Chapter 4

Preparations

Two weeks passed before Jeffrey could get through a day without napping and could walk any kind of distance without too much pain. Instructed during his follow-up visit to start carefully pushing his limits, he now went to the dining hall with Bogg for meals—the older Voyager had been alternating between cooking meals in their small kitchen and bringing in take-out. The boy was glad of even that short excursion, as he was beginning to feel restless from the inactivity.

The cafeteria-style serving line was long, but it moved fairly quickly, so he wasn't on his feet long enough for the discomfort to become more than a moderate annoyance, though carrying his own tray was completely out of the question. The cafeteria staff was accustomed to injured Voyagers coming through; one look at the boy's stiff posture immediately brought one, seeming to materialize out of thin air, to take the tray to their table.

They were nearly through with their breakfast when a man with long brown hair tied back in a ponytail approached. "Hey, long time, no see," he grinned, and Bogg rose to greet him, simultaneously motioning Jeff to remain seated.

"Good to see you, Tim," he said. "Jeff, this is Tim Shelby; he was my guide when I first came here."

His round, full face made him look substantially younger than he really was—he was often taken for mid-twenties when he was actually pushing forty—and the effect was accentuated by Shelby's wicked grin. "And could I ever tell you some stories about this guy," he told Jeffrey with a broad wink.

"Don't bother; he's already heard them all," Bogg shrugged.

"Somehow, I doubt that," Shelby replied, fixing his former charge with a significant look.

Jeffrey came to his new dad's rescue. "You gotta be talking about the time some of the girls complained about his 'wenching,'" he said offhandedly.

The guide's jaw dropped. "You really did tell him!" he blurted.

"I'm not in the habit of hiding things from him," Bogg chuckled. "He knows what I was."

"And still are, in some ways," Jeffrey teased, unable to resist. "You gotta admit you left yourself wide open for that one, Bogg!" he laughed when the older Voyager mock-glared at him.

"Sounds like he keeps you on your toes, huh?"" Shelby said to Bogg as they sat down.

"Sometimes," Bogg agreed. "And I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm glad you came by," he went on, changing the subject. "We're going to be here for almost two months, and I was thinking of letting Jeff take some preliminary classes while we're here."

"Not a bad idea," Shelby said approvingly. "I'll talk to Mitchell and have him send somebody over later today with a placement test for him. That's Dave Mitchell, head of Orientation," he added. "Actually, though, I came here to talk to you, Phineas. Sorry, Jeff, but you're not supposed to hear this."

"That's okay," Jeffrey said, tossing back his last mouthful of juice as he got to his feet.

When he was gone, Bogg asked, "Okay, so what's on your mind, besides trying to embarrass me in front of my kid?"

"You know how the pools work around here, right?"

"Yeah; the bookie gives the winner some scut-job or other."

Shelby nodded. "The short straw. Parker sent me to ask your permission to issue a dare to Jeff."

"To Jeff?" he repeated incredulously.

"You know it's customary to dare a new Voyager, and you guys didn't exactly hang around long enough after the tribunal made him one."

Bogg frowned. "Those dares can get the newbie in trouble if he draws the wrong target. Tim, I may not be at Headquarters often, but I'm not completely ignorant of what's been going on here. I'm well aware of how some people feel about the kid; trouble is the last thing he needs."

"No trouble," Shelby assured him. "Word of honor. Folks just want to see him do a solo. Including the ones who don't approve of him; even they're not immune to curiosity. They want to know what's so exceptional about him that he's getting what they call special treatment."

Bogg whistled soundlessly at that; maybe there was hope for the political situation after all. Then he sighed. "He's not up to another assignment right now, solo or otherwise," he told Shelby. "He got pretty banged up on our last one; the doctor put him on limited activity."

"So I've heard."

"He's done solos before; we've been separated at least once that I can think of offhand, and he was only in the field three or four months at the time. Why don't they just broadcast that like they did with my trial?"

"We all know he's like a walking history book. The point of this one is to send him someplace after his home time, see how he handles himself in completely unfamiliar surroundings."

"Hold it right there," Bogg protested. "We were trained for that; he isn't!"

"We're not going to send him out cold; you should know better than to think we would."

"Okay, so why don't you just give me all the details straight up."

"What we have in mind is to let him have a crack at the practical portion of the Academy's final exam. We'll give him one of the school Omnis. He'll never actually leave VHQ; it'll put him down in one of the holochambers, and we'll be watching the whole thing on the Omnitron. You've never told him about the holochambers, have you?"

