Essential Information

Saturday

October 26

1985

Marty opened the door of the garage. He didn´t know what to expect. After that morning, when he woke up to a new reality, finding his whole life completely changed, he wouldn´t be surprised even to find Godzilla sitting in his garage. Hell, was he still dreaming?

When he´d woken up he´d seriously believed to have dreamed it all. This whole last week, he´d lived through in another time. This hell on earth, running from a murderous robot from the future, almost being wiped out from history by his own mistake and fearing for Doc´s life just as well. None of this insane scenario could possibly be real, right? It had to be a dream.

This night at Twin Pines Mall (Was that name even correct? He was so confused, he wasn´t sure anymore), Doc getting shot by terrorists … that alone would make for several sessions with a shrink to keep him from going completely nuts.

But it hadn´t been a dream. It had all been real. And by now he knew this.

It was amazing. The change he´d caused could have been so tiny. For some people it might have been. One night in a lifetime. But for his father it had changed everything. The limb who never stood up for himself and who once grew old, consumed by a bitter life without ambition and hopes for the future, had gotten a new chance. This night of the dance had been the proverbial crossroad, when a man has to decide if he wants to go left or right.

Once in his life George McFly had decided to go left, like always. He decided to remain the victim, to keep his head down and hope to not get too many lashes from others. And this decision – if you could even call it a decision – had condemned his whole family to a life in misery and sadness. Sadness about how life was so unfair, how they were always on the downside of opportunities. The kids had learned from the father, that it was better kept your head down and accepted the little crumbs of bread others threw down to you, instead of standing up to face a fight. Even Marty had done it, occasionally. Sadness had a way of creeping into your heart, your very soul until you are consumed by it, and don´t even remember that it could have been different. That the choice was not made by others but by you. On that fateful night in 1955, George McFly had finally understood this. And he had taken the choice. With a little help, but essentially it had been him. And after that … it was amazing how one choice in life could change the outcome so drastically. And in this moment, when he understood this universal truth, Marty could not help but wonder … what would his decisions change, one day in his future?

He stared at the car before him, big and black and polished, only waiting for him to get in and cruise. He needed to reach out and touch it, to believe it was real. It was. God, that was almost too much. Almost.

"How about a ride, mister?" a soft voice suddenly asked and pulled him out of his sleepwalk.

He turned around and there she was. Smiling and beautiful like always.

"Jennifer."

It was breathtaking, just to see her again, after all these days that had felt like a whole lifetime. He walked – staggered – over to her.

"Man, you´re a sight for sore eyes." he said and meant every word of it. He´d felt so tired and exhausted till now, even when he saw all these new developments. But just in this moment his tiredness slipped away. He reached out for the girl he loved and turned her to face him. "Let me look at you."

Jennifer just blinked and smirked about his odd behavior.

"Marty, you´re acting like you haven´t seen me in a week."

He could only laugh about this remark. "I haven´t."

By now she looked truly concerned.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Is everything all right?"

Marty turned around to the frontdoor, to where his parents stood, arm in arm in sweet harmony. A picture from a book that just had the perfect happy end.

"Oh, yeah." he assured her. "Everything is just great."

And it remained great, almost perfect even, until a huge blast disrupted the silence of this sunny day, and a silver car crashed into the trashcans, hood and roof steaming with dry ice.

...

They stopped the car in an allay. Outside it was still pouring. And Marty just sat there, Jennifer in his arms, sleeping. God, was that really happening? He was in the future. The future! And Doc had seriously knocked out his girlfriend. The silence that settled between them right now was tensing. Marty felt as if he could start crying any second and he had no freaking idea why.

"Looks pretty good for a town after a nuclear war." he said challenging.

"That is exactly the point." Doc answered not even looking at him. His gaze was in the distance, somewhere in this world outside. "There was no war. At all." he explained.

"But isn´t that good news?"

"No, it isn´t." Doc shouted and threw up his hand. He really seemed upset about that fact.

"Doc, would you please explain to me what all this is about." Marty begged. "I don´t understand anything."

Doc gave him a regretful gaze. Finally he asked him: "Marty, do you remember what T told us about John Connor?"

"Yes, of course. The guy who sent that T-1000 thing to kill you."

Doc nodded. "I met him." he said. "Thirty years ago. I let T follow you back to the future and while you were away from the DeLorean, he took it and we made our way into 2018."

Marty couldn´t believe it. When he left the DeLorean behind last night to follow that VW bus of the terrorists, he really hadn´t considered the possibility that the car could be stolen. But obviously exactly that had happened.

"Do you remember the certain attempts to assassinate John Connor, T told us about?" Doc went on.

"Yeah." Marty said.

"These attempts, containing time travels of machines back in time are an essential part of the course of events that are supposed to happen, so the future that is meant to be can occur." Doc explained. And as complicated as it sounded, Marty understood the drift immediately.

"A future containing a nuclear war." he completed the sentence.

Doc nodded seriously. "It might sound horrible and cruel, Marty, but that war is inevitable for the future." he explained. "Just like World War Two was inevitable for our present to become what it is today."

Marty just couldn´t stand it any longer. "Wh … What are you telling me, Doc?" he shouted. "That there is no future? That mankind is supposed to die?"

"Of course there will be a future, Marty." Doc denied that horrible vision. "It only won´t be as bright as we always dreamed it would be."

Suddenly Marty felt betrayed. Like he would talk to some salesman that wanted to sell him a gravestone for a beautiful valentines present.

