The Gift and the Curse
A BTTF/Spider-Man Idea Crossover
By Flaming Trails
Chapter 1
Monday, May 12th, 1986
Hill Valley
6:33 A.M.
"And if you buy now, we'll throw in this free travel bag!"
"I don't want a travel bag!"
Doc blinked, startled by the sound of his own voice, then pulled himself back to consciousness. Stupid commercials, he thought, one hand fumbling for the knob on his radio. I was having such a nice dream, too. . . .
There was a soft click from his back. Then something reached out past his hand and turned the radio off for him. Good morning, Father, Jules's voice greeted him.
Doc smiled drowsily. "Morning, kids," he said, flipping himself over and sitting up. "Anything happen last night?"
Nothing of interest. Did you sleep well?
"Pretty well, yes." Doc cautiously opened his eyes a crack. Pale sunshine streamed through his window – not too bright for most people, but murder on his damaged retinas. Doc squeezed his eyelids shut again and reached for his sunglasses.
Only to find them missing. He groaned loudly. "Great Scott, not again!"
You've misplaced them, the tentacles chorused, sounding as annoyed as he felt.
Really, Father, this is the third time this week, Jules added scoldingly.
"I know, I know." Doc sighed. "You kids mind?"
Four different camera views of his garage house appeared, tinted in red. "Thanks." Doc allowed himself a moment to acclimate, then got up and began searching.
They eventually found the sunglasses left on top of the new pet dish prototype Doc was designing. Verne picked them up and handed them over. We really must remember to stop leaving them at the work bench.
"I know," Doc said again, slipping them on. The tentacles reduced their camera input as he opened his own eyes. "At least we found them quickly this time. Remember last month, when we had to tear up the whole garage?"
The tentacles gave a small shudder. Not fun.
With Doc now properly sighted, they headed into the bathroom to start their day. Doc glanced into the mirror as he prepared for his shower. A 65-year-old man with four sentient tentacles welded to his back stared back at him. Doc chuckled softly. Hard to believe that, just a few months ago, I was just an ordinary man who lived alone and liked to experiment. Now I've got four kids attached to me and the local nickname of Dr. Octopus.
At least people have stopped staring at us, Albert said, watching Doc's reflection.
Either that or they've become really good at hiding it. Either way, it appears people might actually be getting used to us. Never thought that would ever happen. Smiling to himself, Doc got into the shower.
After a good scrub-down and a shave, he went to see about a shirt and pants. Jules cautiously came up behind him as he browsed. Father?
Yes?
We've been discussing matters, and – we really think you ought to see someone about having your eyes fixed.
You keep misplacing your glasses, Tommy piped up. What happens if we can't find them one day?
We already came close last month, Albert agreed. And you've complained multiple times about juggling the glasses and goggles during experimentation.
We know you don't like to rely on future technology too much for fear of someone discovering the time machine, Verne said. But this is for your health's sake.
Doc looked back at the tentacles. Their clawed heads waited expectantly. He sighed. "You're probably right," he admitted, pulling on a yellow shirt with cowboy images. The tentacles slipped easily through the holes in the back. "I have been considering it a lot more often lately."
So why not just do it? Albert asked.
"A few concerns about explaining my new 20/20 vision to my doctor, and how exactly I'm going to wedge myself into the DeLorean."
The tentacles squeaked. Oh. I must have left that part out of my calculations, Jules admitted.
Surely there must be some way to make us all fit, Tommy said.
"We probably could squeeze ourselves in, but I suspect it would be extremely uncomfortable. To make us all fit properly, I'd have to replace the driver's seat – or even possibly rebuild the whole car for more interior space."
We could do that! Tommy replied, sounding eager to start on a new project.
Tommy, we don't know that for sure, Jules cautioned. Father knows a fair bit about automobile mechanics, but completely rebuilding a DeLorean?
We could do something about the seat though, right? Tommy persisted. Go to some mechanic in the future and explain our issue?
Doc paused in getting his toast. Maybe. . . . Hell, I could talk to a mechanic in this time period about doing that. It shouldn't be too hard. And maybe we could keep the rebuilding idea on the back burner, just in case. More passenger room in that thing would be useful.
Let's start with the seat and work our way up from there, Albert said. Rebuilding the entire car sounds like more trouble than it's worth.
Yes, good point. Let's finish breakfast, then we'll visit Texaco.
