The Voyager's Aide: The Disappearance
Story II
Chapter 3: Alterations
Voyager Joseph Howell couldn't explain it, well, in actuality he could, but to see it happen before his own eyes was like a devastating nightmare. He was sitting in the lush picnic area of Voyagers Headquarters reviewing his notes for his study group with Voyager Olivia Dunne. Aside from work, they casually chatted about her recent voyages. Joseph was no stranger to fieldwork, but the tribunal had decided he would better serve the cause using his smarts and enigmatic teaching skills for a few terms at Headquarters. In the last five years, he was also promoted to head librarian of the vast Voyager Archives and Phineas assigned him second-in-command of Pioneer. Although he enjoyed his position immensely, he couldn't shake off the sinking feeling that persons of certain ethnic backgrounds were limited among field workers.
Joseph once voiced his thoughts to the council in a respectable fashion and they told him the truth. There were many cases where an ethnic or a black Voyager like himself, had to be limited to their own confines of earthly history. It wasn't prejudice on the part of the council, but rather a unanimous decision made because of the maltreatment and discrimination that minorities suffered in the fieldwork. Many had lost their lives for the cause due to the racism that inflicted certain time zones of history. Joseph was humble enough to accept this answer. Being a zealous student of history, and from the twentieth century, he was able to relate to the struggles that his fellow Voyagers had went through. Council member Kane told him some of his own poignant tales of being a young, black, fieldworker. literally at first, in Revolutionary war era Kentucky, and then later as a Voyager.
"A black man from the old South will never escape that title." He often joked.
There were times when what could have been a quick fix of a red light turned into a dramatic affair because the said 'victim' or 'notable personage' could or would not accept help from a black man or even a female. Joseph started taking note of all the experiences from ethnic Voyagers and oppressed groups. He was compiling facts and tips for a new course book he entitled, 'Talk like the white man: A Voyager's guide to ethnic harmony beyond the cosmos.' While the Council disapproved of the first part of the title, they green-lighted the publication and it was halfway through completion.
Joseph enjoyed being in the company of Olivia Dunne. He was fascinated with her point of view and life experiences as a pilot. She was a no-nonsense young woman from the nineteen twenties and understood the struggle for equality. In 1930, Olivia was poised to be the first woman to make the solo flight across the Atlantic, but her plane engine failed her. At twelve thousand feet, she began to nose-dive, her view obscured by gray clouds and fog. She was speeding down like a bullet and was forced to kick the rudder into a spin. Olivia came down in a spiral, letting gravity take over. At less than one thousand feet, and resigned that she was going to crash to her death, an intense white light nearly blinded her and she woke up in Voyager's Headquarters. Amelia Earhart took the title, as history told the tale.
-O-
"Hey Joe, you gonna eat that sandwich or what? That's a prime roast I made. You didn't come by food like that easily in the Great Depression."
"Okay, Liv, I'm eating, I'm eating. It's really good." Joseph fibbed between rough chews and resumed his questions. "So tell me, what feelings did you have when they first turned you down for the pilot's license?"
"Hmm, I was livid, Joe. I mean, I worked my tail off to raise enough money to buy my first little plane, and then pay for the courses. It didn't help with all the sexual harassment either. Basically, I demanded to be treated as an equal and after a while…and a few black eyes and swollen guts, they got the point."
"Haha! I've seen your fists in action around here, I'm glad I never got popped in the eye."
"Now why would I do that to you, Joe? You've been so kind to me, not a show off like Bogg."
"Bogg? A show off? He's cocky all right, but I didn't get that impression. I was already in the field when he started school anyway. Maybe he was just immature then."
"Then? Ha!"
"Tell me the truth, Olivia. What are your real feelings for him? This is off the record of course."
Olivia sipped her lemonade and then looked deep into Joseph's warm, brown eyes. She never realized what an attractive man he was and how comfortable she felt around him and his sweet, wide smile. She was very jealous when Kayla Shepherd first revealed her relationship with Phineas, but she knew why he was attracted to her. Phineas always went for the pretty ones and Kayla was one of those women who could roll out of bed and still be beautiful, a gal from the 'Fabulous Fifties.' When Olivia and Phineas shared kisses on the Titanic and later in Paris, it was a like a dream come true. Olivia shouldn't have expected much more to come of it, considering their distance. The next time she saw Phineas was at the first Pioneer meeting, and by then, she knew his heart belonged to someone else.
