Above a field near Domrémy in Lorraine Bogg and Jeffrey fall from the sky. The slope adds to the difficulty of landing. Jeffrey stumbles forward. He takes a few steps to catch himself, bumps into a girl and falls on top of her. He mumbles some excuses while he picks himself up and helps her to her feet.
"I'm sorry about that. Are you all right?"
The girl looks at him with big scary eyes. She gives a small nod. She crosses herself, folds her hands and lowers her head. She starts to murmur prayers. Jeffrey looks around for Bogg.
Upon landing Bogg has fallen and rolled down the slope. He sighs when he comes to a stop. Voyagers' R&D should really start to make haste with inventing a device that makes sure Voyagers land on their feet. And stay on their feet. Between rough landings and getting beaten up by people who get more than a little hostile when you try to help their future along, this is not a job he's going to be able to do until retirement age. How did Wolfman manage for so long? Did he pack a parachute? He looks up. He sees the kid looking down at him, worry starting to form on his face. Bogg smiles at him. He picks himself up and takes the omni.
"1424. Just where you wanted to be." He hangs the omni back on his belt and moves up the slope.
"Are you all right?" Jeffrey asks him.
"Sure." Bogg pads him lightly on the shoulder.
"You were just lying there. I thought you were hurt or something."
"I'm okay. Who's that?" Bogg points at the praying girl.
"I don't know." Jeffrey shrugs. "I fell on top of her. Then she started praying."
"Are you angels?" The girl looks up at them.
"Uh, not really," Bogg replies. "Who are you?"
"Joan. Joan of Jacques of Arc. What are you if you are not angels? You came falling from the sky. Are you messengers from God?"
"We are," Jeffrey says quickly realizing this is the girl they wanted to meet. "That is the archangel Michael. We are here because we have an assignment for you."
Joan folds her hands and starts praying again. Bogg gives Jeffrey a questioning look.
"Joan said that she was told to drive out the English by Saint Catherine, Saint Margaret, Saint Michael and God," Jeffrey explains.
"So, if I'm Michael, which one are you?"
Jeffrey ignores Bogg's question. He taps Joan on her shoulder.
"Our time is precious. Don't waste her too much."
"No, I won't." Joan answers with a timid voice.
"We have an assignment for you," Jeffrey continues. "You have to drive the English from France." He presses his hands together piously at chest height. "I was raised catholic," he explains to Bogg. "We like a little decorum."
Bogg considers this.
"Joan, do you hear me?" Joan nods. "You have to free France from the English." Jeffrey turns to Bogg. "I think we're about done here."
"Done? We only just started. There's still a red light."
"I think this assignment will take some years. We should jump ahead a few months and talk to Joan again."
"Okay, you're the expert." Bogg sets the dials of the omni.
Joan sees Bogg and Jeffrey disappears. She crosses herself three times and bows her head again for prayer.
-oOo-
It's a few months later, but the same slope. Jeffrey manages to catch himself on hands and feet. Bogg stumbles over his own feet and rolls down the slope.
"Bat's breath." He wants to add something stronger, but notices a girl staring at him. He checks himself and jumps up. "Sorry about that."
"Archangel Michael? You're back."
"Yes. Joan. We wanted to make sure you hadn't forgotten about us."
"Of course not. How could I forget about you?"
"And you also haven't forgotten about the assignment we gave you?"
"No, no. You want me to drive the English from France."
"God wants you to drive the English from France," Jeffrey corrects. "Charles Dauphin should be crowned king of France. It is God's wish. The English must leave France. They shouldn't be here."
"Come, Joan, sit with us. We will tell you the sad history of your country." Bogg takes the girl's hand and pulls her down to sit with him. He indicates to Jeffrey to tell the history of France.
Jeffrey takes his time to decide whether he should stand up for his lecture or sit down. He decides to sit down opposite of Joan and Bogg. His little pause has given him time to collect all that he knows about France and England and the Hundred year war. So he tells Joan about the insanity of Charles VI and the quarrel between the duke of Burgundy and the duke of Orléans over the guardianship of his children, which caused the country to fall apart, making it weak and easy for the English to invade. He further tells her of the murder on the duke of Burgundy and how his son seeks revenge for that on Charles Dauphin. And how Queen Isabeau negotiates the Treaty of Troyes, making Henry V of England heir to the throne of France, thus cheating Charles Dauphin from his rightful inheritance. Jeffrey closes his argument by saying, "God wants you to give the Dauphin back his inheritance."
"I see."
They sit quietly for a while. Then Bogg says, "Be good, Joan. We have to leave now. But we will be back to bring you more encouragement." They get up to leave. "Don't forget what we told you."
-oOo-
Again a few months later. This time Bogg manages to not roll down the slope. He looks around.
"Where's Joan?"
"I don't know. Maybe she's at her house. There's a village over there."
"Let's see if we can find her there." Bogg sets off. "In the mean time, perhaps you can tell me about these other saints Joan got her assignment from, Catherine and Margaret. We don't have to pretend we're them too, do we?"
"I don't know. Maybe. Could be fun to see you pretend to be a woman." Jeffrey chuckles.
"Don't think that would work. My voice would give me away." Bogg tries to say the last in a higher pitch tone. It makes Jeffrey laugh even more. "But who are these saints? I've never heard of them before, I think."
