Chapter 8 A Hard Landing
"Uhh!" Jeff shouted as they landed on the grass behind several park benches.
"You okay?" Bogg asked his partner as he struggled to his feet.
"I guess," Jeff answered as he sat up cradling his wrist.
Bogg knelt down in front of Jeff, "how bad?" he asked with so much concern that Jeff had to smile, despite the pain. "Let me see," he said as he put his hand on Jeff's elbow. Jeff winced as Bogg eased his arm away from his body. He glanced up at his partner and thought his lips looked a little white. "I want you to lay down while I try to find some ice."
"It's only my wrist," Jeff argued. "No big deal," he said, hating all the fuss.
Bogg looked at Jeff's wrist, it was already swollen. He looked around and spotted an ice cream vendor a short distance away, in front of a reviewing stand draped with red, white and blue banners. This was obviously some type of celebration. "I'll be right back, wait here," Bogg said as he stood up.
As Jeff watched him go, he realized his wrist did hurt quite a lot. Suddenly he felt hot and stomach sick, so he laid down on his side on the cool grass. Almost immediately he felt better, though his wrist still hurt a lot. He watched Bogg talking to the vendor and finally the man was scooping some ice into a plastic bag.
As Bogg started back, he noticed Jeff was lying down and jogged back to him.
He knelt down and laid the ice against Jeff's wrist. Jeff's quick intake of breath told him how much pain his partner was in. He looked at the wrist again, the swelling had gotten even worse just in the short time he'd been gone to get the ice. It didn't take him long to reach a decision. He got up again and walked over to an empty lawn chair someone had put out to view whatever was going to happen here. There was a small pillow on the chair and Bogg glanced around as he took it and headed back to Jeff.
"Let's wrap this around your wrist as a splint," he said holding out the pillow. Jeff lowered his hand and wrist onto it and Bogg slipped off his belt and tied it around Jeff's hand and arm to hold the pillow in place. Then he took out the omni.
"Where are we?" Jeff asked, trying to make his voice sound normal.
"Doesn't matter," Bogg said as he turned the dials.
"How could it not matter?" Jeff asked in confusion.
"I'm taking you back to Voyager Headquarters. I'm setting this to give you the softest landing I can, okay?" Bogg said as he put his hand on Jeff's shoulder. "And Control Room landings are usually softer than in the field too, so I hope your wrist won't get hurt any worse."
"Headquarters?" Jeff repeated in disbelief. If his wrist didn't hurt so much he would've laughed. He'd always wanted to see headquarters again. The last time they were there, it was for the trial and they had left right afterward. He cradled his cushioned wrist as Bogg hit the omni.