Coming Full Circle
Everybody turned around when the voice suddenly sounded from the door. So unexpected and startling. No one had seen this newcomer step in. But now that they did, John was startled even more.
"J.J." he addressed the old woman. "What are you doing here? Shouldn´t you be on a ship by now?"
The old lady was the liaison officer, connecting their resistance group and the high command on the battle ships at sea. She was one of the very few in the resistance that had managed it to live past the age of fifty in this apocalyptic war. John never dared to ask her about her exact age. Though the woman was in a good enough shape and still a good fighter if necessary, he guessed that she was at least in her late sixties.
When she stepped in now, she did it with a dignified smile, shrugging.
"I lied." she said, bluntly. "High Command didn´t order me back to the ship, I … had to take care of some business in my old town."
"Your old town?" John repeated, still totally gobsmacked about her bluntness.
J.J. did not bother to explain herself any further. Instead she turned to Doc Brown with a big smile, before she glanced the Terminator up and down. She shook her head like a grandmother, after finding her grandson covered over and over with mud on a Sunday afternoon.
"God, you look terrible." she said. "Will you ever manage it to return from a mission without being awfully distorted?"
"The damage will be repaired." the Terminator answered, convinced and the old woman chuckled.
"I guess it will." she replied, but her eyes were already searching Doc Brown again. "I´m very glad to see you´re all right." she said firmly, before flashing him the brightest smile. "And to see you again after all these years." she finally grabbed his arms, happily, as if they were old friends, reunited at last.
It took the confused scientist some time, but in the end he realized who he was talking to. This cheerfully smiling face in front of him was just too familiar to deny it.
"Jessie?" he gasped.
"It´s me!" the old woman cheered and pulled him in for a surprisingly strong hug.
"You know each other?" John asked, completely lost after watching this scene.
"Of course we do." J.J. answered still laughing. "I used to be his neighbor when I was a kid. Oh god has it been that long!"
"I just don´t believe it." Doc said.
"You can believe it." Jessie assured him, still laughing. "I survived Judgment Day in a bunker along with some other officers of my base. I´m Lieutenant first grade you see. That´s how far I came up the ladder, before all of this ranking stuff became unimportant."
Doc could only shake his head, amazed. "Little Jessie became a soldier." he mumbled.
"Not just a usual soldier." she corrected him proud. "The purpose of my base was scientific research and development. I was part of the group that worked with the first prototype of your time travel system."
She waited for Doc to respond with anything but he was just too stunned. Someone lay his hand on Jessie´s shoulder and she turned around, to face a very disturbed looking Kate.
"J.J." she said. "Does that mean … Are you trying to tell us that you … activated him?"
J.J. Nodded, completely serious.
"But why?"
"You sent T for me?" Doc asked astonished.
Jessie looked at him with a surprised smile. "T?" she repeated, and tilted her head, smiling. "Well, that is a good name for him. T. Yes, I sent him to you. To protect your life."
"But why?" Kate asked again.
"Because I couldn´t allow you to kill this man." Jessie said. She turned around and faced John with a gaze as cold as ice. "How could you anyway?" she asked. "What did you think, boy? Becoming a murderer, like the machines? You ordered a machine to kill a human being. Someone you never looked in the eyes your entire life. Not once."
John avoided her judging gaze. He couldn´t stand it. Under the stare of a woman like Jessie he suddenly felt like a child again. A misbehaving child.
"Fortunately I did." Jessie went on. "I knew the man you were about to murder. And if you had ever known him the way I did, you never would have been able to give that order. Besides. I´m pretty sure he already told you about the paradox you would have caused."
"Actually he did." John admitted reluctantly.
"Well good." she said. "I hope you learned your lesson."
"Wait a minute." Mike said. "I still don´t get it. How could you reprogram him and send him back in time within only three days? I needed that time to do so with complete equipment. How were you able to do it?"
"I´ve been building a construction for a time portal under the order of high command for at least a year." Jessie revealed to them. "I wasn´t allowed to tell you about it but I was almost ready to test it. When I heard you talking about your plans, I decided to move the appointment forward and test the portal in action."
"Why in Hill Valley?" was all Mike knew to ask.
J.J. gave him a look. "What can I say? I´m a sweetheart. I guess I just liked it to be in a familiar place. Besides, the town is dead. Not even the machines are very interested in it. What better place to hide a time portal?"
There was truly nothing anyone could bring up to argue with this reasoning. And knowing she´d won the old woman clapped her hands, rubbing them together.
"Well then." she said. "What´s the plan, Doc? I bet you´ve got one by now."
"Uhm, yes." Doc shifted from one foot to the other. "In fact I do. I was just about to announce it, when you dropped in. But then again …" he smirked. "I was always used to you just dropping in, wasn´t I?"
J.J. gave him the brightest and certainly happiest smile an old woman could ever have, especially in a world like this. Doc Brown cleared his throat and went on.