"Joseph, it doesn't really matter anymore, I think he's found the best woman for him, we would just constantly fight and disagree. Kayla is a sweet one, she has a good head on her shoulders, but most importantly, she's not obsessive about competing with him. I think that belligerent spirit in me would hamper any relationship Bogg and I might have. It already did, with Pasteur and everything…it goes way back to school."
Joseph took her hand sympathetically. "You know Liv, I don't think you're belligerent. Your background toughened you up to men…but…you don't have to fight and compete with every guy."
He stopped talking and they just stared at each other.
"You really mean that, Joe?"
"Sure, our circumstances in life often shape our personalities, but that doesn't mean we can't change for the better. Maybe sometimes you just need to soften up a little, because I think you're a very attractive woman."
"Thank you, I haven't heard a compliment like that in...a very long time." When Joseph saw her hazel eyes moisten and her nose turn pink, a warm feeling crept into his cheeks. He was about to reach out and give her a comforting hug and the nightmare occurred.
Olivia's eye widened and she thrashed around. She fell off the bench onto her back, pulling at her face and then her arms and ankles. Olivia had never felt such pain in her life; Her breath came out in ragged spurts and she vaguely heard Joseph shouting for a Medic. When she was talking to him, a sharp memory of being on the Titanic struck her. At first she thought it was because they discussed Bogg, but the scene in her mind changed. She was extremely close to snatching the Mona Lisa from Garrity and his men, but they caught her and locked her in his cabin. However, Bogg came…
Her mind went into a spin. Who was Bogg? She remembered him…her classmate, her rival…a dear friend…no, who was Bogg? She didn't have time to dwell on the image of the handsome man that slowly faded into darkness. Garrity's men tossed her overboard bound and gagged from the Titanic, into the frigid waters.
Joseph held Olivia up in his lap, and rubbed her head. Her skin felt like ice. He knew right away something happened in the time line. The Voyager Medics rushed to their side and lifted her on the stretcher. She grabbed Joseph's arm and her nails dug into his skin.
"Titanic! Joe! The Mona Lisa is lost! Bogg is… gone! Help me! I can't get the ropes off, the sack…can't breathe! I'm cold!"
"Olivia! Hold on!"
The stinging sensation of her nails ceased and he looked down in shock as she faded away. That had never happened before on Planet Voyager. The Medics nearly dropped the stretcher and ran back to the hospital. Pandemonium was building up on the campus and Joseph saw a large group of Voyager technicians race into the Omni Control Center, shouting the critical words–
"Breach! Breach! Code Red to the OCC! Code Red!"
Joseph ran with the crowd into the OCC and flashed the guard a VIP badge that allowed him full access. He gaped at the Omnibus, a twenty-foot wide tracking radar at the front of the white room. All across the board red lights sprang up from every time zone. He ran to the head of the Omni unit, Bobby Peters, a tall and friendly Australian man.
"Bobby! What's going on here? Olivia Dunne is gone! She faded before my eyes! She said something about Bogg and the Titanic!"
"Titanic is the least of our problems mate! Bogg was the first to go on the radar but the crazy thing is, his whole history comes up green! We can't place where or when there was an alteration, a minute later we lost track of Jones, Sheppard, Saunders, Dunne, everything is going topsy-turvy here!"
A young and attractive technician came up to them, her hands clenched her clipboard until her knuckles turned white. She had an expression of pure anxiety on her face.
"Umm, Bobby…we have another problem. All the red lights on the time line are turning green, we're losing track of where Voyagers Bogg and Jones made corrections!"
Bobby ran to the Omnibus and turned to the technician seated at the console. "Quick, keep making screen captures, we need to know what missions they had accomplished."
"We already started that sir!"
"Good! Get a message out to start sending any available Voyagers to the red light locations!"
"Copy that, sir!"
Joseph got on his communicator and spoke to a librarian at the Archives. "Christina, I need you to start compiling all the paper data we have on Voyagers Phineas Bogg, Jeffrey Jones and Olivia Dunne! Get everyone on it. It's an emergency!"
Bobby faced him. "Joseph, get Pioneer together and hurry! There is a possibility that we can locate Jones and the others before the time flux period passes. It's a good thing we still have their files on paper.'
"What happens when the time flux passes, Bobby?" Joseph demanded. "Why is this happening?"
Bobby rubbed his hand through his hair, his expression somber.
