The Business of Time Travel Tourism

Chapter 40: To Try Really Hard

July 3, 2014. Thursday

Leaving his friends behind, George entered the room of his adversary. Besides the baseball bat, he carried the respect and fear for the man he was about to face, a villain so clever and organized that he managed to build a fortune, a rocket, and a small army in a couple of weeks. Who was George but a petty time travel organizer and entertainer, to face him as an equal? George had learned from comic books that villains could only be beaten by heroes. He did not feel like one. But who else was there to take the responsibility and fix the mess?

If he had not posted the message to the future, no one would have come to destroy it. He would have continued playing the computer games and lived a boring adventureless life. Now, separating George from adventures and fun was Alfonso with his rocket. George needed the world to meet time travelers in. The world in which he could buy an island with a sandy beach where he could chill lying on a chair sipping a cool cocktail, which would be brought by a giant turtle serving as a walking table. If he could only beat the villain, one day his dreams might come true.

He did not manage to do that the first time they met but now it was different. Now it was him who was prepared not the other way around. He gulped a fresh breath of air, gripped the time traveler's belt on his shoulder and stepped forward. He did not feel in the mood now, but as his mother had often done, he managed an artificial smile. One that would surely help against the man he came here to beat.

Deep inside, George had hoped that the lady manager from Extreeme Pizza would have already taken care of Alfonso, but she had not. His nemesis waited for George prepared, following him with the deep brown eyes since the moment he entered the room.

With his hands crossed, wearing a white shirt, a black suit, facing the entrance Alfonso met George with a grim face. Under one of the massive arms, George noticed Alfonso holding a pistol. The same pistol he had bought on the first day of their meeting. Within Alfonso's reach stood a long wooden table with five computers and four monitors. A giant screen hung on the wall by the windows. There, a scaled projection of Earth and Moon spinning around it waited for something terrible to happen. The villain did not wear the time traveler's belt, nor the teleportation bracelet, it seemed, this time, he did not consider backing out as an option.

"You came here all alone, Mister George. It is very surprising, considering the stakes." Alfonso relaxed his hands and showed George the pistol. "I heard many tales about your deeds and adventures, but sadly in the timeline I am about to create they're never going to happen."

"How about we calm down and talk about this destroying the world stuff, big guy? Perhaps we could come to a compromise?" George gestured his hands, showing no signs of stress, carrying a dumb smile.

"What compromise?"

"I don't try to stop you and you don't try to blow the world up for example."

"No, Mister George your surrender can be our only compromise. If you leave now you get to live. Take a step forward and only death awaits you."

George took a step forward.

Alfonso went on, "For your information I am here not to destroy the world, only make it better. And I don't relax, I get the job done. Differently from you, I really care about the world. Here we speak about its fate and you have that dumb smile. Don't you care about anything? The world, life?! You came unprepared again! Do you take me for a fool? Think that smile is going to help you?" Anger and frustration sparked on Alfonso's face.

George walked to the point where only five meters separated them.

"I would stop right there if I were you." Alfonso wiggled his weapon. "It might be difficult to take another step with a bullet in your chest." He knit his brows. There was something he did not like about the dumb face expression George today had. It was so... disturbing and out of place.