Hawaii Beach, 8 June 1972.
Jeffrey sits on the beach watching Kate play in the flood line. Another attempt to get to 1989 has failed. They found out they could get as far as 1985. He was tempted for a moment to stay there and look for his parents. Then Kate asked him how he was going to explain not being fifteen without mentioning time travel. Jeffrey rubs his hands in his face. The weariness of slave labor has made him look old before his years. He could easily pass for someone in his early to mid-twenties. If he thinks about it it becomes all the more surprising that his mom actually recognized him. He must have looked ten years older than when she last saw him. But then, mothers know.
Kate thought the time boundary might have slipped and she suggested opening up the omni again to set it back. Jeffrey declined the offer. He wasn't comfortable with Kate opening the omni again. He rather voyages with her. There are two reasons he's okay about voyaging with her. One is that when they get taken back to the Island he gets to see Bogg again. The other is that Kate has never voyaged before. He feels kind of bad for triggering the omni in the first place. He feels responsible for Kate; he should take care of her the way Bogg took care of him.
He wants to see Bogg again. He saw him maybe half an hour in that short time he spent on the Island. He wants to say thank you to him. Thanks for everything, thanks for the voyaging, thanks for the rescue, thanks for being a friend. Then, after he has said good bye to Bogg properly, someone from the Council can take him back to his folks.
If they let him go back to his folks. Jeffrey can think of all sorts of problems they might have with that. It not being the correct history; he being a Voyager. They can't make me a Voyager if I don't want to, Jeffrey decides. Can they? He should ask Kate what happens to people who are recruited as Voyagers but don't want to be Voyagers. Bad Voyagers, he knows, get banished, or perhaps they have changed that practice. Isaac Wolfstein had wanted to retire to an uninhabited Island. Bogg wanted to quit and stay in 1876. So why wouldn't they let him retire to 1989? Even if it isn't the right history? Kate is right: if his mom and dad stay out of the lime light it won't matter whether they died in 1982 or not.
If Council doesn't let him go back to his folks then he will ask Kate to rig an omni for him. But first they will have to be called back to the Island. He wonders what is keeping the Council. Three days have passed for them already. Surely some times has passed on the Island too. Someone must be missing them. Bogg for instance. He just spent twenty-one years looking for his friend; he would notice if that friend was gone again half an hour later. Bogg also isn't the type of guy who would sit by idly if his daughter went missing. At least he wasn't. Jeffrey can't imagine he has changed that much.
-oOo-
"I thought I might find you here." Susan closes the door behind her and walks over to Bogg who sits in front of the Omnitron.
"You said a couple of hours. It's a couple of days now."
"I'm sorry. I thought ..."
"So did I. I don't blame you. It's just ..."
"I know." She puts a hand on his shoulder.
"If I knew how to work the Omnitron I would get them home myself."
"Is there anything I can get you? A more comfortable chair for instance?"
"I'm good. Your company would be nice."
"Your muscles are really tense." Susan starts to massage his neck and shoulders. "You know, your muscles are strong enough to break your own bones. We don't want you to break your shoulder on top of everything."
"What an odd thing to say."
"I think Kate told me once. You remember, she had found those medical books in the library. How old was she then, six or seven?"
"Six."
"Six. She'd tell everyone about the new things she learned. Did you know your own muscles are strong enough to break your own bones? Did you know there are 27 bones in the human hand?" Susan tries to imitate the six-year-old know-it-all.
"I was just glad the books were in alphabetical order, so I could put them on a higher shelf before she reached the R's and S's."
"I believe you also suggested we'd re-organize the library so that certain books would be out of reach for people of certain height."
"If you had re-organized the library, we would have found Jeffrey a lot sooner."
As if suddenly stung Susan pulls her hands away from Bogg. "Perhaps." It makes her sick to think that Voyagers had the information to Jeffrey's whereabouts all along in their library, but didn't know about it, because there was a back load of four decades worth of cataloging. Susan feels very responsible. So much so that a little part of her is almost glad Jeffrey isn't on the Island so she doesn't have to face him. She is head of Administration and Legal. The library is her responsibility. She feels she has utterly failed the young man. Susan changes the subject. "Where are they? I don't see Jeffrey."
"Hawaii Beach. Jeff is sitting over there somewhere, staring into the distance. I can only imagine what he is thinking about. Kate's playing in the water. It's silly, isn't it?" He looks up at Susan.