"Something went wrong with Bogg, it must have! If we can get to Jones and everyone before the time flux, we can use whatever memories they have to correct these alterations. If we don't, then we're going to lose them all forever, and their alternate memories will fade like mere dreams."
Joseph gasped. He tried to keep his emotions in check as flipped open his communicator.
-O-
Regina Montgomery-Sheppard had awakened with a bad feeling that morning and it continued to disturb her into the afternoon. She came in from the cafeteria with lunch for her and her husband, John Henry. She opened the door to their housing complex and groaned. John Henry was still sleeping, his body draped across the bed with his long legs hanging off. She came to his side of the bed and nudged him, then rubbed his back.
"Baby, it's time to get up, it's half past twelve. I brought us some lunch. I haven't had a chance to do any food shopping."
John Henry rolled over and opened his eyes, blinking to clear away his double vision. He knew it was late, but his sleep was disturbed most of the night. Regina was ever keen to his feelings and questioned him.
"Baby, what's wrong? I know you had trouble sleeping, because I did. You were mumbling things about the Brooklyn Bridge and Kayla. I'm worried John."
"Hey darlin', what gave me away?" He sat up and pulled the covers off of him, hunching over the edge of the bed.
"Your brow, whenever you're confused or upset you have deep groove right in the middle, it's cute…but I don't like you to be that way."
He smiled and kissed her. "Oh yeah, that thing. What's worrying you?"
"You were dreaming the same thing as me last night…and I was dreaming of Phineas Bogg."
John Henry stood up and flexed his broad muscles. He grabbed for a bath towel and stepped into the shower.
"Woah, Darlin'! You were dreaming about Phineas? Fine thing to tell your husband when he wakes up after such a beautiful night."
"John! It's not that! I just have this feeling something is wrong. I can't explain it, but I feel like…I'm having two memories. It started just before when I was on the cafeteria line. I heard something about a breach in the OCC."
After adjusting his water settings, he stuck his head out from the curtain. "Two memories, huh?" He paused to finish soaping up and make sense of his own conflicted thoughts. "Memories of being with Phineas saving that Brooklyn Bridge and us without him, being somewhere else?"
Regina looked on in shock. "Exactly! It's foggy, but not just him…everyone…I don't remember your cousin Kayla, but I know she's here for training! I'm scared."
"I'm feelin' the same way right now! Heck, something ain't right here. I think we need to speak to Garth or someone. I just have this sick notion in my gut that…"
John Henry's communicator buzzed from the bedroom and Regina retrieved it. "Regina Montgom…I mean Sheppard speaking, Voyager 3010."
John Henry teased her from behind the shower curtain; he got tired of using formal language when contacting people on it. The person on the receiving end knew whom they were calling. When he answered a page, a quick and hearty "Y'ello!" sufficed and everyone knew it was him. Regina recognized Joseph's frantic voice on the other line.
"Regina! I need you and John Henry to meet me at the OCC as fast as you can, there's been a breach! Phineas Bogg is dead!"
John Henry shut the water off and started dressing. Regina nearly dropped the communicator.
"What! Say that again?"
"I said, Phineas Bogg is dead! Not in this present. Someone messed with his time line and killed him in his past, but OCC can't trace it. Everything he and Jeffrey had ever done for the cause is being erased as we speak! And Olivia…" He faltered, choked up.
"Oh my God, Joseph! Wait, what about Olivia? Isn't Olivia Dunne…?"
John Henry hopped on one foot zipping up his boot. "Dead too, she was tossed off that Titanic tub! They have a display in her honor. Hot damn, that just hit me now! But Bogg rescued Olivia on the Titanic! If he's gone then so is Kayla!"
John Henry covered his mouth to restrain the curses that wanted to fly out. "The boy Jeffrey…he's not a Voyager either…then how the heck do I know him? They're all gone! Phineas and Jeffrey, Kayla…the other Aide, Jeremy! Shoot fire, nothing's right here! Dammit! I know who done this, it was Lorna and Paradox!"
Regina was still stunned as her own memories fell into disorganization. "John's right! It had to be them!"
"I agree! Olivia disappeared right in front of me. I don't know precisely, but I think we're dealing with an alternate universe that currently exists without Bogg. It's complicated, but we're going to have to go to these new time zones and like John Henry says, 'round em' up!" You two are the only Pioneer members here right now; please get down to the complex!"
John Henry buckled his belt and grabbed the communicator from his wife. "We're right there, man!"
