CHAPTER SIX – THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE IS TO CREATE IT
Marty was just setting the table as Laura emerged from the bathroom, towel on her head, baggy t-shirt and leggings looking very fresh and relaxed. She paused once more by the Delorean and peered through the window.
"You know Marty; really apart from the outside we are almost done. We could probably have it finished by this weekend and all troubles aside maybe take it for a spin next week?"
"Spin as in travel, as in 'travel' travel?"
"Spin as in time travel," Laura said with a wide grin.
"I suppose we will need to find a nice quiet night?"
"Night?"
"Well going out in this thing in the day time will be hard to explain don't you think?"
"What would Doc do?"
"Take it out in the daylight, but the whole town thought he was crazy," Marty laughed. "He even flew it here in the daylight," Marty said more to himself thinking of that afternoon in 1985 when he, Jennifer, Doc and Ennie climbed aboard and departed to October 21, 2015.
"Wait it flew? Like the train? You didn't tell me that?!"
"Yeah Doc had the hover conversion done in the early 21st century."
"Hover conversion?"
"Yeah it was this mechanism that converted old cars to the modern ones. All the cars flew in the future, in fact Goldie Wilson's grandson is the one who will develop and market the technology. The cost was a bit steep if I recall, but you know Doc, he was never concerned about money. I thought I mentioned all of this to you before?"
Laura stared back in disbelief.
"Ok maybe not," Marty smiled coyly.
"I know where our first stop will be!"
"You don't even like to fly!"
"Who cares!" Laura smiled slipping her arms around Marty's waist, "A flying Delorean, can you imagine?"
"Yeah Laur, I can," Marty said burying his face in her hair.
By the end of the week Marty and Laura could be proud of their work. They stood hand in hand, covered in dirt and muck but the Delorean was finished. It looked exactly like Doc's, and they would have dared anyone to find a physical difference, but whether or not the machine could travel through time was yet to be seen. The hardest part was fitting Mr. Fusion. As this was not something created by Doc but instead purchased it took time for the two of them to figure out how this machine converted garbage into fuel. Luckily Laura still had some contacts in the science departments at some rather prominent New York universities. By chance she came across a young scientist by the name of Fusion, who had been toying with the idea of this technology for years, but had not worked out all the kinks. After hours on the phone and hundreds of dollars in long distance phone calls, the three of them were able to come up with some answers. Fusion didn't know these two kids in California were actually going to build a prototype, and only gave the information based solely on hypothetical research, still he felt they had made some maybe breakthroughs.
"Well we may have just invented Mr. Fusion a few decades early," Laura laughed after putting down the receiver between herself and Dr. Fusion for what would be the last time.
Junior sat at their feet while they admired the finished product, it had only been a few weeks since Chuck first brought him home, but already it appeared he had grown a couple of inches and put on a few pounds. Soon enough he was going to prove to be a very big dog.
"Well now what?" Marty asked looking expectantly at Laura.
"How do you mean?"
"Well do we test it, or just get in or?"
"Or?" Laura said eyeing Junior on the floor.
"Oh, you can't! That's animal abuse!"
"Marty, we watched Doc's video a hundred times, and look what I found!" Laura smiled coyly pulling the remote control out of a box beside the Delorean.
"Oh you can't be serious. Is that thing hooked up to the ...?"
Laura nodded slowly.
"When?"
"Oh last week, one night when you were out, look it doesn't matter, thing is it is going to work, it's perfectly safe!"
"And if it's not? Then you are going to disintegrate the dog!"
"Oh Marty, will you relax? No one is getting 'disintegrated!'"
Neither Marty nor Laura could sleep that night. This was going to be different than the last time. Marty had been asleep and woken by Doc's frantic call asking him to swing by the lab to pick up some equipment worried Marty had forgotten and in fact had slept, no this time they would be prepared. Around midnight the two of them drove the Delorean quietly down the darkened streets. The puppy, rather large by puppy standards these days was tucked away in the back seat. Laura held a cup of coffee in her hands, and Marty balanced an open Diet Pepsi between his legs. They hadn't driven the Delorean in months and had forgotten how much the old machine was missed.
Marty pulled into the Lone Pine Mall parking lot and cut the engine. He let Junior out to run around the parking lot while the two of them sat in the car looking at the controls. Laura had a clipboard in her lap and a pen. She gazed out into the cool night and took another sip out of her coffee. Marty took her other hand in his and squeezed it, bringing her focus back to the present.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked.
"Doc."
"Yeah?"
"Would he be happy we are doing this?"
"I don't know Laur, I would like to think so, but he was so cautious about time travel."
"We'll be careful."
"So was Doc, and you saw what happened."
"Yeah, I am thinking going back into the past is probably not a good idea."
"And tampering with the future is?"
"At least the future can be changed, more of an open play ground really."
"Yeah I suppose."
Marty heard Junior whining by the door.
"Come on, let's get this done, you ready?" he asked.
"Yeah," Laura said tucking her clip board under her arm.
"Remote?"
"Check."
"Stop watch one?"
"Check."
"Stop watch two?"
"Check."
"Ok, we are ready."
Laura scooped up Junior and placed him in the car and secured a seat belt around his fluffy coat. Marty set the time circuits; he turned over his shoulder to Laura.
"Laur what is the date?"
"October 26, 1988, 1:21 AM," as soon as the date slipped from her mouth she covered her lips with her hand, this hadn't been planned.
"I just got a chill," Marty said running a quick shake through his body.
"Yeah me too, you know what this means?"
"We forgot your birthday, and I am a horrible husband?"
"Well, I forgot too," Laura laughed, "so I will forgive it this time, but it means there must be something about this date linked to time travel after all. The last few years we planned things around the dates and times, but this was purely by chance. I have a good feeling about this experiment, we are going to have success, quick set the time circuits, I have the watches synced."
Quickly Laura slipped the watch around the puppy and grabbed the controls and clip board shutting the gull wing down and taking several steps back. Simultaneously Marty plugged in the numbers on the circuit board and shut the driver's side door. Laura handed Marty the controls and smiled.
"One minute into the future, good luck Junior!"
