Voyagers: Frozen in Time
Chapter 3: A city on the brink
As the Voyagers wandered, Phineas was perturbed by the way the inhabitants stared and pointed. He nudged the boy. What did he say his name was again?
"Hey Jerry, why is everyone staring like we're odd fishes out of water?"
"It's Jeffrey, Bogg. Because we are fishes out of water. We don't belong here, this isn't our time."
Phineas raised his finger. "Ah! What did I say? No mention of time!"
"Bogg, we're from somewhere very different, it's gotta be the clothes. Maybe we should change, you know, to fit in more with them."
Jeffrey liked wearing the toga; the one he wore when they'd saved Spartacus was very comfortable. A toga would've definitely made the August heat bearable. Even for the summer, the air was unusually hot and suspended heavily on everyone. He wasn't sure how they'd get new clothes without money; Phineas was usually the brains behind those escapades.
He looked at Phineas; something else weighed on his mind.
"Jerry, uh, Jeffrey, If this is Italy, then how is it that everyone speaks in the English tongue?"
Jeffrey would play Phineas' game. "Sorry, Bogg, can't tell you that." He sauntered ahead, staring hungrily at the fruit wagons but he refrained from stealing.
"And why not?" Phineas quickly swiped two apples and tossed one over.
Jeffrey bit it guiltily. "You told me I couldn't say anything about time, time zones or the omni, that question is about the omni. You should know, you're the one who told me."
"I did no such thing. I haven't the slightest idea what's going on! Fine, boy. Tell me!"
Jeffrey pretended to think it over. "Nahh, it's not important, besides, you wouldn't believe me anyway."
"Jeffrey, you can't judge what I would or wouldn't believe."
Jeffrey rested beside a gleaming limestone fountain; the water flowed sparkling clean and he noticed how others dipped their buckets in to draw some. He cupped his hands and took a few refreshing swigs. Phineas did the same, and then sat on the ledge.
"I'm losing patience, boy. I'm not a man known for that."
"Okay, Bogg, I know. The omni has a special function that allows us to hear our own language when foreigners talk to us. When we talk to them, they hear their language. It works both ways. Pretty neat, right?"
Phineas frowned. "That sounds like sorcery, is the omni a magic tool?"
"I don't think so, it's definitely mechanical. A little electronic. Don't ask me how, but every time we traveled across the world we understood every language without even thinking about it."
"I've not heard of 'electronic.' How did we travel across the world without a ship?"
"There's a button on top that you press and we soar through outer space."
"Outer space? You mean like where the stars and moon exist?"
"Yeah, something like that."
Phineas shook his head bemused with the delusional boy. He was obviously a lonely orphan that craved attention. "Did we…wait, what am I saying? We never traveled together. You're nothing but a storyteller. You need to find Plato and Aristotle or one of those ancient guys and swap your tales!"
"I'm not lying! You wanted to know, so I told you."
"Well I say ya are! I'm going to ask the next person that comes to this fountain."
Phineas' breath caught in his throat and he quickly rose. One of the most beautiful women he'd seen in ages stumbled by, straining to balance two large buckets on a yoke across her bare shoulders.
"I will ask that beauty!"
"Bogg, wait a minute! You can't…" Jeffrey gasped.
She was tall and elegant, though fatigued, and draped in white and gold. Her pale blonde hair was pinned up with wispy curls hanging down the sides of her face and the nape of her neck. It wasn't her beauty that stunned Jeffrey, but her identity.
"Susan!" He called. "Susan, it's me Jeffrey Jones!"
The woman glanced curiously at him as Phineas approached.
"Don't listen to that boy, he's had far too much sun." He made a delirious symbol by his head and she laughed. "Allow me to help you, lass." He gallantly motioned to take her buckets, but she stepped back alarmed.
"No, you mustn't. My master would be very displeased! This is my chore."
"Displeased? That I'm helping a young lady? He can bring his displeasure to me then. If the yokes are heavy now, imagine when they're filled. Besides, you're injured. I can see the scratches already." Phineas took great liberties and ran his fingers across her back and shoulders.
