Author's Note: New Chapter. Again, not very different from the movie, but I still hope you all review.
11. Chapter Eleven
September 5, 1885
04:00 PM PST
Marty Jr and Jennifer were sitting on chairs in Doc's room, while Marty Sr was standing and Doc was walking around, waving around with his arms. Doc had constructed a railroad model of their way to get home. Marty Jr could only hope that it would work this time.
"Marty, Jennifer, Junior," Doc began, "I apologize for the crudity of this-" Marty interrupted him with a grin. "I guess it's not to scale?"
Doc looked a little baffled, then continued. "All right" he said. "Tomorrow night, Sunday, we'll load the DeLorean on to the tracks here on the spur right by the old abandoned silver mine. The switch track is where the spur runs off the main line 3 miles into Clayton…"
"Shonash" Jennifer said, smiling gently.
"Shonash Ravine" Doc grinned. " The train leaves the station at 8:00 Monday morning. We'll stop it here, uncouple the cars from the tender, throw the switch-track, and hijack… I mean borrow the locomotive and use it to push the time machine. According to my calculations we'll hit 88 miles per hour just before we hit the edge of the ravine, at which point we'll instantaneously arrive in 2015 and coast safely across the completed bridge."
"So, we're going to 2015 first?" Marty Sr asked. Doc nodded. "It'll be necessary. We'll return as planned to October 21st 2015 at 8PM, drive across the bridge and drop Junior off home at the Hilldale department. I've got a phone in the car with which we can call Texaco and they will be able to repair the fuel system and maybe even the hover conversion, if it is in state to repair, within a few hours, so we can leave 2015 no later than 1am on October 22nd. Got that? Within the time, don't look at anything, don't talk to anyone, don't interact-"
"I know Doc, you told me" Marty Sr said, sighing deeply. "Don't do anything. Anything we'd do could have serious repercussions on time… right?"
"Well, it's necessary" Doc insisted. "We don't want to mess up the future even more."
"What does this mean?" Jennifer asked, having come over to watch. "It says Point Of No Return. Can't we return, then?"
Doc nodded. "It's our failsafe point" he explained. "Until then we can still stop the locomotive just in time before we plunge into the ravine. Once we pass the windmill it's the future or bust." He looked at Jennifer. "I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."
"It's fine, Doc" Marty Sr assured him. "As long as we get home two days from now, I'll do anything. Just the entire fact that I am in eighteen-eighty-five is driving me mad. I can't wait to see Mom and Dad again. Hell, I even prefer Biff above Buford Tannen. That is, if the future is now all right and he's back to being an auto detailer."
"Don't worry Marty" Doc assured him. "Since we burned the almanac, everything should be fine. There haven't been made many changes to the future, at least, that's what I observe from our newspapers. I still get born and get commended in 1983, just like I remember from the original timeline, and I still invent time travel. You are obviously alive as well, just like Marty Jr. I gather the timeline has returned to the course it ran on before Biff messed with history to create his own personal version of Hill Valley."
"Let's test the model, Doc" Marty Jr said. "I'm eager to go home. I can't say staying a month in the Old West appeals to me anymore." I just wish I had a chance to warn Dad from the accident… but Doc is with him all the time, and I don't want to confuse Mom either. Better wait. I got two days, surely I can bring it to him somehow. Maybe I'll even write a letter, like Dad did in '55. At least that worked…
"Okay" Doc said. They got over to the table, and Doc stared at Marty Jr. "Here you go, Marty" he said. "Connect that to the positive terminal. All right, Marty, you all set?" Marty Jr nodded. "Yeah, yeah, go."
Doc smiled, and began to work on the experiment. "Train pulling out of the station!" he half-sang. "Coming up the switch track! Stop at switch track! Throw switch! Pull up the DeLorean! Pushing the DeLorean up to 88 miles per hour!" He pushed the train up faster and faster and then, as they reached the ravine, Doc caught the 'DeLorean', and the 'train' fell into a pillow, as opposed to falling into the 'ravine'. Doc chuckled. "It couldn't be simpler!"
