The assassin strode through the time portal with a jaunty step.
“Well, I nailed the bastard in a Vienna cafe,” he said cheerfully.
He was startled to see his associate behind the console now wearing a brown uniform with a swastika armband.
“Wha.. what happened?” He stammered. “I shot Hitler! World War II should never have happened!”
“World War II? That’s what the losers called it... before we won. We call it the Great War.” His altered friend stated plainly. “Who was Hitler?”
“Ummm... the guy who started World War II.”
“The way you say that... did he win it?”
“Well, no.”
“Ah-hah, I see, you must have fulfilled destiny by wiping out this loser Hitler and paving the way for our great Führer Von Shirach, who won the war.”
“Oh, my God, you have to reset the coordinates to a few minutes earlier so I can stop myself!”
The brownshirt pulled out a Luger and shot his agitated one-time friend.
“As if.”
Copyright © 2003 by Lou Antonelli