The woman sighed from the luxurious tingling sensation. She looked around nervously, then agreed. As the man positioned the yoke upon him, she couldn't help but stare at his magnificent body, and the breathtaking features of his face. He could've easily been a god in the form of man. He was a definite candidate for a statue and she'd have to tell her friend Albinus the sculptor. Albinus was still on the hunt for a perfect model to represent Mars, the god of war. The little boy in the odd red and white shirt kept spoke up excitably.
"Susan, are you here to help us? That's great, because Bogg is having a major meltdown! He lost his memory of being a Voyager! He thinks he's still a pirate in 1715. What are we gonna do? Are you gonna take us to Headquarters?"
Phineas and Susan glared at him perplexed. Jeffrey sighed. Had everyone but him lost their minds? "Umm, can you tell us where we are? My uncle and I just came off the ship and we're not sure."
Jeffrey could almost feel Phineas' eyes burning a hole through him over the 'uncle' comment. Some things never changed.
"You're in the city of Pompeii, in the region of Campania. Why do you call me Susan? My name is Sura."
Phineas grinned. "A lovely name! I'm Phineas Bogg."
Sura laughed but the name suited him perfectly. "How unusual! What does it mean?"
"Damned if I know! What does Sura mean?"
"Calf of the leg. I'm surprised you are so fluent in our language yet you don't know the meanings of our words."
"Ohh, I just forgot…I'm fluent in many languages and sometimes I mix them up." He winked.
He peeked at the boy and was tempted to wipe the little arrogant smirk off his face. Jeffrey had told him the truth. He wouldn't give the child the benefit of the doubt and changed the subject.
"So…legs, huh?" Phineas' gazes traveled from her delicate feet wrapped in shimmering sandals, to the middle of her well-formed thigh where her dress was sewn together with golden stitching. He whistled long and slow.
"You have quite a lovely pair of calves!"
"And you have quite a lovely pair of eyes. I imagine your legs must be as powerful as a stallion." She returned his wink.
Phineas blushed and chuckled as they flirted. Jeffrey's stomach knotted. Ancient Rome was the epitome of wanton lust; at least that's what his father taught him. He barely recognized this version of the demure lawyer from Voyagers Headquarters. She toyed with Phineas' shirt and stroked his jaw as the romantic drivel intensified.
Jeffrey walked away to collect his thoughts. The volcano was primed to erupt. The destruction it caused was permanent. Somewhere between two and ten thousand people would be killed; frozen within the hardened lava and ashes in whatever position they died. The city of Pompeii would become their final tomb along with the towns of Herculaneum and Stabiae. They'd be buried for centuries.
"Bogg! Come here! It's very important!"
Phineas noticed the the boy's demeanor, and biding Sura to wait, he stalked over. "Are you still here? I'm about to have a sweet oiled Roman bath with, uh…never mind that! What is it? Your face is a ghastly shade of pale."
"Bogg, we can't stay here. Nobody can. This is Pompeii! Do you know what happens to Pompeii on…on…oh no!" It was all going to happen today.
Sura preoccupied herself with filling her buckets. She was expected back to prepare breakfast for her master, but these two greatly intrigued her. She'd never seen them in the city before, and a man of Phineas Bogg's caliber would have garnered much attention. His voice and overt charms sent her in a tailspin.
The child kept waving his arms and pointing in the direction of Mount Vesuvius. He appeared to be mimicking an explosion. Susan felt a chill up her spine.
Despite the flow of commerce and everyday activities and revelry amongst the people, there were a few that walked around spreading doom and gloom of destruction. Sura remembered barely escaping to Naples with her family as a little girl, during a huge earthquake that nearly destroyed the entire city in 62AD. Despite new prophetic warnings, most just laughed and went about their business. However, in the last few days, more and more inhabitants went on the alert due to a series of disturbing, but small earthquakes. The quakes caused only minor damage.
She approached the visitors. "What is wrong, boy? Why do you point to Vesuvius?"
"Because in a few hours it's gonna blow its top!"
Phineas patted Jeffrey's back, causing him to stumble. He laughed irritated. "Don't listen to him. Now he's making up crazy fables of volcanic eruptions. He always wants to stir up trouble."
Jeffrey folded his arms and pouted. He wouldn't be quiet just because he'd embarrassed Phineas. He had to save lives, or at least get Susan to safety so she could go on to become a Voyager. She might not have been the cause of the red light.
