THE MOMENT
The atmosphere was crowded and lively, and Paul would've rather been almost anywhere else. He most definitely would've preferred to be some when else, but now that time travel was commoditized, group excursions were a popular way for the masses to tour the timeline. Of course, the experience was billed as 'Touring the Timeline', but people were people. They had the entirety of time as an option, and still consistently chose the same few moments. There were outliers, of course. Paul considered himself one such independent thinker. Although it was hard to reconcile that while standing in a dark corner in the most popular temporal destination vacation.
At least he had a drink while the party carried on around him. Paul hated feeling like a stick in the mud, but there were only so many times he could visit Professor Hawking's Party before it started feeling like the job that it was. The only saving grace of his position was that he regularly brought a new group of people with him. It was hard to complain about making good money for taking people to a party, but he managed it fine some days. It wasn't even the party itself that drained Paul, but the tourists themselves.
While he knew better, it easily felt like he was dealing with idiots on a regular basis. Every group required the same explanation, and no matter how clear he'd been, every group asked the same questions. He had flow-charts explaining the time stream, and gave important information covering paradoxes and how time travel actually worked versus what they all saw on TV. And he would still have to give repeated answers, several times.
'No, you won't see yourself again, even if you've come on the trip before. No, just because the paradox works a different way doesn't mean we can get away with killing Hitler. No, you can't go back in time before you paid to change your mind,' and countless other rejections. He'd even tried explaining that it was technically a different Professor Hawking every time. They weren't traveling through time so much as hopping between timelines. And, with an infinite multiverse came an infinite number of parties for time travelers. Sometimes, like this one, he arranged for the hosting Professor to explain it, but his charges rarely processed the lesson anyway.
Paul sipped on his drink and waited respectfully impatiently. Not all time traveler parties served alcohol, but he was glad that this one did. He watched his group talking and laughing with each other and the professor, and he was careful about checking the headcount every so often. He'd had a couple of mishaps early in his career and made it a habit to keep track.
The time traveler's party package was the most expensive, and it was designed to encourage large groups. Currently, he only had 18 guests to keep track of, but he'd handled as many as 30. Those were surprisingly easier. When it was a large group, the party tended to be their only goal. And, they were usually, though not always, the only attendees. He resented almost every minute, but the good thing was, the part was about over. The others seemed to realize it, and he noticed them starting to gather themselves and began thanking their host. It took another solid few minutes before the group was gathered with Paul and ready to move on to the next event.
This group was a family who all decided to vacation together, and Paul disliked those groups the most because they were unpredictable and entitled. They tended to treat Paul as their personal time machine, not factoring in all the paperwork involved in time travel. He was idly hoping they'd want to go to another time traveler's party.
"So, where to next?" Paul asked. He put on an appropriate smile and addressed Moses, the head of the family. He was an older man in his late 50s, but still solid and strong enough to work the fields.
"Now, I know you said there's rules.... but, we've been talking to Mr. Hawking," Moses started his explanation, and Paul died a little inside. He knew exactly what was coming. It was no longer a surprise that putting idiots in a room with the smartest person ever would lead to some strange ideas. "I think we got a way around that temporal paradox," he grinned and puffed his chest out. "If you would be so kind as to take us, my family really wants a shot at killing Hitler."