Back To The Past

Part Four: Out Of Sync

Though his son was, or would eventually be, only five, Marty had hoped that one day he would be visiting the Hill Valley Stadium to watch him play on the football team. He had never dreamed that, at the age of thirty-six, he would be standing in the middle of the football field at midnight, helping the Doc get ready for their little act of counter-temporal-espionage.

"Be very careful with these, Marty," instructed the Doc, handing Marty two round, silver balls.

"Hand grenades?" asked Marty, not really thinking that that was what they were. What they were fighting for was certainly important, but he didn't actually believe the Doc would be that aggressive about it.

"I call them 'time bombs'," replied Doc Brown, smiling proudly. He handed Marty a golden wrist watch, and continued with "as long as you're wearing this, you won't be affected by them."

"Uh, what exactly do they do, Doc?" wondered Marty, now feeling a little nervous handling the "time bombs".

"Exactly what their name implies, Marty. They blow up time!"

Marty looked at the Doc in disbelief.

"They contain a minute amount of pure temporal energy. When you thrown one down hard enough to break it, that energy negates the immediate flow of temporal energy."

"English, Doc. English."

"They stop time. Oh, it's not for long, about one to two minutes, and the affects are limited to about a ten yards, but they are very effective."

"And the watch keeps you safe when you use them?" asked Marty.

"Exactly."

"Cool."

"Yes, they are. I used one to escape from Biff's men. If I had only been wearing one of the watches when Biff first showed up, then we wouldn't be here right now."

Doc Brown lowered the exit ramp and motioned for Marty to step outside of the locomotive.

"I'll join you in a minute, Marty. I have to set the security system."

"What, you got a train alarm?" joked Marty as he climbed down the stairs to soft grass of the football field.

"Step back and watch," directed the Doc, with a sly smile.

Marty back stepped away from the locomotive, watching it with more than mild curiosity, wondering what the Doc had up his sleeve now. He had only gone a few steps when he froze, staring in awe as the locomotive began to shimmer like ripples of water, quickly vanishing from sight.

"Whoa," said Marty, now looking to the other side of the stadium.

Doc's head appeared out of the emptiness, floating in midair, and smiled wildly at Marty, wiggling his eyebrows. If there was anything that the Doc loved nearly as much as his family, it was the chance to show off techno marvels to the uninitiated.

"That is so cool, Doc," exclaimed Marty. "How far into the future did you have to go to get that?"

"Actually," started the Doc, more of him appearing as he exited the locomotive, "it's an invention of my own. Oh, it's made up of various components from different eras, but no one has put them together like I have."

"Way to go, Doc," complimented Marty.

"Now, it's exactly twelve-twenty-one A.M.. Biff arrives at his shop every morning at eight-thirty, which gives us just over eight hours to secure a mode of transportation, arrive at Biff's garage, break in, gather up the parts of the DeLorean, and return here with them."

"Secure a mode of transportation? Doc, this is Hill Valley, we don't even have a car rental place."

"Don't worry, Marty, I know someone that we can borrow a truck from."

"Oh, yeah? Who?"

"You," said the Doc, once again looking as if he had just made some fantastic revelation.

Biff awoke with a start, wondering how long he had been sleeping, and if Doc Brown and Marty were still in the train. He had blacked out shortly after they had landed, the soft thud of the locomotive settling on the ground seeming to shake him to his very core, and he was beginning to wonder if there was something seriously wrong with him.

Lighting up his watch to see what time it was, Biff gaped at the Timex as he saw the hour hand spinning forward, the minute hand twirling backwards, and the second hand moving so fast that he couldn't tell what direction it was going.

Something was seriously wrong, alright, but not just with him.

Panicking, thinking that Doc Brown had done something to totally mess him up, Biff threw open the compartment door and rolled out into the open air, hitting the ground with a thud.

"What the hell?" muttered Biff, turning onto his back and looking up to see no locomotive, though he had just rolled out of it.

Rising up on shaky legs, Biff gingerly reached out and yelped in surprise has his hand contacted with something that he could not see.

"You crafty, old bugger," said Biff, banging on the invisible side of the locomotive.

Feeling his way along the side of the engine, Biff found the entrance, after nearly stumbling over it, and he slowly climbed into the cab. He was thrilled to find that he could 'see' the interior, all of it visible as he entered, and he went about carefully checking the various compartments to make sure that Doc and Marty were truly gone.

Satisfied that he was on his own, Biff finally looked around at the surrounding area, and he immediately recognized it as the High School Stadium. Biff had spent many a night here, watching his son kick ass in football (just like his Old Man), and he was certain that he knew where Doc Brown and Marty had gone.

"You ain't taking it from me, Old Man," swore Biff, climbing back out of the engine. "You ain't the only one that can mess around with time."

Heading off across the football field, intent on finding a pay phone and calling for some back up, Biff hesitated for a moment as he suddenly felt dizzy. His vision went dark for a second, and he thought that he was going to pass out again, but everything quickly came back into focus, and the dizziness passed.

Shaking his head, Biff continued on, unaware that in that moment that everything had gone black, that he had vanished--his body momentarily out of sync with the natural flow of time.

A time that was becoming more fragile by the minute.

To Be Continued…