Monday, May 12th
3:24 P.M.
"Hey, Doc? Kids?"
Doc flipped up his torch cutter mask. "In here, Marty!"
Marty and Jennifer followed Doc's voice over to the section of the garage Doc actually used as a garage. He and the tentacles were bent over one of the DeLorean's car seats, cutting holes into the frame. "Uh, hey," Marty greeted them, lifting an eyebrow. "What's up?"
"The kids and I are making a few modifications to the car," Doc explained. "I'm finally doing it, Marty. I'm going to the future and having my eyes fixed."
"Hey, that's great! Finally lose your glasses once too often, huh?"
Doc and the tentacles nodded. "This morning was the last straw for all of us. We went to Texaco earlier and got some advice about modifying the DeLorean so the tentacles could fit properly. I was ready to rebuild the car if need be, but luckily some holes through the driver's seat should suffice."
"Whew," Marty said. "Probably would have been a real headache to dismantle the whole car."
"Tell me about it. It probably would have been easier just to switch to a different vehicle and build the time machine over from scratch in that case."
Jennifer sat down beside Doc. "So how far ahead are you going?" she asked, interested.
"Roughly 30 years. My experience with the rejuvenation clinic in 2015 makes me feel that that year's medical technology should be adequate for my needs." He flipped down his mask again and motioned for Jennifer to scoot back. "Plus, it's an era I'm moderately familiar with, having visited a couple of times to upgrade the technology in the DeLorean and prepare for any future time trips."
"Oh." She and Marty exchanged a look. "Um – can we come?"
Doc continued his cutting, letting the tentacles do his staring for him. "You want to come with me?"
"Who wouldn't want to go see the future?" Marty replied, grinning. "I've been wanting to go ever since you came back and told us about it."
"Yeah, I want to see first-hand how much better our future is," Jennifer added.
Doc finished his cut. "Hold on a second," he said, flipping the mask back up and frowning. "If I do take you to the future, you have to follow a few rules. And the most vital of those rules is to not look yourselves up! You could potentially cause a paradox!"
"A paradox?" Jennifer repeated, looking puzzled.
"An act in which the effect of the act cancels out the cause. They can't happen under normal circumstances, but with time travel, it's a catastrophic possibility."
"How could me having a peek at our future house cause a catastrophe?"
"What if your older self is there at the same time? If you saw each other, it could put both of you in shock. Suppose that you both fainted, and you, Jennifer, cracked your head open and killed yourself."
"Can't say I'm liking this example too much."
"Bear with me. Now that you're dead, you can never grow old and become your older self. Which means you couldn't have seen your older self, which means you couldn't have fainted and died!"
"So – Jennifer's alive then?" Marty asked, frowning in confusion. "Isn't that a good thing?"
"The problem is, if she's alive, then she could see her older self, faint, and get killed – and it just keeps on going like that. She'd be both alive and dead at once, which is a violation of every physical law there is. She'd be stuck in a loop." Tommy chittered at him, as if asking a question. "Exactly, Tommy, like a skip in a record."
"That just sounds annoying, not deadly," Jennifer said.
"Well, it depends on whether the universe can sustain such a loop. You're looking at a situation where the entire universe could be destroyed as the space-time continuum tries to right itself." Marty and Jennifer stared at each other in shock. "Granted, that's the worst-case scenario – the destruction could be limited to our own galaxy. But still – paradoxes are not to be trifled with."
"I'll say. Wow," Jennifer muttered.
Marty, however, was still frowning. "Hang on, Doc, could that even happen? We're going to the future – shouldn't we not be there when we get there?"
Doc and the tentacles stared at Marty for a second. The teen started to fidget. "What?"
"Nothing," Doc said, starting to smile. "That was just an excellent example of fourth dimensional thinking."
"It was?" The tentacles nodded, squeaking their praise. "Heh, thanks, guys, but don't expect stuff like that too often. It just seemed odd we'd be around in the future if we weren't around in the past."
"It is odd, but that's the way it works," Doc shrugged. "My future self continued to exist in 2015 when I went on my initial trips – even if he was in a grave the first time. My hypothesis is that it has to do with the ripple effect needing time to catch up. After all, back in 1955, you didn't fade away immediately when you prevented your parents from meeting." Jules made a couple of clacking sounds, nodding his claw. "Ahh, yes, that is a good point. Immediate erasure would have caused a paradox too. That's probably why it took a week – safety catch."
