The Voyagers landed on heap of old newspaper bundles and trash in a deserted alley. Jeffrey immediately swept his hand over his mouth and nose and coughed, but it wasn't the smell of the rotting food that choked him up. The sky glowed orange and smoke billowed around them.
"Bogg! Where are we? This isn't Feudal Japan!" Jeffrey stood and wiped gunk off his pants.
Bogg choked and shook the omni off his belt. "Obviously! Looks like the Shogun will be missing his foreign visitors for dinner." He opened the lid and the red and green lights flashed back and forth. The alarms buzzed and beeped. "Oh no. It's on automatic mode again. It's hard to make out where…okay, North East…Midwest…Illinois, October 8th, 1871."
"Bogg, we're in Chicago! This the Great Fire! It burned for three straight days and destroyed thousands of homes and stores. Hundreds died. How do we know if it's red or green? I thought you field stripped this Mickey Mouse watch!"
"Jeff, don't panic! I didn't get a chance. Besides, I figured Edison's overhaul did the trick and it'd last a long time."
"Bogg! This is why we needed that Guidebook from VHQ. We need the manual."
"It would help, I know how to do it…sorta."
Jeffrey rolled his eyes. "Sure you do."
"Well, I'll need the complete list of tools, instructions, and at least a few days to work. Yeah, I need that book. Anyway, we can't get it now. The omni's on lockdown."
Screams and shouts for water resounded from across the way and Phineas jumped to his feet and dragged Jeffrey toward the commotion.
"Those families are in trouble!"
Flames licked at and roared from giant warehouses down the avenue and the fires quickly spread in their direction. The blazes had already reached the rooftops, sending weaker structures crashing down. On the opposite street, mothers and children raced out of their homes, many in their bedclothes. Men and women made human chains to toss feeble buckets of water on the fires that had reached lower floors and storefronts.
"Bogg, what are we gonna do?"
"What we always do no matter what, we help people!"
Looks like the boys got themselves into a pickle now. A malfunctioning omni and deadly fires walling them in on all sides. How will they figure out what the real historical problem is?
I don't know! I made this mini scene up on the spot to prove a point.
Notice how Jeffrey insists they need the manual? Remember back to the pilot episode when they landed in Egypt? Bogg rhetorically asks Jeffrey, "Do you know how difficult it is to field-strip one of these things?…Where's my guidebook?"
It's obvious that besides historical dates, an omni instruction manual was inside the book. We never got a peek into the Guidebook, even when Voyager Olivia read from it after they returned The Mona Lisa to the Louvre.
That all changed sometime in the mid-2000's when two Voyagers! fans teamed up to create the limited edition Voyagers Guidebook Replica.
I remember how exciting it was to know a fan-made Voyagers! prop was out there on the market. I'm pretty sure I learned the replica existed during 2007-2008. These Guidebooks sold out quickly. I know some fans who own this book, but just like the guidebook on the show, most of us have never gotten a peek at the contents.
But that's about to change.
A generous fan once sent me a copy of an Omni Field Stripping Guide. This has to be seen to be believed. Once you read it, you'll feel like an Omni expert! It's clear that a strong knowledge of mechanics & engineering, coupled with deep fan love for Voyagers!, went into the creation of this Guidebook.
I was going to share it all in this blog post but decided it needed a permanent home on our website's Omni Page.
Please check it out!
If either of the fans who created the Guidebook Replica are still out there, please know your work has been greatly appreciated for years and I would love an interview or commentary about how you came up with the concepts to put in your Guidebook. And, if you ever choose to sell it again I'd gladly promote the sale through the website and group.
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