his jaw to keep a straight face, he immediately stopped in his tracks, whirled about and pointed his finger at Jeff.
"Kid, it's either a hot dog for me…or…a trip to Siberia for you! Which would you prefer?" Bogg admonished with just a hint of a smile coming through.
Being caught totally off guard by his partner's actions, Jeff stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, mesmerized, his mouth wide open. After a time he regained his senses and quickly began to re-examine his position. He had been to Siberia once before and he knew all too well it was the last place he ever wanted to visit again.
"Bogg…Uh…never mind what I said. If you want a hot dog, then by all means you shall have it!" Jeff conceded.
Immediately a large smile came across Bogg's face. "I knew you would see it my way."
"Like I really had a choice in the matter." Jeff mumbled.
Bogg waved to his partner and without hesitation Jeff sprinted to catch up with him. Now at his partner's side, Jeff put his arm around him and attempted to atone for his less than stellar behavior.
"I'm sorry Bogg. I didn't mean to upset you."
Bogg kneeled in front of him and looked him squarely in the eye.
"Kid, I'm sorry too. I should have told you the truth instead of hiding it from you. It was wrong of me to do so. I hope you will forgive me."
Jeff again put his arm around Bogg and reassured him. "It's ok Bogg, really. I forgive you. How could I ever be mad at you?"
"Thanks, kid" Bogg said as he smiled at his partner and stood up.
"There's a hot dog out there with your name on it and I know just where to find it!" Jeff exclaimed. "I know a place not too far from here where they have the biggest and best hot dogs in the city. C'mon, I'll take you there."
The two, in search of the ideal hot dog, continued their journey down the street until they arrived at a little corner eatery.
"Well, here it is!" Jeff announced. "This is the place."
"What, this little place?" Bogg asked skeptically. "Are you sure?"
"Yea, Bogg. Don't let the looks of it fool you. My dad and I used to come here all the time." Jeff acknowledged. "It may be small, but they have the best hot dogs and sandwiches around."
"I'll defer to you, kid." Bogg conceded.
Not wasting any time, the two strolled over to the window and placed their orders. Bogg ordered the obvious, a hot dog with all the trimmings and Jeff ordered a gyro. Once the food was ready, they picked it up and went over to a small table and sat down.
For some time you could hear a pin drop as both Voyagers devoured their food. In the midst of their hearty appetites, Jeff couldn't resist the urge to tease his partner once again. He put down his sandwich and glanced at Bogg
"I still can't believe you brought us here for a hot dog!"
Bogg laughed. "Kid, I just couldn't help myself. I've been dying for one of these for months and it just got the best of me."
"Well, I'm actually glad we came here." Jeff acknowledged. "It's nice to be back in my old hometown, even if it's only for a little while."
"I figured you would enjoy coming back here." Bogg said warmly. "You know kid; I haven't forgotten this is where you grew up."
"Yea, this is my old stompin' ground alright." Jeff said before taking a bite of his sandwich. "There are quite a lot of memories here, good ones and bad ones."
Upon hearing this, Bogg took a moment to pass on some of his rarely spoken words of wisdom to his partner.
"I know Jeff. We all have memories. However, we have to learn to cherish the good ones and let go of the bad ones." He said with a father-like tone. "The good ones make us strong and the bad ones make us weak."
Jeff sat there silent for a while, obviously digesting Bogg's recent food for thought. He took another bite of his sandwich, sat back in his chair and began to reminisce about his childhood in the big city.
"You know, Bogg… Mom, Dad and I lived just a couple of streets over from here. It was a very close-knit community and a really great neighborhood to grow up in. It was a place where everyone knew everybody. Of course, this can be a BIG problem for a little kid when he gets into trouble. News travels fast and when you are in trouble, it travels even faster."
Bogg grinned. "I take it you were quite the mischievous little kid."
"Yea, I was the typical kid. If trouble was around, no doubt I'd find it."
"Anyway. I remember in the afternoon after school, several of my friends and I would pick teams and play ball out in the street until dinnertime."
"Baseball?" Bogg asked.
"Yep. Baseball."
"Sometimes when dad would come home early from work, he would come out and play along with us. He was always trying out some crazy new pitch he had developed. With some of those pitches, he would do a wind-up like he was going to throw the ball halfway around the world. Well, sometimes his ideas worked and sometimes they didn't. But it didn't matter, because all my friends thought he was so cool. "
Bogg took a bite of his hot dog and responded.
"Jeff, I would have loved to have met your dad."
"He was a great guy." Jeff said lovingly. "He would have loved to have met you. I can just imagine him talking your ear off about your experiences as a Voyager. You two would have become such great friends."
"I bet he could have taught me a few things as well. " Bogg said.
"Speaking of teaching…I remember those days when he would take me to work with him. Talk about an experience! I would follow him around from class to class all day long, sit in the back of the room and listen to his lectures on history. That's what sparked my interest in the subject."
"So now I know why you are a walking history book." Bogg teased. "Wow! A little kid, getting college level history lessons. Talk about impressive."
Jeff continued. "One day when I was sitting in one of his classes, dad posed a question to the group. He looked around the room and waited patiently for someone to raise their hand, but no one ever did. When no one responded, he stood up, walked around in front of his desk and asked, 'Isn't there someone here who knows the answer?' Suddenly, he pointed to me. 'How about the little guy in the back of the room?'"
Bogg continued to be intrigued by Jeff's story. "Then what happened?"
