Chapter 12 John Walker
The next morning Jeffrey sprung out of bed as soon as Rachel woke him up. They all ate a quick breakfast together and then left the house. Steven walked toward school and a few minutes after he left, Rachel and Jeff walked toward the landing area.
Once at Headquarters, Jeff led the way quickly to the Medical Unit and went directly to the desk. They had moved Bogg into a smaller room and as Jeff got to the door, Rachel could see him visibly relax. Phineas was sitting in a chair just finishing breakfast.
"Bogg!" Jeff called as he rushed into his arms.
"Hey kid, how you doin?" Phineas asked. As he hugged Jeff, he glanced up at Rachel who was standing in the doorway watching them.
"Thanks for taking care of him last night," he said, and she blushed.
"It was a pleasure, really," she answered. "And I'm not done until Trevor says so, so just take your time about getting back to normal."
"Okay."
"Jeff, I'll check back during my break at 10 o'clock, okay?" Rachel said.
"Yeah, thanks," Jeff answered. After she left, Jeff turned to Phineas, "how do you feel?" he asked seriously.
Phineas paused as he considered what to say, he didn't want to lie, "pretty good, not 100% yet."
"Can I do anything?" Jeff's tone was still serious.
"No, they're just giving me medicine, I just have to wait it out. It's gonna be boring for a few days."
"Boring is good," Jeff said quickly, then "wanna hear what I found out last night?"
Phineas nodded and leaned back in the chair as Jeff explained about being Committed and meeting Steven.
The morning passed slowly. Phineas rested in bed while the medicine was hooked to the IV and Jeff scoured the room for something to read. At 10 o'clock, Rachel appeared at the door.
Bogg caught her eye and she nodded, "all set," she said to him, then turned to Jeffrey.
"What's all set?" Jeff asked, glancing back and forth between them.
"I wanna show you something, come take a walk with me" Rachel answered and they left together. She took him outside and across a wide courtyard where a path lead to a building far away from the others. The sign on it read "Voyager Academy."
"Wow!" Jeff exclaimed, "what're we going to do here?"
"I called one of my friends and asked if they had an extra textbook they'd lend me."
"For me? Really?" Jeff couldn't believe it.
"It was Phineas' idea. He seems to think you'd like to read about anything to do with voyaging. This was the only book they'd lend to a minor, but I thought it was better than nothing."
"It'll be great," Jeff said, wondering what the topic would be. They walked into the building and Rachel spoke to someone in an office close to the entrance. Soon she was putting a book into his hands.
Jeff looked at the well-worn cover, A Condensed History of the Voyaging Culture by Jacqueline Hernandez-Lopez. "This is great! Thanks a lot!" Jeff said enthusiastically.
Rachel smiled at him, "I've gotta tell ya, that's one of the first classes you take here and it's not usually very popular. Most students find it boring, they usually prefer the classes with more action."
"I need a break from the action at the moment, so it's the perfect time to read it," Jeff told her happily as they walked back.
"Hey Rachel, wait up," the male voice surprised Jeff and he turned to face the man when Rachel stopped. Rachel, on the other hand, wished they could keep walking. She felt a sense of dread when she realized who it was.
"Hi John," she said.
"I just had my preliminary interview," John offered, staring at Jeffrey. So far so good, he thought, "I don't think I know you," he said to Jeff extending his hand, "I'm John Walker."
"Jeffrey Jones," Jeff answered shaking his hand.
"Interview for what?" Rachel asked.
"A teaching position," he answered, keeping his eyes on Jeff.
"But it's too early," Rachel began.
"Not when you had the highest grades and best reviews at the academy," Walker returned. "Well, they'll make their decision next week so I'll be here for a while, maybe I'll see you both again."
"Okay, see ya," Rachel said and put her hand behind Jeffrey's shoulder to turn him around back toward the Medical Unit. She felt uncomfortable with this "accidental" encounter. Walker had as much as told her he was going to research Jeff so he could manipulate him into voyaging with him. And now Rachel knew, with as much certainty as Olivia had, that Phineas wouldn't want Jeff to voyage with anyone but him. Now that Rachel knew them, she felt that John was trying to break up a family, not just voyage with a kid and it made her angry. Her guilty conscience came to the surface again and she decided she would tell Phineas all she knew about John Walker. She hated to admit her part in this to him, but Jeffrey needed to be protected, there was just no other way to look at it. She would do anything to protect Steven and she knew Phineas Bogg felt the same way about Jeffrey.
John Walker turned and walked away smiling. That encounter had gone just like he'd planned. He'd met the kid, let him know he was very smart and that he was qualified to be a teacher, even if he wasn't one just yet. He'd kept it short and not overdone. It was a good days work. Now he had to think about how he would accidentally run into Jeffrey tomorrow.
Author's Note: I think it makes sense that Voyagers would have their own unique culture. They are a very unique group of people. That's why I wrote the last chapter of "Convergence" they way I did. It showed how voyagers would come together as a community to acknowledge life-changing events, like marriage, births and deaths. The idea of being committed falls into that category too, and it's unique to voyagers. So I figured that new voyagers would need to be indoctrinated into the culture, hence the textbook. It would probably be the very first course a new voyager would take.