The Business of Time Travel Tourism

Chapter 26: The Memories of A Time Cop

"Hey. How are you doing, sir?" George asked.

"Nice to see you again, George. Not so well," Mr. Hill tapped his bald head. "Brought any stuff?"

"Yeah, got some." George put seven gold coins and a small shiny gold stick on the table.

Mr. Hill took a device from under the shelve behind him. It was painted in bright yellow, had a shape of a brick. A microphone was plugged into it. On its top, under a wide round glass, a thin indicator was in its zero position. He pointed the microphone at the gold coins and turned on the box. The indicator did not move.

"Don't want to take chances with you kids," Mr. Hill said. Inspecting the coins with his wary eye, he continued, "They said that if I'd get exposed to the same stuff that John's silver contained. My arms might fall off next. Some gray guy came here, trying to push the same stuff as John did. Had no choice but to call the people who gave me questions back in the hospital."

"What people?"

"Government suits. They told they were from some place 51." Mr. Hill counted the money, then put them on the table.

George tucked the cash in the back pocket of his shorts, said, "Sorry Sir, but I'm in a hurry. Hope you can tell me everything that happened to you the next time," and went for the door.

"Of course."

———

George stopped running and approached his friends inside the train station. They were sitting in front of the ticket booking office. Max's face was all red.

George asked, "Hey. Did you get the tickets?"

"Nah, Giarge, we just came here. You see, we got lozt a little. We were terrible at reading the picture you gave uz. And the muztache man over here." He pointed at Max. "Iz terrible at listening to Zoop. Even if zometimes Zoop knowz better. And the tickets he bought are wrong. Are they not?"

Max gave George the tickets. On them, in black and white was written 'Milltown – Core City. 15:30, second class.' He said, "Sorry, George. I tend to make small mistakes when in a hurry."

"Not a big deal. They give the refunds. Be right back."

George walked to the end of the line of a dozen people waiting by the booking office.

Max stared at George, at the line, at the departures board, then back at the line and said, "It would be nice if the line disappeared, didn't it?"

"Yes, it would," Sally agreed loudly, then ducked in front of Zoop and attempted to repeat the words with her eyes, but had to give up soon and spell them out. "How 'bout you make it happen?"

"But it'z some ritual Giarge needs to complete before he gets the itemz we need." Zoop stared at the line. "Won't he get upset if we interrupt the ritual?"

"No, it will be fine," Sally comforted him.

"If you zay so... Where do I put them?"

"Here there, anywhere you want."

"Ok." Zoop walked to the far corner of the station, pushed a few buttons on his weapon and came back.

He aimed at the people standing in line and they disappeared one after another. Seeing this, George took a step back and showed Sally an angry face. The people from the line reappeared in the same corner Zoop had walked to. With wide eyes, they would stay there for a while, then return back and line up behind George, who now was talking to the ticket seller.

After changing the tickets, the party strode to the train platform, where they managed to catch the first train going to Crossroad.

During the journey, George learned a lot of new information about Max, who turned out to be his distant descendant. George was amazed to find out that people holding his surname were valued in the future, especially in the community of the time cops. There was something around Bottlemores. A magic or a curse that helped them to bend time to their will with ease. Max also told two stories about the cases he had to solve. The secret behind the magic, it seemed, was hard and thorough work. And then he told about one more mission, the only one he had failed.