"I think I'm gonna need more answers," Malcolm decided, pulling John's arms up over his head and cuffing his wrists to the headboard. "You don't need to check-in with anybody, do you?"
"Nobody at all, big boy," John grinned.
"Good," Malcolm said, putting his katana away. "Because I know of a much better way to go about -"
He was left kneeling over an empty pillow when the man under him dematerialized.
"And now I know you're not Jack," came a smug voice from across the room. "Oh, no, don't reach for that big, nasty sword again. I've got you covered with a sonic blaster. And a nice arse is a terrible thing to waste."
"I'm pretty good at disappearing," Malcolm said, turning slowly with his hands raised, "but I'm definitely not that good."
"I'd imagine you aren't. Love my little wrist-strap."
"How's it do that?"
"51st century technology. It's called a vortex manipulator. Instantaneous travel in time and space, but you should keep the trips pretty short. They can be temperamental on long trips and if you get stuck with a shorted-out strap in, say, 1870 or so, you're pretty fucked. A bit rough-and-dirty, but I like it that way."
"I believe 'rough-and-dirty' was the only part of that I understood."
John smirked. "Well, as long as you do understand that. Now. You wanted to ask some questions. I'm fine with that, but I get the impression you're a dangerous man to be left unsecured, so I'm going to have to take precautions. It was so much easier with old Jackie. All I had to do was kill him and string him up while he was out. Bet you don't do that trick, though."
"I'm harder to kill than most people think," Malcolm challenged.
"But not impossible, eh?" John said, approaching the bed and motioning with his blaster for Malcolm to cooperate in positioning his hands for the cuffs. "There we are. Much more cosy. I'm all yours now. Ask me anything." John perched at the end of Malcolm's bed, smiling serenely.
Malcolm glared at the infuriating blond. "Setting aside all this bullshit about time-travel, I still want to know who sent you. You're a really poor assassin, despite your armory and tricks."
"Lucky for you I'm not here to 'rub you out'. Per se. Though I'm sure you'd like that. However, the time-travel. Very real. I'd be happy to demonstrate."
"Want to try explaining it to me first?"
John sighed. "No, not really. Fact is, I can monkey around with this stuff, but I've never been able to explain it. Especially not to less evolved civilizations. I'm more the physical guy than the tech guy."
"Imagine that," Malcolm muttered.
"So, come on. Let's go someplace fun. I'm thinking this place could use some new décor. Classical Greek pottery, maybe." John wrapped the bedsheet around Malcolm, uncuffed him, and pressed a button on his wrist-strap while holding onto Malcolm's arm.
Moments later, Malcolm collapsed to the ground, catching his breath and trying to convince himself that he wasn't going to be copiously ill.
"Oh, should have warned you, first trips are pretty much always like that. You'll get used to it. Probably. Come on, I don't really want to hang around here all day."
"I don't know what you just did to me," Malcolm breathed, slowly getting up. "I don't get dizzy." He raised his head and looked for something in the distance to focus on to stop the spinning sensation. "Where the hell are we?"
"Athenian agora. I was aiming for a symposium, but this'll do."
"And I'm meant to believe you haven't drugged me and taken me to some kind of… historical reenactment?"
"You people are so predictable. I take you to an unbelievable place in your planet's history and you shrug it off as 'drugs'. Do you people ever have any actual experiences? Oh well, I guess a visit to something off world might be more persuasive. No drugs… honest!" John keyed in coordinates and grabbed Malcolm's wrist.
Malcolm nearly managed not to collapse on his second landing, but wasn't as successful in the battle to keep from being sick.
"Welcome to Woman Wept. I'd show you to view from orbit if I had a ship instead of just the strap. Anyway, frozen seas. Minor issue with their sun a while ago. Nothing like that on your planet – yet. Is anything of this going in? And, please, don't blame drugs – again."
Malcolm groaned and slowly straightened up again. His jaw dropped when he saw the white-foam waves frozen solid. "This is real…."
John rolled his eyes. "Finally."