"What is?"
"I used to be a pirate and my eighteen-year-old daughter has never seen the ocean."
"Yes, that is silly."
"Too bad there isn't any sound."
Susan walks over to the console. "There isn't anything on mute here. I guess the omni isn't transmitting sound." She turns back to Bogg. "Anything else I can do for you?"
"You could take over my class."
"I tried to, but your students refused to be taught." She doesn't mention one of them suggested that Kate and Jeffrey hadn't returned yet because there is something wrong with the omni they took. She plans to look into that later.
Bogg takes her hand and presses a kiss on it. "Thank you for being here for me."
"I'm always here for you, Phineas."
-oOo-
Kate stops playing in the water. She sticks her hands in the pockets of her slacks and looks at Jeffrey. She's glad she's out of the purple tent and wearing clothes that are more appropriate for voyaging: slacks and a shirt. Jeffrey said that all she needed was a leather jacket and she would look just like her mom. She had smiled at that. It feels right to dress this way.
She walks over to Jeffrey and drops down next to him. She pulls up her knees and digs her toes into the sand. She tries to think of something to say to him. But everything she can think of she's already said. Sorry I took you away from your parents. Maybe I can reset the time-boundary again. Jeffrey had declined that offer. She can tell him about her theories why the Council hasn't called them back yet. They've been gone for more than fifty hours. How long does it take to push the right button on the Omnitron? Well, maybe she won't mention that. Just keep it to herself. What else is there to talk about? She could ask him about his Voyages. He might tell the stories differently from her dad. Or perhaps about his time on the plantation. Susan had said that it would be good for him to talk about it, but that he probably wouldn't want to at first. Should she be the one to talk to him about that? How about someone who can relate better? Her dad, or ...
"What's it like growing up on Voyager Island?" Jeffrey asks.
Kate looks up. She frowns at him. "I don't know. I can't compare it."
"I didn't ask you to. I'm just curious. What's it like? Do they teach you history all the time?"
"At the School, yeah. And other stuff that is useful for Voyagers."
"Such as breaking and entering." Jeffrey chuckles.
"Yeah, and proper manners for proper times. Lots of sport and exercise to keep fit."
"Sounds like fun."
"I guess." Kate turns her attention to her toes. "It was better than the way Jane Eyre grew up."
"Her name sounds familiar, but I can't quite place her."
"She's a character from a book. She grew up in the house of an uncle with a cousin who beat her up regularly. Then she was sent to a boarding school where they didn't feed the students properly."
"Sounds like the plantation where I was."
"Growing up on the Island would be better than that."
"I definitely would have liked to spend my teen years on Voyager Island rather than on the Island of Ceylon."
"I would have liked it too if you had." Kate stretches her legs. "When I was ten or eleven I used to think if Dad finds Jeffrey now it will be as if I have an older brother. I ... I would have liked that. There never was anyone my age around."
"Guess you were kind of lonely growing up."
"Yeah."
"You wouldn't want me for a brother, though." A little devious smile plays around his lips.
"Why not?"
"As an older brother I would have to do this." Jeffrey jumps on Kate, pulls an arm behind her back and tries to tickle her everywhere he can reach with his other hand. Kate screams and laughs and tries to wriggle away.
"Say uncle."
"What?"
"Say uncle."
"Uncle?"
Jeffrey lets go of her. Kate scrambles up and jumps Jeffrey in return. Her shoulder collides with his chin.
"Ow." Jeffrey adds a few phrases he learned at the plantation as he touches his split lip.
"I'm sorry." Kate sits back on her haunches. "But I hope you learned some more Mandarin Chinese than just the swear words."
"Jeffrey looks up at her in surprise.
"Nothing else to do on the Island except learn a lot of foreign languages. Voyager recruits come from everywhere. They were always happy to teach."
"Swear words first, ha?"
"For some reason they catch on easiest. Still, I think I would have liked you as an older brother."
"I think I would have liked being your older brother."
"I guess things would have been different if Dad had found you when I was little. We would have moved off the Island and Mom wouldn't have ..."
"What happened to Olivia? I mean, I understand if you don't want to talk about it."
"Is okay. There was a fire, an accident. She didn't omni out in time."
"I'm sorry to hear."
"Yeah." Kate rubs her nose and looks away. "Nothing we can do about it anymore. Let's go somewhere else. I've kind of seen the Ocean now."