"No; the subject never came up."

"Good; make sure you don't. You can tell him we'll be watching him, though."

"Tim, is this a good idea? We didn't even know we were really in holochambers when we took that exam. When he finally does go to the Academy—"

"Not to worry; it's all been cleared. If he passes it now, he won't have to take it again. You just let me know when he's taken off medical restrictions, and we'll go from there."

"Okay. Now exactly how much of this can I tell him?"

It wasn't only the kitchen that had been fully stocked for them, Jeffrey had discovered that first day when he'd finally dragged himself to the smaller of the two bedrooms. Several changes of clothing had been provided, including one outfit like the threadbare and ill-fitting polo shirt and cords he'd been planning to replace while he was here—he'd long since ditched the Nikes he could no longer get his feet into.

The real treasure trove for him, however, had been the small collection of books on the shelves: some popular novels from his own time, as well as several of his favorite classics. He looked up from the leather-bound volume of Hans Brinker he was reading when Bogg came in. "So what was the big secret he didn't want me to hear?" he asked.

"You really expect me to answer that?" Bogg teased him, then said, "You're being introduced to an old VHQ tradition: the dare." His interest piqued, Jeff set the book aside as Bogg went on, "When new Voyagers graduate, they're dared to do some bit of mischief before they're sent out."

"Sounds like fun," Jeffrey grinned.

"It is. Usually everybody gets a big laugh out of it, though there are one or two killjoys who always try to raise a protest about it."

"Bet they always get the worst pranks played on them, too."

"Don't they ever!" Bogg laughed. "When my class graduated, they made Olivia break into Professor Deschamps' office and dump all her files. When I came back at the end of my first year in the field, she was still trying to find out which one of us did it and who issued the dare."

"But I haven't been to Voyager school."

"Apparently someone decided you qualify as our newest Voyager anyway. Your dare is a little different, though. They want you to do a solo mission."

"And you're letting me go?"

"You've worked alone before. I was even the one who sent you."

"Yeah, once. And it was that or let me burn to death.1 I know you; if you thought there was any chance this could get me in trouble, or hurt, or anything like that, you'd take those guys apart."

"I probably wouldn't go that far, but you can bet I never would have agreed to it."

"But how can they guarantee I won't get hurt? We get banged up all the time."

"We're going to be watching you every step of the way on the Omnitron. If it looks like you're getting in over your head, you'll be snatched out of there faster than you could get to your Omni."

"What's the Omnitron?"

"It's a big screen they have in Mission Control that they can use to watch a mission in progress. They usually only do that when the system alerts them that something critical is going on. You'll find out more when you're up to a full tour; your guide'll be able to explain it a lot better than I can."

That guide turned out to be an elderly woman named Alicia DiLuca, who had been born and raised at VHQ and spent the bulk of her career in the field. Once she'd become too old for the rigors of fieldwork, but far from ready to retire completely, she'd taken a position in Orientation and asserted that she would probably die in harness.

Jeffrey had heard of people like that, who could not bear the thought of being put out to pasture, and he could see how Alicia would be one of them. She fairly bubbled with an energy level that belied her age and looked closer to sixty than to her actual eighty-three years.

It was a short walk to the Orientation section, well within his current foreshortened tolerance levels; once there, he was taken to an empty classroom, where a three-day battery of testing began.

Almost as soon as the boy left with Alicia, Bogg headed to the library to check out a history text for himself. He couldn't go on being so completely dependent on his Guidebook and Jeffrey's almost encyclopedic knowledge; as much as the kid enjoyed his role, there was also the scorn he exhibited when Bogg got some simple fact wrong, and that scorn was becoming more cutting as time went on. The former pirate knew his stuff well enough in most areas, but in the core element of their work, he was failing Jeff miserably, and the kid was starting to realize it. If he didn't want to lose control of him completely in the teen years which were looming ever closer, he would have to correct his own inadequacies, and quickly.

In the dining hall later that evening, they were just settling at a table when Carrie Franklin rose from the one next to them. After the usual pleasantries, she asked Bogg, "Have you told Jeffrey about his dare yet?"

"Yeah; he knows."

"Good. Jeffrey, I'll be getting you ready for your assignment."

"What's to get ready?" Jeffrey wanted to know. "Bogg's already taught me how to use the Omni and the Guidebook."

"This time you'll be using our new electronic Guidebook," she told him, holding up a device that was only a little larger than the telephone he'd seen her using the day they'd arrived. "And for that, you're going to need some computer training that I don't think your Orientation guide has planned yet."