"Well then, ladies and gentlemen. Let me introduce you to my plan. You see … the reason for your plan to kill me in the first place – for what I don´t blame you at all after what I saw here, let me just add that – was the hope to prevent further time travel of the machines into the past."
He started to gesture pointing back and forth like he would describe a race of invisible horses.
"The point is, that the time travels of the machines you witnessed earlier," he pointed at John, "... are actually necessary so things can happen the way they are supposed to happen. To not to disturb that course of time we have to make sure these time travels will occur. On the other hand we have to prevent the machines from going further into the past to kill your mother."
His audience nodded, some of them already quite exhausted after this digression.
"How?" John asked him.
Doc threw up his forefinger. "I´ll tell you." he promised and walked over to the console of the time portal. "According to what Mike told me, this device was build based on my original plans for the time machine. I believe that I´ll be able to manipulate those plans. I still don´t know exactly how to do it but I´m confident that I will find a way."
"Wow, Wow, Stop." John demanded. "What do you mean … manipulate the plans. How? How does that help us?"
"Don´t you understand?" Doc answered excited. "This thing is my invention. I just haven´t build it yet. Now that I know what is about to come, I can place a trap into it, for the machines."
John glanced back to his friends. "A trap?" he asked uncertain.
"Well, not exactly a trap." Doc corrected himself. "But let´s call it a boundary. A line they won´t be able to cross. Remember. They still have to be able to travel back in time, to make sure you will be born."
"Right." John admitted. "Without the first Terminator threatening my mother," he summarized just for good measure, even though everyone already knew this. "... my father hadn´t traveled back to save her."
"Precisely!" Doc praised. "But … This way, I´ll make sure that they can´t get back in time any further than this specific date in time. They won´t be able to get back far enough to kill your mother before she can meet your father." Doc hesitated for a moment. "This … suddenly sounds very familiar to me." he mumbled. "Anyway. You will be safe and the timeline won´t be disrupted by the machines. Nor by you I hope."
John took a breath. He needed a few moments to take in what he just heard. But in the end he nodded.
"Don´t worry." he said and turned to glance at J.J. "I learned my lesson."
...
Blasts and flashes inside the house. A miniature thunderstorm, solidifying into a big gray ball. Then it was gone and three people stood on the platform.
"Amazing." Doc looked about taking in the fact that he was indeed in another place. "Absolutely amazing. You know I never really expected you to become an inventor, Jessie. I only dared to hope to keep your mind open for science in your later life. But this … I´m very proud of you."
Jessie smiled at him. "Do you know, that you taught me all this?" she said. "No, don´t worry, this is no information about your future." she calmed his worries. "Just let me finish. I just meant … you were the one who introduced me to science and … time travel. I admit the university and the years at the M.I.T. were quite helpful too. I also don´t want to miss my teachers of physics at school … But I surely never would have been able to get through all these years if it hadn´t been for you. Literally and metaphorically."
Doc grinned from ear to ear. "Well." he said, pretending his chest was not almost bursting with pride. "I´m happy I could nudge you in the right direction."
Jessie smiled. "You certainly did. But now it´s time to bring you on the way. Let´s go."
When she led the way outside to the DeLorean, Doc and T followed her in silence.
"I guess we have to bring it back to the time it belongs." Doc said. "The problem is: How do I get back to my time after that?"
"I have something for you." Jessie promised. "A little surprise. Follow me."
He did. He followed Jessie to a hidden trap door. The stairs led down into a hidden cellar, that looked more like a cave, or a big tunnel. And right in the middle of this strange hall, stood a big black train. But not just a train. A futuristic one with jet propulsion and all sorts of technical equipment. Obviously not the typical design of a vintage steam loco.
"It is refueled and ready to go." Jessie told him.
"Great Scott!" Doc gasped. "Did I …"
"Never mind." Jessie advised him and she was probably right.
Doc exclaimed, shaking his head, utterly and completely amazed.
"T will follow you with it." Jessie told him. "After you parked the DeLorean he´ll pick you up and bring you back to your own time. Afterward he will return here. And then destiny must follow its plan."
Doc turned away from the train to face Jessie again. The woman he once knew as a cute five year old girl.
"I guess that means goodbye now." he said.
"Yeah." she agreed, sighing deeply. He could see tears in her eyes, but the smile was still as bright as ever. "But it was good to see you again. It´s been far too long."
"Who knows." Doc shrugged. "Maybe we´ll meet again. In the future."
Jessie nodded. "I only regret that I had no chance to see Marty again." she said. "I´ve missed him too. He never stopped being the big brother I never had. Funny, isn´t it? How perception sometimes works."
Doc frowned, startled. "You know Marty?" he asked. "How …?"
"That´s a long story." Jessie stopped him. "You probably don´t want to hear." She padded his shoulder. "Now then. Let´s go. You have a train to catch."