Marty Jr was about to make a sarcastic comment on that, when there was a knocking on the door. "Hello?" a feminine voice called out. "Emmett?" Doc immediately realized who it was, peering through the door opening to make sure. "It's Clara!" he called out. "Quick, cover the DeLorean."
As Marty and Jennifer did so, Marty Jr hid the model DeLorean. Clara, then let herself in, and stared at Doc. "Hello" she gently said.
Doc smiled. "Why, hello" he politely said. "This is quite a surprise." Clara smiled at that, having caught the line as a denial. "Well, I hope I'm not disturbing anything" she said softly.
Doc shook his head. "Oh," he said, "no, we were just doing a little model railroad." Clara smiled at the thought of Doc doing that, then realized where she'd come for. "Emmett," she said, "when my bags were thrown from the wagon, my telescope was damaged. And...since you expressed an interest in science, I thought you might be able to repair it for me." She paused. "I would pay you, of course."
Doc shook his head anxiously. "Oh, no, no, no, I wouldn't think of charging you for this" he said smiling.
Marty Jr, Marty Sr and Jennifer sighed deeply, as Doc was obviously in love. The inventor himself, in the meanwhile, walked over to the railroad. "Well, let's have a look at it" he said. He pulled out the telescope and put it to his eye, watching through it.
Clara looked too. "I think the lens may be out of alignment," she suggested, "because if you move it this way, the image turns fuzzy, see?" She did so, coming closer to the scientist. "But if you turn it ... the other way…" Doc lowered the telescope and looked at her. "...everything becomes – clear" he finished, in disbelief at Clara's beauty.
Marty Jr then coughed loudly, just before his father could. Doc and Clara looked away embarrassed, and Clara started heading for the door, as Doc remained standing, still gazing at the same point he'd been gazing at before Marty Jr interrupted.
Doc then turned to Clara. "I will repair it right away and have it for you tonight" he promised. Clara shook her head. "Oh, tonight's the town festival" she said. "I wouldn't dream of having you work on my telescope during such an important event. You are panning on attending, aren't you?"
"Actually we can't" Marty Jr answered for Doc, "you see-" but Doc interrupted him. "Of course, the festival…" he muttered. Clara turned. "Well, in that case, I'll see you this evening at the festival, Emmett" she said, and turned to Marty. "Mr. Eastwood, Mr. Eastwood, Miss Wells…"
"Ma'am" Marty Sr said nervously. Clara looked back at Doc once again. "Thank you," she gently said, "for taking care of my telescope." Doc smiled as a response. "You're quite welcome" he said. Clara then got out the door.
Marty walked over to Doc, who was still standing still, staring at the telescope goofy. "It's a nice telescope" he told the inventor.
Doc turned at him, slightly embarrassed. "Why yes, it is indeed" he said. "A perfectly fine piece of work. I never knew you were interested in telescopes, Marty? You never expressed any similar interest in things like that before, in '85…"
"Yeah, Doc" Marty Jr said, "that's not the matter, the matter is we gotta get home. And that won't work when you'll think about Clara all the time. Face it Doc… you wanted to go to the festival because of her."
"I do not think about Clara all the time!" Doc protested. "Granted, she's a nice girl, but she's absolutely not on my mind right now. And about the festival – it's a nice distraction for us, in order for us all to be fit when we go travel to the year 2015, Monday morning."
"I'm still worried about Buford" Marty Sr said. "What if he shows up while we're chasing the train? What if he catches up with us when we're in the DeLorean? What if he actually goes back to the future, with us?" He shivered at the thought of Buford in the 1980s. "Honestly Doc, what'll happen if we don't succeed?"
Doc looked at him determined, mind set just like when they departed 1985A. "We must succeed" he told the teenager, firmly.
