Ch. 8: How to Make Rocket Fuel Without Really Trying
Previously on Back to the Future: It's About Time
"Doc! I'm off to get the rocket drill!"
"Good!" the old scientist smiled before looking up, gasping, and ducking back down in time to avoid exposing himself to his 1931 counterpart.
"C'mon! Time waits for no man!" Emmett said and took off again towards his house with Marty following.
Doc looked out the cell window and smiled, confident that Marty would get the drill delivered no matter what.
"Are you sure this is going to work, Emmett?" Marty asked as he looked at some plans for the rocket drill drawn on chalkboard.
"Don't let the ramshackle nature of my laboratory fool you!" he assured. "If all goes according to plan we'll soon be in possession of the most powerful rocket fuel known to man!"
"That's great. Uh… how?"
"It's very simple," Emmett explained as he demonstrated the process to Marty. "This crankshaft induces a powerful direct current into the electrolysis chamber, producing hydrogen which must be periodically released in the primary distillation barrel! While tending to the hydrogen we'll also need to regularly sprinkle these shredded protein flakes into this aquarium of tuber bacteria to produce the nitrogen to catalyze the reaction!"
"Cool."
"No, hot! Extremely hot! The temperature of the reaction must be kept at a steady temperature of 623 degrees Kelvin by carefully pumping these bellows! Any questions?"
"EMMETT!" a voice bellowed outside the lab before Marty had a chance to say anything. "WHY IS THERE A BRACE OF DRUNKARDS GATHERING ON OUR LAWN?"
"Sweet fancy Moses!" Emmett exclaimed. "It's my father!"
"So?"
"So he doesn't know that I'm engaging of acts in scientific exploration in here! He thinks this is where I go to pore through my law books!"
"Oh," Marty muttered as he let that sink in.
"You tend to the reaction, I'll try to get rid of him," insisted Emmett.
"Tend to the- whoa! Can't we just start over after he's gone?"
"It's too late, the reaction's already started! Don't worry, I'll try to help you out where I can!" he assured Marty.
"But-"
"EMMETT!"
"Coming, father!" he said and disappeared out the door. "Father!"
"Don't you 'father' me child…"
The rest of the argument became muffled gibberish to Marty but he could still hear Emmett's instructions fine.
"Is it my fault that I don't get a SPARK out of laws and statutes?"
Turn the electrical crankshaft.
"What do you call a room full of lawyers trapped in a BURNING building? A good start!"
Pump the bellows.
"This may come as a SHOCK to you, pop, but not everyone wants to be a lawyer!"
Turn the electrical crankshaft.
"Excellent, now twist the valve over there," Emmett instructed as he popped back into the room. Marty did so and fuel poured into the jar. "Great, we're about a quarter of the way home!"
"EMMETT! GET BACK HERE!"
"Oops!"
Emmett went back to try and get rid of his father and left Marty with the reaction.
"Maybe I should just get struck by LIGHTNING! Would that make you happy?"
Turn the crank.
"You have no idea what kind of PRESSURE I'm under!"
Release the gas pressure from the reaction.
"Stop being such a CRANK!"
Turn the crank.
"There is a FLAME inside me that cannot be quelled by your legalistic gobbledygook, father!"
Pump the bellows.
"Can't you see this is EATING me up inside?"
Feed the bacteria.
"You're PRESSURING me to be something I'm not!"
Release the gas pressure.
"The HOTTER you get the more I know I'm right!"
Pump the bellows.
"PRESSURE? You're a child, you don't know anything about PRESSURE!"
Release the… whoa! That was judge brown, not Emmett.
"This isn't FOOD for thought, Pop, it's gruel!"
Feed the bacteria.
"I'm not just another one of your staffers who SPINS around you like a top!"
Turn the crank.
"Are you trying to SPIN this argument around my failings?"
I just turned the crank… oh. Judge Brown again. I've gotta start listening better.
"Law? What use has a MICROORGANISM for law?"
Feed the bacteria.
"What will it take to LIGHT A FIRE under your unappreciative hindquarters?"