It was at that point that Will arrived, tray in hand. "This isn't a private party, is it?" he asked.

"You know you're invited even if it is," Bogg told him, nodding toward an empty chair.

"Thanks. Carrie, I hear you've been elected to introduce Jeff here to computers."

"I'll be starting as soon as DiLuca has drawn up his study plan so I can work it into his schedule."

"Guard your ears, Jeff," Will playfully warned the boy.

"My ears?" he repeated, puzzled.

Franklin snorted. "I've been known to pull pages' ears when they get out of—What was that, Voyager Bogg?" she cut herself off when Bogg muttered something she didn't quite hear, trying, and failing, to hide the grin that belied her stern tone.

"I said, and student Voyagers', too," he repeated with a wicked grin.

She shook her head, giving up trying to suppress her own amusement. "I can see what we're in for," she sighed dramatically. "Look out, VHQ; the terrors of the Academy have been reunited." With that, she walked off, leaving Bogg and Will laughing behind her.

"Were you guys really terrors?" Jeffrey wanted to know.

"Not exactly, but we could tell you some stories that would curl your hair," Will told him.

Jeffrey snorted. "If it was any curlier, it'd be an Afro," he quipped, causing Will to start chuckling again.

Bogg only looked puzzled. "A what?" he asked.

"Never mind," Jeffrey sighed. "But Professor Franklin doesn't seem all that bad."

"Tell our ears that," Will grinned.

"Hey, you got off easy," Bogg teased. "She couldn't drag you around by 'em, since you were still hobbling around on crutches."

Jeffrey snickered at the mental image of the diminutive woman leading the six-foot-plus Bogg by an ear and decided he would have to try it the next time Phineas got too caught up with some girl.

"Don't even think it, kid," came the warning.

"What?"

"Don't give me that innocent act; I know you too well."

"Bat's breath."

Will almost choked. "Don't tell me he's got you saying that, too!" he gasped when he could talk again.

"Well, I don't think he'd like it too much if I said something like frak…in English."

"Watch it, kid," Bogg chuckled. "I know what that means; it's pretty obvious, the way Will says it." Then he looked at his friend. "What's that other one?"

"You mean felgercarb?"

No; it's a shorter one. You used to say it in a kind of nasal-sounding voice."

That got Jeffrey laughing. "I bet he means shazbot." He couldn't quite manage to duplicate Robin Williams' comedic voice, but the tone was just recognizable enough to get a "thumbs up" from Will.

"Where do you two find these words?" Bogg demanded.

"On TV," Jeff told him. "Two different shows that came on when I was eight or nine."2

"So how come you know about them, coming from the next century, Will?"

"The miracle of technology, m'man," he replied expansively. "By my time, you could get DVDs of almost every TV show that ever ran. You remember those from Orientation, don't you, Phin?"

Burying his reddening face in one hand, he groaned, "Don't remind me."

Feeling a little sheepish now that the shoe was on the other foot, Jeffrey asked, "Uh…what's a DVD?"

Bogg wasn't a bit surprised by the results of Jeffrey's placement tests. Though it had been over a year since he'd last attended school, the boy hadn't lost any ground since then. Given his background, it was taken as given that he would exceed grade level in history, and he met that expectation easily.

There was some concern over whether he would be able to adapt to the teaching methods employed here. By Jeffrey's time, education had begun to focus more on self-esteem and less on actual learning, to the point that junior recruits from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries often needed as much time to make the adjustment as people from much earlier eras did for the advanced technology.

They needn't have worried; Bill and Kathy Jones had worked hard to counter the influence of an inadequate school system, and their efforts had succeeded beyond their greatest hopes. For the first time in his life, Jeffrey found school a real challenge, and he thrived on it.

The older Voyager, motivated by a desire to surprise the kid with his improved historical knowledge as well as, to a lesser extent, a wish to avoid his wisecracks, kept his own efforts a closely guarded secret. He found himself acutely embarrassed when Jeffrey eventually caught him at it, but the boy surprised him yet again. Instead of the merciless teasing Bogg was expecting, Jeffrey took to reading with him, the two of them sitting side by side, then firing questions at each other at odd intervals and engaging in lively discussions and debates. Both of them treasured those hours of shared study, and Bogg suspected they did more bonding during that time than in the entire year they'd been together.

What no one had any way of knowing was that, elsewhere in the facility, more insidious preparations were being made.

1 Voyagers!: "Worlds Apart"

2 Battlestar Galactica, and Mork and Mindy.