"So how come me coming back to new and improved parents didn't cause a paradox? Uh, not that I'm complaining," Marty hastened to add.
"And hey, you helped change our future," Jennifer agreed. "How come that isn't a paradox?"
Even the tentacles seemed a little confused by this one. Doc thought it over. "I think it's more because those situations were not life-and-death," he finally said. "Even though the future can be changed, things do seem to try and default to a certain setting. George and Lorraine may have vastly improved lives, but they still got married, and they still had three kids, two boys and a girl, right on schedule." Doc blushed faintly. "I have to admit, part of me wondered if I was going to meet a Martina before I completed the time machine."
"I was kind of worried I might be younger," Marty admitted. "You know, come home only to find I'm supposed to be 14 or something."
"That could have been a possibility too. But nope – here you are, almost exactly the same as you were before. And as regards to your own future, you and Jennifer still seem to be married with two kids. Just the quality of your life has improved."
Jennifer still looked confused. "But wouldn't you remember the good future then? And not warn Marty?"
"Well, changing the future seems to involve creating a second set of memories. Marty, may I use you as an example again?" Marty nodded. "Marty recalls both the Twin Pine and the Lone Pine versions of his life. I have a theory that, when his Lone Pine counterpart visited 1955 – the version of himself he saw leaving the mall when he returned – that counterpart's memories defaulted back to the Twin Pines timeline. It's quite possible my own brain did the same thing. You could call it a safety catch, much like the delayed effect of time ripples."
"So – my other self would remember something that – my head's starting to spin," Marty complained, rubbing his temple.
"Sorry. Look, the whole point is that it's better to not look yourselves up in the future. The universe may have safety catches in place to help prevent paradoxes, but accidental killing or maiming from future self-past self contact may not be covered. I don't want to risk it."
"Right, right," Jennifer nodded, sighing. "We can't look ourselves up."
"Exactly. Seeing the future in general should be safe enough, but personal futures shouldn't be tampered with too much."
"Okay," Marty said. "Anything else we should know if we want you to take us with you? And keep it in English."
Doc chuckled. "Well, try not to gawk, obviously, people will think you're strange. And don't talk to anyone if you can help it. Hellos and goodbyes are all right, of course, but don't get sucked into any long conversations. And don't touch anything unless I'm there to explain what it does." Tommy chattered at him, sounding puzzled. "It may be strict, but I don't want anyone getting hurt, or the universe imploding. And those rules apply to you too, kids. I know how inquisitive you all are."
Jules chittered something, holding himself up proudly. The others buzzed at him, Tommy waggling his "tongue" tentacle. "Don't start!" Doc said as Jules hissed at them.
"Why, what did they do?" Marty said, wishing again that the tentacles could talk. A lot of what they got up to together he found, frankly, hilarious.
"Oh, Jules was just saying he would keep them in line, and the others accused him of being a suck-up," Doc said, holding Jules and Albert apart. "Behave, you lot!"
Jennifer giggled. "Don't make Doc get out the duct tape again, kids."
The threat of being temporarily bound made the tentacles settle down. "That's better," Doc said, casting Jennifer a grateful look . "Now, I was thinking of leaving this upcoming Saturday. Is that okay with everyone?"
"I haven't got any plans," Marty said, grinning.
"I'm getting a manicure in the morning, but I'll be free in the afternoon," Jennifer said.
"All right then. Think you can make it here by 3:30 P.M.?"
"Oh yeah, not a problem."
Doc grinned. "Then it's a date."
"All right!" Marty high-fived Tommy. "I can't wait to see what the future is like! Man, I bet they have some rocking tunes. . . . Would it be okay to check out a record store, Doc? I wouldn't try to look up myself, I just want to see what the music is like."
"I suppose that would be all right," Doc admitted. "So long as I have your word you'll be good."
"Scout's honor, Doc."
"Same here," Jennifer said, holding a hand to her heart.
"Good. Just remember, don't talk and don't touch."
"Sure thing. Man, I can't wait to hear the rock of the future! Bet it sounds fantastic!"
Doc chuckled at Marty's enthusiasm. "I'm sure it does."
Albert, however, seemed less happy. He screeched something. "Don't start with the doom and gloom," Marty told him. "This is gonna be great."
"He's right," Doc told the tentacle, going back to his cutting. "You can't always look on the dark side of things. We'll be fine. You'll see."