Judge Brown.
"Lawyers are nothing but a bunch of HOT AIR! There, I said it!"
Pump the bellows.
"You don't get to control my life just because you've FED and clothed me for the past seventeen years!"
Feed the bacteria.
"Why are you always BELLOWING at me?"
Pump the bellows… obviously.
"Law may be your BURINING passion, father, but it is not mine!"
Pump the bellows again.
"Why should I honor your wishes? You treat me like common BACTERIA!"
Feed the bacteria.
"Do you know who invented FIRE, pop? I don't know either, but you can be damn sure it wasn't a lawyer!"
Pump the bellows.
"If it weren't for scientists, men like you would still be divining the future with sheep's BLADDERS and goat gizzards!"
Release the gas pressure… I think.
"Why must you always SCATTER condescension my way?"
Scatter the flakes over the bacteria.
"If you don't like my performance at the courthouse then FIRE me!"
Pump the bellows.
"Lawyers are nothing but overblown BAGS OF GAS!"
Release the pressure.
"I strongly object to the CURRENT of this conversation, Father!"
Turn the crank.
"Why don't you go FEED the ducks, Father?"
Feed the bacteria… the instructions sure are coming quicker now.
"Why won't you RELEASE me from your unattainable expectations?"
Release the pressure.
"By Galileo's ROTATIONS! Do you ever listen to yourself?"
Rotate the crank.
"I don't know what's EATING you father, but I wish it would go on a diet!"
Feed the bacteria.
"I'll say it again, Father, it might SHOCK you to know that not everyone wants to be a lawyer!"
Turn the crank again.
"Don't you have a RELAESE VALVE on your mouth somewhere?"
Release the pressure.
"Can't you see this is EATING me up inside?"
Feed the bacteria.
"Aaaaaaa! I'm afraid we'll have to take this up later, pop! My soup's about to boil over!"
"WHAT?" the Judge burst as Emmett closed the door. "This isn't over, young man!"
"Whew!" Emmett breathed.
"Are you alright? You and your dad sounded a little…"
"It was an argument we should have had a long time ago! We-" Emmett suddenly flew into a panic and started pumping the bellows, feeding the bacteria, and turning the crank.
"Eureka!" he said after he had turned the crank. The fuel was ready. "Now all we have to do is fuel up the ol' rocket-powered drill, and you and I can-"
"And I can take it and go," Marty interrupted.
"Don't you want to test it first?"
"No time. The, um, last train for Washington DC leaves in just a few minutes…"
"Oh, right! You've got to get this baby to the US Patent Office!"
"… Exactly," Marty hesitated in answering.
"Tell me, Michael, when can I expect to hear back from the patent office?"
"Oh, in about… I'd say…" Marty started but stopped when he saw the excitement and enthusiasm on Emmett's face. "I can't."
"Huh?"
"Emmett… I'm not from the patent office," explained Marty as he started putting the drill and fuel on a cart.
"I… don't understand…"
"I lied to you. I didn't want to… it was just… it was the only way I could get you to trust me. See, there's somebody who's in big trouble. Someone very important to me… to BOTH of us. I can't tell you who, but… I need to save him. Tonight. And I need your invention to do it."
Emmett's face had fallen into a sad and depressed expression as he looked at one of his plans for the drill.
"I'll get it back to you, I promise," continued Marty. "And, Emmett…"
Emmett turned slightly to face Marty.
"You're gonna be a great inventor," he assured. Emmett still remained sad and Marty turned to leave.
"Wait!" Emmett exclaimed suddenly. "Keep the throttle at about eight."
Marty smiled his thanks and left to rescue Doc.
A/N: Apologies for the delay in getting this chapter out but a little something called real life chose to get in the way. I have one more chapter to go plus the preview for the next installment in the BttF saga. Also, just FYI, I'm going to San Francisco over the weekend and I'm not sure if I'll be near a Wi-Fi signal I can use so the next chapter won't be out over the weekend. At the latest it'll be out Monday. But to get that last chapter post a review! :D