"Well, talk about being put on the spot. The whole class turned 'round and stared at me. Luckily this was an easy question for me to answer. I stood up, looked straight at him and blurted out the answer. I wish you could have seen the looks on their faces. They were priceless. Of course, my dad in his usual cool and professional manner responded, 'Thank you Mr. Jones. You have earned your 'A' for the day.' That's one thing I loved about my dad. On campus, he was very professional, but when he was at home, he was the ultimate cool, laid-back dad."
"What about your mom?" Bogg asked. "Tell me about her. What was SHE like?"
"Well, mom… she was the best. She…" Jeff paused for a moment as tears began to well up in his eyes. His feelings of loss were once again coming to the surface.
Bogg saw the hurt in his partner's eyes and in an attempt to show his support and compassion for his loss, put his hand on Jeff's shoulder.
"It's ok. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Bogg reassured.
"No Bogg. I'm ok. Now where was I. Oh…ok. Mom, she was a coordinator, a leader, a mentor and a friend. Her primary job was to keep Dad and I on the straight and narrow." Jeff chuckled. "and she knew it too. When she wasn't busy with the two of us, she was deeply involved with her charity work and her hobbies, one of which was camping."
"Camping?" Bogg asked. "I take it she must have truly loved the great outdoors."
"Yep. Some of the best times we had as a family was those times when we all went camping. Once a month, on a Friday afternoon, we would load up all our gear in the station wagon and head off to the wilderness to spend the weekend. At first, Dad and I were rather green when it came to camping, but we learned quickly. Mom was the expert and knew everything there was to know about surviving in the great outdoors. If need be, she could pitch a tent with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back."
"Sounds like your mom was quite an adventurer." Bogg said as he took a sip of his drink. "That must be where you get it from."
"Yea, I guess so. But where mom was the adventurer in our family, Dad and I were the explorers. On a whim, we would take off on a hike through the woods looking for anything interesting. We would look for things that were tied to events in history. You know, like certain landmarks, arrowheads or fragments of other relics. My dad may have been a history professor, but he also had a real interest in archeology. Sometimes, I thought of him as another Indiana Jones. All he needed was a hat and a whip."
"Indiana Jones? Who was he?" Bogg asked innocently.
"He was a character from the movies. Indy was a college professor, historian and archeologist who was always on a quest to find history's lost artifacts. You know things like the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, and such. While doing so, he would go on some of the most adventurous journeys, meet up with some really evil foes and fall in love with of the most beautiful women."
Bogg grinned as he cocked his head and rubbed his chin.
"Hmmmm…Sounds a lot like me, don't you think?" Bogg teased. "I believe I'd look good in a hat. Of course the whip would just be like icing on the cake."
"Somehow, I just knew you were going to say something like that." Jeff said sarcastically. After pausing for a moment from his long narrative, he took another bite of his sandwich."
As Jeff continued to relate the events of his past to his partner, Bogg's conscience began to bother him. He still felt bad about the prank he had played on Jeff during their last mission. Most especially the undue stress he had put him through. Bogg wanted very much to atone for his bad deed. "But how?" He thought. For days this question had overshadowed his every thought.
Like a bolt of lightning, Jeff's reminiscing had given him an idea! As long as they had been together, Jeff had spoken on several occasions of his love for camping. Whenever the subject was brought up, his eyes would light up and he would talk about it for hours on end. It was now apparent to Bogg that Jeff, not unlike his mom, had a passion for the great outdoors. By his estimate, it had been quite a few years since the kid had been camping and it was now time to change that.
Once they finished eating, Bogg reached over and squeezed Jeff's shoulder.
"Hey, how was the food?" Bogg asked.
"Great, really great! I'm glad we came here. I haven't had a gyro like that in years." Jeff boasted.
"Kid, I think it's time that you and I go on a little vacation. You know, get away from it all and clear our heads."
"A vacation! Where are we going?" Jeff asked excitedly.
"That, young man is a secret!" Bogg replied while attempting to sidestep the question. He looked to his partner and began to speak to him in his best gangster voice. "I'd tells ya, but then I'd haf to put ya on ice. Got it."
Jeff began to laugh. "Not another secret destination?" He said in disbelief.
"Yea, it's another secret destination." Bogg replied. "I promise you will love it!"
"Shouldn't we get a few things to take with us?" Jeff asked. "You know, if you're going to the beach, you can't forget the suntan lotion and the beach chairs."
"Oh, we won't need those where we are going." Bogg reassured. "Everything we need is right there waiting for us."
Jeff paused, his mind now working with the speed and precision of an atomic clock. "If we're not going to need those…" He thought. "We must be going someplace cold. Oh no! He's taking me to Siberia!"
"Please Bogg! Not another trip to Siberia!" Jeff pleaded.
"No, not Siberia." Bogg reassured. "But as I said, you'll love it."
"Whew! What a relief! You had me worried there for a moment."
Bogg reached over and tickled his partner in the ribs. "So you're not up for another trip there, huh? I am soooooooooo disappointed." He said jokingly.
Jeff squirmed. "Quit it Bogg!" He said as he chuckled. Bogg stopped his teasing and upon regaining his composure, his partner asked. "Ok, when do we leave?"
"Right now, if you want. But first…you must close your eyes and keep them closed until I tell you when."
Jeff closed his eyes tightly. "Ok Bogg, they're closed!"
Bogg put out his arm to his partner. "Now grab hold of my arm."
Jeff put his hand on his partner's arm. "Ok, Bogg, I'm ready."
Bogg set the omni. He pushed the button and they were on their way.