"You have? They way you were running in and out of it I thought you'd never tire of it."
"Well, I have. Let's go somewhere there isn't an ocean. Wanna try going back to 1989?"
"It hurts too much every time we fail. I'd rather go somewhere else entirely."
"Just tell me where you want to go." Kate takes the omni from her belt.
"I'd like to go to the Wild West."
"The Wild West? Oh yeah, when men were real men and women were real women, and getting shot was just one smart ass remark away."
"I see why you would have a problem there. That's where the real America was made."
"Sure. That's what some French writers mean by America's cowboy mentality."
Jeffrey gives her a mild glare. "Okay, you pick a place where we can go, but it better be a good place."
Kate nods. "Put your shoes on and get up."
They rub the sand of their feet and put on their sneakers. Jeffrey convinced Kate that pair of tennis shoes is the most comfortable footwear for voyaging. She rolls down the legs of her slacks. They get up. Kate opens the omni and sets the dials.
"I'll take you to some place you'll enjoy."
-oOo-
Chicago, 1893.
Jeffrey and Kate look around. They've arrived at the steps of a large building in classical Beaux-Arts style. A cheerfully chattering couple nearly bumps into them. The man and woman make their apologies for their carelessness and continue on their way down.
"You're mistaken. I don't enjoy red lights. I enjoy green lights," Jeffrey says after looking at the omni to see where they are.
Kate closes it. "I didn't know this was going to be here."
"What is it?" Jeffrey asks.
"How should I know? I just got here."
Jeffrey rolls his eyes and looks around. "Columbian Exposition," he reads off a banner. "Chicago, 1893. Is that where you wanted to take me?"
"Yeah. Wanna try and fix this light?"
"I think we have to. Wonder what it could be though." Jeffrey looks around and starts to move down the stairs towards the crowds.
Kate quickly follows. "I hope it's not some thing missing from the exhibition. It'll take forever to find it. Plus, I don't know everything that should be here. Do you?"
"Well, as all the World Fairs of this era it was mainly used to show off the advances in technology. So there should be an engineering building or something. At least I know that should be there." He points at an immense statue of a female in robes holding a lance and a globe. "The Republic."
"I feel very small right now."
"That was pretty much the point to it."
They stare at the statue for a moment from their position across the large water basin.
"Maybe we should go our separate ways. We can cover more ground that way," Jeffrey suggests.
"What if the thing that is wrong is something you know, but I don't? Or the other way around? We'll end up covering the whole ground anyway. We might as well do it together."
"I thought you said you knew all about this time period. I know enough of it to recognize when something important is missing. You go that way; I'll go this way. We'll meet each other again here at the end of the day." Jeffrey turns left to go his way.
"I'd rather stay with you. Dad would never forgive me if I got you lost."
Jeffrey thinks about this for a moment. "Probably not." He smiles. "C'mon. I hope Bogg will forgive you that it will now take twice as long for us to finish our business here."
"He'll understand when I tell him why."
"We were at the World Exposition in Paris, Bogg and I," Jeffrey tells as they start on their tour of the fair grounds. "There's just a very special atmosphere at these World Fairs. The excitement about the future, the new technologies, the architecture. Most of these buildings burn down next year. But some of them are still preserved in the 1980s. Oh, look a food stall." Jeffrey rushes over, Kate in his wake. "Hamburgers were first introduced here at the Columbian Exposition. Smell that?" He takes in a deep breath. "That's the smell of America." Kate chuckles. "Well, it is. I've missed that smell. I haven't had a burger in seven years."
"You've had one two days ago."
Jeffrey frowns at her. "Oh, yeah. I wasn't really paying attention to the food then." He inhales deeply again. "A lot of things were introduced here first," he says as they walk on. "Food stuff, like hamburgers and carbonated drinks. The US Postal produced its first commemorative stamp, and the first picture postcards. It was the first showing of alternating current to the general public, and ..." Jeffrey tries to think of more firsts.
"The Ferris Wheel."
"Yeah, that was a first here. The Columbian Exposition was the first to have a separate section for entertainment. It was all gathered along the Midway. Since then Midway has become the term for ..."
"I meant, the Ferris Wheel isn't here," Kate interrupts. "I don't see it."
"This building could be blocking your view."
"I don't think I saw it before either."
"Let's go to the Midway and see if it's there."
