She blushed slightly but met his gaze as she answered. "I'm Mrs. Simpson...Mrs. Wallace Simpson."
Bogg checked the Omni and sure enough, it was green. "Hey, kid, are you SURE this is supposed to happen? I mean, losing the Kingship for love?"
"I'm POSITIVE," was Jeff's quick reply. "He decides that love is more important than the Crown...it's gotta be this way. He abdicates the throne to his younger brother, who becomes George VI. Then in 1952, Elizabeth becomes Queen."
As the two friends walk around to the back of the garden, Jeff gets a mischievous grin. "Hey, lemme have a go at it this time," he said as he grabbed for the Omni.
"Not on your life, kid! Lord only knows where you'll put us!" Phineas joked good-naturedly.
"Hey! I resent that!" Jeff laughed and started grabbing for the Omni. He chased Phineas around the garden, trying to corner him. Their laughter mingled with that of the party's attendees. Jeff finally had to climb a low fence and tackle Bogg from above to get the coveted prize. "Got it! I won!"
They collapsed on the grass laughing, out of breath and happy. "OK, kid...where to now?"
"Oh, I dunno, maybe...Siberia?" They laughed and shuddered at the thought of it.
"Ready when you are!"
"Right!" Jeff hit the activator button and they were off once again. But this trip was not going to be like all the others.
Moments after they entered the Time Corridor, it happened: the Corridor began to warp, twist and groan. Time seemed to explode all around them. Unable to communicate, the friends griped each others hands, trying to stay together. But it was too much; with one final bellow, the Corridor exploded, splitting the two friends apart.
Phineas was spinning out of control and he was scared. No one had covered anything like THIS in class! Then, he caught a new Time Corridor and righted his wild flight. But something was wrong...this corridor undulated like a slow moving worm and had no color at all. He felt the free fall of landing begin and prepared for the jarring drop. Yet, this too was not what he expected. He was excelerating too fast! How was he going to...? He blacked out before he could even finish the question.
He awoke later - was it hours or days? - in a small, dimly lit room. He got up slowly from the cot he lay on, only to bang his head on the ceiling. "Ow!" He rubbed his head ruefully.
"Oh, good! You have finally decided to join the living."
Bogg looked around the room to find the owner of the voice; it was familiar somehow...She peeked in from the small window in the door of his cell, and smiled. "I've always wanted to do this; you know, pay you back for all the ogling you did in class..." It was Victoria, the blonde from his Academy days! She was just as beautiful as he remembered. He smiled and went over to the cell door.
"Who, me? Ogle? Never." He flashed her his best smile. "I never ogle. I appreciate. Hey, just where the heck am I, anyway? And, where's Jeff? We got separated...And, could you let me out?"
She burst out laughing and the force of it surprised Bogg...why was that so funny?
"Let you out? After all I've gone through to get you here? I think not, my dear. As for your precious Jeffrey...well," she grinned, "he's lost somewhere in history. Gone forever."
Phineas was stunned. Gone? He sat down as she continued, "You see, I'm tired of righting history. I wanted to see what would happen if I altered history. And, I also knew that our ultimate "boy scout" and his trusty sidekick would try to stop me. So, I brought you here," she swept her hand around the cell, "and I sent Jeff flying into the cosmos." Phineas was speechless. "We are in the year 1942, where the Jew reigns over the German and Rabbi Goldstein is condemning Germans to death..."
"WHAT?" Phineas cried. "I may have been distracted by you in class but I paid enough attention to know that's not right! What have you done?"
She smiled a cool, calculated smile that scared him. She told him about her ultimate dream of becoming the High Keeper of the Omnitron: the machine that showed where all the Voyagers were in time and showed what was wrong with history. She went on to tell him that once she became High Keeper, she would control who went where to right history.
"It started about a year ago, VST (Voyager Standard Time). I had become the Assistant Keeper, a very prestigious rank for any Voyager. As I was running routine maintenance one day, I pushed the wrong button on the Omnitron, causing a red light in history. It was a very minor disturbance - one that would not affect the 'grand scheme' of things. I was frightened and not wanting to cause a scene, I decided to try and keep Voyagers from that particular time period until it was green again. I was surprised at how easy it was. And then I thought, 'If it's that easy to cause a disturbance and keep Voyagers away, I wonder what it would take to rewrite history...'"
Bogg's mouth dropped open in shock. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. She told him how, little by little, she started rewriting history, not allowing Voyagers into the times she had altered. Being the Assistant Keeper it was easy to hide for a time but the Council eventually noticed that something was going on; they were beginning to see the effects of altered history. So, the night they confronted her, she put her plan into action. In one fell swoop, she rewrote history and wrote out the Council. Now she was in charge of history, her history and she was the High Keeper, too!
"But, why hasn't any Voyager tried to stop you? We all have guide books, and we know how it should..."
Victoria cut him off. "I control the Omnitron. And, I have the only working Omni in all of history. I disabled all the others for the very reason you suggested. I am unstoppable." She smiled that wicked smile again, "Welcome to your future, Phineas."