The Business of Time Travel Tourism

Chapter 10: The Journey By A Train

June 26, 2014. Thursday.

Sally, John, and George stood on the lawn in front of George's house. The first sun rays were slowly emerging from the horizon, illuminating dew on the long uncut grass surrounding the trio. Sally was in her uniform, her weapons and holsters put in the backpack, John wore the baseball cap and 'Metallica' shirt, and George was in his casual white long shorts and a white crumpled blouse which carried a smell of a washing machine.

It was the beginning of a beautiful day only for the two of them.

Not for George. Perhaps he got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or came to his senses when it was finally the time to act because now he had a bad feeling deep in his gut about the whole 'save the world' idea. The joy and excitement about the upcoming day John and Sally carried did not catch on to him.

"Not used to get up so early in the morning." George yawned, stroking a strand of hair to the side, his eyes half open.

"Same," added the other two.

For George, who currently was in a very gloomy mood, the careless smiles of his friends' faces did not appear charming at all. The situation he found himself in felt unsettling. He would give up many things if Alfonso and Sally had not come and made his life more complicated. He always preferred to go with the tide, avoid unnecessary risks, but here he was about to take one with a companion he met only a day ago.

"Ok, John, it's time we split. Here are the keys." George put a bundle in John's hand. "No matter what comes through the rippling hole I trust you to take good care of them and show hospitality. Be patient and polite."

"Of course."

Before leaving, George added, "Call me if the situation becomes too difficult to handle."

"I will! Make sure you keep the phone close to you. Good luck you two."

"See ya John. You'll make a great host." Sally winked her eye.

The two up-and-coming heroes (or martyrs) walked the empty Milltown's streets toward its center, toward the train station. They passed the time sharing ideas on how Alfonso could be stopped. Sally assessed the situation in a straightforward manner. Her plans mostly consisted of the direct approach. One of her suggestions was to burn Alfonso's house to make him leave and then surprise him with a sneak attack involving blunt objects used as weapons. The laugh Sally gave George after telling the plan horrified him.

Another proposal she had included fighting their way through by entering through the main gate. She boasted about how the non-lethal handguns, now lying in her backpack, could drug or make victims suffer in most humiliating ways with various side-effects for extended periods of time.

George rejected both ideas. "Since we both want to live through this experience," George spoke as persuasively as he could. "We should be more careful. I say we observe his house for a day or two and think of a way to sneak in. Perhaps we could dress up as pizza deliverers. We drive into his garden, say we got some pizza. He goes out to take it and then, bam! We zap him, press the teleporter on his belt, send him back and take him out if he ever attempts to return.

"And weapons, Sally, I'm against weapons. They should be the tools of the last resort. I don't want anyone getting hurt while we're doing this. I have this idea that if you don't shoot first, people don't shoot back at you."

Sally found George's plan to be a bit too complicated. She had so many questions about the pizza, about the cab, about where would they hide their weapons, about what should they say so that their cover would not be blown. George tried his best to assure her that the plan was truly plausible but failed in the end. There were just too many questions. And she found the whole idea of restraining her use of weapons stupid, but she agreed to try.