"Vesuvius has not erupted in hundreds of years, child. There's no need to be alarmed." She said gently.
Jeffrey held his ground. Somebody had to listen. He gripped Phineas by the shirt. "You don't understand! It's gonna happen today! You're all gonna die if you don't leave!"
He shouted and drew a crowd. He ran around the circle. "Listen to me! There's an erruption. The city is going to be buried in ashes! You have to get out before it's too late! Please listen! Do you want your children to die?"
Phineas grabbed him by the waist and pushed him so hard, that he fell on his bottom and scraped his arm across the cobblestone.
"I've heard enough from you! Who do you think you are scaring the people? It's one thing to play games with me, but it's another to tell people they're gonna die! That children are gonna die! I'm through catering to you, boy! Go away!"
Jeffrey burst into tears and gripped his arm. "No! We have to leave! We can't change it! We're not staying!" He pulled the omni off belt, but Phineas quickly snatched it.
"I believe this is my property. I don't wanna see your grubby hands on it again. I don't wanna see you again! Begone!"
Phineas didn't want to strike him, but yelled harshly enough that he got the point. He wrenched his arm free and marched to Sura's buckets.
"Let's leave, Sura, before I do something I will regret."
"But Phineas, he's your nephew!"
"He is not my nephew! He just likes to go around saying he is, and trying to connive me into thinking we're best friends!"
With the yoke tight over his shoulders he strode past Jeffrey, who stood dumbfounded. "Gangway! I don't want to see you hanging around me anymore! I work alone!"
"But you need me!" Jeffrey cried out. "We have to help! The light is red!"
Phineas winced at the distraught tone of his voice but kept walking.
"I only need to help myself!"
Sura quickly followed, but gave Jeffrey a heartfelt glance. The poor boy's tears flowed intensely and he trudged from the fountain toward the gates. Something in the boy's earnest pleas made her want to believe him. No child would take a prank that far. She tapped Phineas on the shoulder.
"Please hand over my buckets."
"But I'm going to help you take them to home."
"I can certainly help myself." She said coldly. "You need to find your boy and apologize to him."
"He's not my boy!"
"Then what is he? Why is he with you?"
"I don't…" A flash of seeing Jeffrey falling and a struggle with an animal for a black book crossed his mind, but faded. The boy had said he rescued him from a fall. "I don't know, Sura! I don't think he has a family. That boy has no manners. Let him cry. I'll find him later, he needs to learn respect."
"I would hardly say you're the best teacher! It's obvious that boy loves you, he's trying to protect you."
Phineas laughed abruptly. "Loves me? He doesn't know me! And I don't need 'protecting' from a child."
"No, Phineas, I get the sense that you have forgotten him. Maybe he is telling the truth. You don't know the kind of destruction that occurs here." She lowered her eyes to hide her tears. She'd lost many family and friends during the first earthquake.
"You're right, I don't." Phineas said softly. "But that boy is a pest and a thorn in my side, he's…"
"He's a child that has no one to care for him but you!" Sura quickly unlatched her buckets and carried one in each hand. "Thank you for the offer, but I'm fine. Good day, Phineas."
"Sura! Wait! I'm sorry."
"Tell that to the boy, then perhaps I'll speak to you again!"
She disappeared behind a corner and Phineas kicked the wall frustrated.
"What the hell am I doing here? Why does nothing making sense?" He questioned aloud.
He opened the omni and studied it closely. The numbers and month corresponded to the date that Jeffrey gave him. The constant red light buzzing almost made him want to smash it to pieces. Jeffrey had said something was wrong in history and that's why it was red. As Phineas gazed at the peaceful city around him, he saw the Volcano. Jeffrey also said they had to fix what was wrong.
How in the world would they stop a volcanic eruption?
Against his fractured memories of the storm, Jeffrey's tales seemed almost reasonable, but Phineas still found them too fantastic for his liking. However, he couldn't explain the lack of a language barrier, nor how the boy knew exactly who he was, when they'd never met. Hands over face, Phineas crouched down the wall. Every time he'd stared at the boy, he felt an unusual void swell in his heart. He wanted to remember him, and despite his anger, he wanted to know him.