They run through the mass of people as fast as the crowd allows them, following the sign posts that point the way to the Midway. At the beginning of the Midway they stop looking down the long straight. They turn their heads to look at each other.
"There's nothing here blocking my view anymore," Kate says.
"No, there isn't. Ferris didn't make his wheel. That makes it easy."
"Makes what easy?"
"We now know what we have to do. We have to get the first Ferris Wheel built."
"Hmm. And do you know who built the first Ferris wheel?"
"Like I said: Mr. Ferris. George Ferris." Jeffrey stands up straight as if he's giving a lecture. "Ferris Wheels were named after him."
"You happen to know where we can find him?"
"Uh, no, 'fraid not."
"Good thing you've got me. George Ferris, Pittsburgh, Fall of 1892." Kate sets the omni.
-oOo-
Pittsburgh, September 1892.
"Hawaii in the Summer is a lot nicer than Pittsburgh in Autumn." Kate shivers. "And it's windy here. Was Pittsburgh the Windy City."
"That's Chicago. And it wasn't named windy because of actual wind, but because of politicians that produced a lot of verbal wind. Now, how do we find Mr. Ferris?"
Kate's eye is drawn to something she reads on a newspaper held by a man waiting for a tram. She leans in to get a closer look. "Look that's interesting. Here's a segment on the Columbian Exposition. Architect Daniel Burnham, who designed the thing, says they haven't come up with anything yet that can answer to the expectations of the audience." The man puts the paper down and frowns at Kate. She throws him a winning smile. He shakes his head and puts the paper back up. Kate turns to Jeffrey. "I think this should be the cue for our friend to appear. Our yet unknown friend."
"George Ferris, will you ever ... " a little woman shouts after a man.
"I think we just got a bit of luck again." Jeffrey smiles to Kate.
"How dare you leave the house dressed like that." The woman has caught up with a man and is unbuttoning his coat. "Your shirt just randomly buttoned, your tie in a knot that boy scouts use to tie tree logs together." The woman straightens the man out. He doesn't argue with her. "There, that's better. Now you can present yourself again."
"Yes, dear."
"And I'll see you back home tonight. Do not forget we have company tonight, so don't be late."
"Of course, dear. I will, dear."
The man bows his head in greeting to his wife, then runs away to catch the tram. Jeffrey and Kate run after him and just manage to jump onto the tram as it pulls away from its stop. They stand on the balcony next to George Ferris.
"I read in the paper that the exposition in Chicago next year still needs somethings that can answer to what the audience expects," Kate starts. "But it didn't say what kind of thing that would be. What kind of thing would the public expect from an exhibition like that?"
"Big things," Jeffrey replies. "Big buildings, like the Christal Palace. Big machines, like trains."
"I heard that in Paris they had this machine in which you could take a fake train ride. You sat in some kind of train carriage. In stead of the carriage moving, the scenery, that was painted on large canvas roles, was pulled past the windows. It was just as if you were making a real train journey. That may be something for the Chicago exposition."
"Well, they probably want something that is also unique. London had the Christal Palace, Paris the Eiffel tower, Chicago should have ... "
"Another big construction?"
"And something that is moving," Ferris joins in the conversation. "They should want something that is big and moving."
"Like those fake trains I was talking about."
"No, that's too little movement. It should be big, and move up. Like those wheels they have in Atlantic City."
"Sure, but those aren't very big," Kate replies. "I believe one of them burned down in June. It was made out of wood and that wasn't very big. I think only 30 feet. The Eiffel tower, now that is big, it must be a 1000 feet high."
"But that is made out of steel. Steel is a much better construction material than wood. The same length of a beam of steel can take on much more force than a beam of wood. No, if you're going to build a big wheel you must use steel."
"You talk as someone who is in the steel business."
"Well, I am. George Ferris. Testing of steel and iron."
"Kate Bogg." They give each other a friendly nod. "With a name like yours it's no wonder you are in the steel business. Ferris or ferro, that's Latin for iron."
"And what kind of business would you be in with a name like Bogg, non too boggy, I hope."
"I haven't really chosen a business yet. I might become a librarian."
"You will never a good position dressed like that." Ferris nods to Kate. "A woman dressed as a man."
"I travel a lot. It's more comfortable this way."
"I imagine so. Still, a lot of people would say that you need to dress right to impress right. Well, my wife would say. She thinks it's very important that the proper clothing should be worn, the proper way."