"Yeah, right." he said bitterly. "It´ll be a war zone."

Doc gave him a sympathetic look. "Humankind will remain." he said like a promise. "They will have to fight to survive, but they will survive. Believe me, Marty. I´ve seen them. The resistance is a group of very good and strong men and women, and at the end they will defeat the machines. There is one thing you must never forget considering the future we have to face. Even in the darkness there will always be a light beyond the horizon. Life … humans will remain. It is just a matter of how and when."

Marty needed some time to take all this in. The thought of a terminated future was horrific. It sent hot and cold shivers through his mind and body. But he trusted Doc. He´d always trusted him. If he really assured him, that it would be good at the end …

"Did you see it?" he asked him pleading. "I mean … the victory of the resistance. Did you see it? Were you there?"

Doc gave him a long hard glance. "They will, Marty." he just said. "Trust me on this."

As much as he wished it to be different, but Marty knew instantly that Doc hadn´t answered his question for a reason.

"So you didn´t see it." he spoke it out.

"I probably would have, if I just could go there." Doc complained. "But as you see, the war hasn´t been."

"But that is good, isn´t it." Marty repeated desperately.

"Marty, haven´t you heard a word I said?" Doc asked disgruntled. "Without that war, everything that should be, is now a stake. Something we did changed the past and now the whole space-time-continuum has been disrupted. All our sakes depended on the undisturbed course of the supposed timeline."

"But it got disturbed." Marty finished the summary without really wanting it.

"Exactly."

Marty took a breath. God, that was heavy. But that was the way it was and he had to deal with it. Doc brought him here, to repair some damage. He counted on him.

"So what do we do?" he asked.

"We have to find out, what happened." Doc answered. "On which particularly part of the line the disturbance happened. Then perhaps we´ll be able to go back there and repair the damage."

"How? How are we supposed to find this out?"

"Don´t worry, Marty. I have a plan." Doc said and finally got out of the car.

Marty opened his door and followed him. The rain had stopped by now, thanks god.

"You already said that, Doc." he called after him but Doc was already back. He carried a bag.

"What´s that?" Marty asked.

"To research what we need to know we need access to some more information than we can get on a public library." Doc explained and pointed to the end of the allay. "Over there is the little building. The community that owns the third floor, seeks out every sign of conspiracy and unclear events in the activities of the government all over the world. These people have access to almost everything. If we can use their computers we might find out what we need to know."

"A conspiracy theory - community?"

"Unfortunately they are very suspicious about strangers, so I couldn´t get in on my own." Doc went on with his explanation. He raised a finger, smiling widely. "Fortunately your future son is a part of that community." he said. "Thanks god you look exactly like him. That means we can get in very easily."

"Wow, just a minute." Marty exclaimed. "My son?"

"Yes. In this year, he is almost sixteen, but he looks older than he actually is, so the age difference won´t hurt too much." Doc suddenly noticed a contemplative expression on his young companion´s face. "What is it, Marty?" he asked puzzled.

"I have a son?" Marty repeated amazed.

"Marty please, change into those clothes." Doc begged. "We don´t have much time."

He took another tool Marty couldn´t identify and ran away to the end of the allay. Marty had no choice but to comply and see what would happen.

...

"Okay, now what?" Marty peeked around the corner, trying to follow Doc´s gaze.

"In exactly two minutes you´ll go around the corner to the building with the black windows." Doc explained.

"Black windows?"

"The community is very suspicious. They don´t want anyone to look inside and see what they are doing."

"God, Doc. For what lunatics do you send me?"

"Don´t worry, Marty. They will treat you as one of them. What you are … I mean your son."

"Wait a minute." Marty exclaimed. "Are you telling me that my son is a loony? Like them?"

"No, Marty. Actually these people know more than anyone else on the planet, except of the government of course. They have all information they would need to bring down the whole system, they just draw the wrong conclusions."

"Then they have the information that we need."

"Precisely."

Marty thought about this for a minute. "What am I supposed to do when I´m inside?" he asked.

"First try to get access to one of their computers. Your son´s code is 329-weather-balloon."

"329-weather-balloon." Marty repeated to keep it in mind.

"We´re looking for information about a program named Skynet. Cyberdyne Systems. Their files, their projects, their technology."

"Wow, wait, Doc, wait." Marty stopped him. "I don´t know about stuff like that. I ain´t no hacker. How am I supposed to do that?"

"Don´t worry. I´ll join you in a few minutes." Doc assured him. "After I knocked out your son, I´ll ring the bell. You´ll tell them that you know me so they´ll let me in."

"Okay." Marty said. What else could he say?

Doc pulled him away from the corner. "Don´t talk to anyone on the street." he ordered him, looking around like a part of that conspiracy community himself. "Don´t do anything. Don´t interact with anyone except for the guys inside that building. This is very important. We can´t risk to be disturbed in our mission."

"Okay." Marty said and turned around. "Hey, what about Jennifer? We can´t just leave her here."

"Don´t worry she´ll be safe." Doc promised. „It´ll just be for a few minutes. So make sure that it will be just a few minutes."

"You´re the Doc, Doc."

A beeping sound came from Doc´s watch. He looked at it, and jumped.

"Damn! I´m late!" he yelled. "Remember, Marty. Skynet. Cyberdyne System. We must know what they are doing." With that he jumped into the car and started. Marty watched him fly away.

"All right Doc." he said into the empty allay.

Again. What else could he say?