"Catherine and Margaret are two of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. They were both virgins and martyrs. They both were early Christians, fourth century I believe, and got many proposals of marriage, on condition they would renounce their Christianity, which they both refused. They were then tortured. Catharine, for instance, had to be broken on the wheel."
"Oh, yuck, now I'll have that image in my head for the rest of the day."
"Here's a better image for you: when she touched the wheel, it broke. Then they tried to burn her, but the fire blew out. At last they managed to kill her by decapitating her. From the wound streamed milk that freed her town of the plague."
"And catholics believe all that really happened?"
"In 1969 Catherine and Margaret were removed form the church calender, because there was insufficient historical proof they had existed."
"Ah, that's why I can't know them: insufficient historical proof."
"But you know of the archangel Michael. Have you seen historical proof of him?"
"He's in the Bible. The Bible is regarded as a book with historical significance among Voyagers. 'Nough wars have been fought with the Bible in hand."
"Historical significance? Are you calling the Bible a history book? It is so much more than that."
"I'm more inclined to say less. It's a history book, but it doesn't separate fact from fiction. But throughout time it has had a great influence on people's actions, therefore it is of historical significance."
"I can't accept that."
"Why not? Do you think everything in the Bible is true."
"I believe what is said in the Bible is true."
"That's not what I asked." Bogg frowns. "You believe, that's you're choice." He makes a hand gesture as if he wants this topic of conversation to go away.
Jeffrey doesn't want to give up that easily. Bogg is questioning his believes. Bogg hasn't second guessed anything he said, save for the occasional ethical judgment, in a long time. He wants to get to the bottom of this.
"You don't believe?" he asks.
"No." Bogg shrugs. "Seems odd to believe in God and Providence if it is us who have a hand in changing history," he adds.
"Have you never thought about it that it is Providence which guides Voyagers to guard history?"
"That just makes it odder. Could Providence not pay a little closer attention so that things wouldn't go wrong? Now she first has to let things go wrong, and then send in the troops, us, to set things right. I don't believe in Providence or God; let's just leave it at that. Now, let's talk about something else; when people with different views talk about religion it tends to get out of hand."
Jeffrey is baffled. All right, he's not really surprised that Bogg doesn't believe in God. Pirates are said to lead a Godless life. He's just surprised about the reason the ex-pirate gives for not believing. Being a Voyager has never compromised his belief in God. Rather, it has reinvigorated the faith he lost after the death of his parents.
"But if you don't believe in God how can you tell, let alone convince Joan that we are messengers from God?"
"Just because I don't believe, doesn't mean I have to go round trying to convince other people that they are wrong in their believe," Bogg replies. He stops Jeffrey to look him straight in the eyes. "As Voyagers we often come in situations where we have to do things that go counter to our instincts, our feelings or our better judgment. You know that. You have been in those situations. We do those things because we know, ultimately they are the right thing to do. The historically right thing. You understand?"
Jeffrey nods. He has had this type of talk often with Bogg, and every time it leads to the same conclusion: there's a difference between what you think is right, and what you know is right.
"Right, now let's find Joan. Maybe she has something to eat for us."
They start walking again. In the village they asks directions to the house of the family of Arc. They find Joan in the garden, sowing. Bogg sits down beside her.
"I knew you'd be back," Joan says after crossing herself. "The voices told me. You're voices told me."
"Joan," Bogg says, "you must go to the aid of the king of France; it is you who shall give him back his kingdom."
"But how, Saint Michael? I am pious, but I sow and take care of sick. Surely there must be men much better fitted for this task of driving the English out of France."
"Joan, you said you are pious, then don't ask so many silly questions. God has sent us here to prepare you for your task. Do you think we would waste our time with you if we thought you were not up to it?"
"No, Saint Michael." Joan crosses herself and bows her head.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm praying for the Dauphin to be victorious over the English."
"I'm not here to ask you to pray." Bogg lifts up her head and makes her look at him. "The army needs a strong and inspirational leader. You are that leader. The country needs you. Not as a prayer woman. There are enough of those. You will lead the army."
"But I am only a poor girl; I cannot ride a horse or lead armed men."
"God will help you," Bogg replies. "Go to Mr. Robert de Baudricourt, captain of Vaucouleurs, ask him for an escort to Chinon, to the Dauphin."
Jeffrey beams a smile at Bogg. In their walk through the village Bogg made him rehash everything he remembered from the movie he saw so long ago. He's glad also the little details he came up with are not going to waste.
"But I would have to travel through Burgundy territory to get to Chinon."
"Hence the escort."
"It is dangerous to travel for a woman."
Bogg rolls his eyes. Sometimes, he thinks, sometimes history should just be left to take it's course. Joan doesn't want to go to Chinon; the Dauphin doesn't want to be king; and in the end it's hardly going to matter whether they do anyway.
"You should dress as a man," Jeffrey say. "It's safer."
"Dress as a man? It's forbidden for women to dress as men."
"God has given you permission to dress as a man. The Church also makes an exception for dressing as a man if it is out of necessity; if it is to protect yourself."
Joan nods. Her mother calls from the door of the house to come in for dinner. Joan gets up and mumbles some apologies to Bogg and Jeffrey. She runs towards the house.
"I think there is still a lot of work to be done here."
"Yes, but she also started to hear the other voices. Maybe we should leave it up to them for a while."
Bogg takes the omni from his waist band. "Where to now?"
"Let's jump ahead a few years."