"Yes, we saw her rebutton you. But we are getting away from the conversation we were having. If you made a wheel out of steel, how big could you make it?"
"Much bigger than 30 feet. 100, 200 feet at least."
"The bigger, the better," Jeffrey says.
"Right. And I'd put in big cars, not like those in Atlantic City with only four or five people per car. Dozens of people per car." Ferris is on a role now. "Come with me." He jumps off the still moving tram. Jeffrey and Kate follow him.
"The Eiffel tower is construction wise not very interesting." Ferris continues to talk as he takes on a brisk pace. "Basically it's a 1000 feet long bridge standing on one of its ends. What would be interesting, is to take a 1000 feet long bridge and make it round, like a bicycle wheel."
They go into a restaurant where Ferris flops down at the first table he sees. He takes a note book out of his pocket and starts sketching.
"I would make the wheel 250 feet high, and 20 feet wide. That's at least twice as wide as any of the wheels in Atlantic City."
"If you make it 30 feet wide you could fit in cars that would fit maybe forty people." Kate who sat down next to him points out. "That's more than go into the Atlantic City wheels for all their cars at the same time."
"Right, right. 30 feet. And not forty people, let's make it sixty." Ferris adds some measurements to his sketch. "If the wheel is 250 feet big then I want two towers, one on either side, like so, which support the middle axis. Those should be 150 feet. You could use the same construction principle as used for the Eiffel tower. Two little bridges standing on one end." Ferris chuckles at the little joke he has made, then quickly returns to his sketch. "To drive the wheel, I put a steam engine here."
A waiter arrives to take their orders. Ferris and Kate are too busy to notice. Jeffrey suggests he should come back later. He leans back in his chair watching Kate and Ferris design the big wheel. They discuss the size of the beams needed for the wheel; those needed for the towers; the design of the cars; the number of bearings needed to keep the cars in upright position; how big the load of the cars will be. Occassionally they briefly pause when a page on the notebook needs to be turned, but most times they keep talking so no time gets lost discussing their big plan. Jeffrey feels an outsider to this conversation. The six-year-old boy that has to be quiet while the grown ups are talking. At the same time he is amused how the mutual enthusiasm of Ferris and Kate fires them both up even more.
He remembers when he was a kid and they made trips to Coney Island. He loved the rides on the Ferris Wheel. You could see for such a distance. The world is at your feet, his dad would say. Now he's sitting at the table with the man who made the first Ferris Wheel. This is what he loves about voyaging: to personally meet the men and women who made history.
Ferris closes his note book.
"I think we just about discussed everything there is to discuss about it." He taps the book on the table. "I'm going to write this up as a proposal for the exhibition people in Chicago. They wanted to give the public something it expects. We're going to give them something the public hadn't expected in their wildest dreams." Ferris pockets the note book. "How is it that you know so much about engineering and construction?" he asks Kate.
"I've always had an interest in engineering. It's easy to pick up things if you have an interest in them."
"So your father must be an engineer. Does he work here in Pittsburgh? I don't think I have heard of an engineer named Bogg around here."
"I don't think he does much work in these parts."
"Oh, look at the time. I was already running late for work before I met you. It's a good thing I'm the boss, I won't fire me." Ferris jumps up. "It was very nice meeting you both." He shakes both their hands and then rushes out of the restaurant.
"An interesting character," Jeffrey says. It's about the first thing he has said in an hour's time.
"Why would my father have to be an engineer for me to have an interest in engineering?" Kate looks upset.
"I think it's part of the time we're in, engineering isn't part of a woman's field of expertize."
"It is still presumptuous."
"I guess so. I used to get it all the time: I tried to warn people about things, but they wouldn't listen, just because I was a kid."
"Yeah, I know. But I just had this really intense and stimulating conversation with George, he really appreciated my input, treated me like an equal. And then he ends it with something like that. I feel a little disappointed in him, that's all."
"Let's just check if we have a green light. That'll cheer you up."
Kate opens the omni. "Green light. You're right, that does make me feel better. So now we go back to Chicago to take a ride in that Ferris wheel. We deserve that, after all we helped design it."
"You helped design it," Jeffrey says as he gets up. "You did a good job for a first time voyaging."
Kate smiles. He puts an arm around her shoulder and she sets the dials of the omni.
-oOo-
A/N: Kate is mistaken: the fake train rides were a feature of the 1900 Paris' World Exhibition, so she shouldn't have mentioned them in 1892.
