Chapter 2
Wednesday, June 4th
10: 04 P. M.
"A TIME MACHINE!?!"
Doc nodded, frantically pacing his living room. "Yes, a time machine. Invented by my former colleague Dr. Joel Michael Nelrobin. Biff turned him into a soulless vampire and forced him to build it."
"Oh, man, this is heavy," Marty groaned. "Biff with a time machine. I say that by tomorrow morning we're living in Hell Valley. And in a week the universe collapses."
"Has he used it yet, Emmett?" asked Mysteria, a nervous wreck.
Doc shook his head. "If he had, I doubt we'd be having this conversation right now - unless any time ripples haven't caught up to us yet. And I've had a close look at the plans. No, I think it's safe to say VAMPIS hasn't been used yet."
"VAMPIS?" puzzled Jennifer.
Doc pointed to a note in one corner of the blueprints. It read, in Biff's handwriting, "Looks like the TARDIS. Call it VAMPIS." "Biff named it that, for obvious reasons. Frankly, I'm surprised he knows who 'Doctor Who' is."
"We could certainly use a Time Lord right now," Mysteria muttered. "How does it work, anyhow?"
"Much like my DeLorean, actually. Since it's a time chamber, as opposed to a time vehicle, it revolves until it reaches the maximum speed necessary. In this case, it's 90 miles per hour."
"If it works like ours, does it have a flux capacitor?" Marty wondered.
"Yes and no. I mentioned something akin to the flux capacitor in my papers on quantum physics, and I suppose Joel decided to try and build what I mentioned. His design is different from mine, however." He moved some papers to reveal Joel's drawing. It was labeled 'Temporal Field Capacitor' and looked like 2 normal flux capacitors fused together, one fused upside-down. "It's a double flux capacitor, technically. Which means it requires twice the power of mine - 2.42 jigowatts. Akin to 2 sticks of plutonium."
"Or 2 Clock Tower-sized lightning bolts," Marty said.
"Precisely."
Jennifer looked heartened. "Well, it seems we've got the advantage here. The DeLorean doesn't need to go as fast and it needs less power. That's good."
"And, unless he's gone to the future, he doesn't have a Mr. Fusion or a hover conversion," Mysteria smiled. "Maybe this will turn out to be a dead threat."
"That may be, but he does have a time machine. And if he figures out a way to power it, I dread the consequences."
Right on cue, the news on the TV caught their attention. "The FBI is investigating a second break-in at the South Pacific Nuclear Research Facility. A case of plutonium has been stolen from their vaults. The case was found missing shortly after a guard at the compound failed to check out for the night. The guard was later found in the bathroom, completely drained of blood, his throat torn out. This theft, coming so soon after the theft in 1985 by the Libyan nationalist group, is starting to shake confidence in the facility."
The Time Trippers stared at the TV in horror. "Drained of blood?" Jennifer repeated in little more than a whisper. "Doesn't that mean-?"
"Yes. Vampires," Doc nodded. "Biff probably had some subordinates steal that plutonium for him. And that just so happens to be the perfect fuel for a non-futurized time machine."
"So Biff has a working time machine. What does he plan to do with it?" Jennifer asked, not really wanting an answer.
"Attempting to change history so that he rules the world is the most likely bet," Mysteria grumbled. "We've got to track down that machine and destroy it! It may be heavily guarded, in fact, I'm willing to say it is heavily guarded, it may even be radioactive, but we have to make an effort to smash Biff's new plan at least!"
"Exactly!" Doc agreed. "I think we have a chance for the next few days, in regards to Biff's technical ability. It could take him a while to find out how to properly use the machine. If we can find it beforehand, all fine and dandy."
"If not?" Marty breathed.
"We go back into the past to escape any time ripples which would erase us from existence, try to figure out how history changed, and fix it," Doc said in one breath. "Good thing he has a limited number of hops - 6 at the most. And 1 of those trips has to be to come home, so he has 5 chances to change the world. 5 chances too many." He sighed. "I wish our friends could help us on this one. Numbers are always an advantage with Biff. Especially if VAMPIS can fit more than one person inside. But I don't dare tell them about the time machine for fear something worse might happen."
"How could anything be worse?" demanded Jennifer.
"If anyone messes with truly important things, like evolutionary process, it could be a lot worse."
"So we're on our own in this one," Marty agreed. "But we've made it on our own before. And we'll make it on our own again. Right, guys?" He received enthusiastic nods. "Right! This is our space-time continuum, and we're not gonna let Biff, or anyone else, mess with it!"
"Yeah! We're the Time Trippers, and we're not going to let someone with the I. Q. of a turnip ruin our history!" Jennifer agreed vehemently.
"You discredit turnips," Doc smiled. "But you're right. We'll start looking for VAMPIS tonight. You two head home and tell your parents to be on their guard. Just because he has a time machine doesn't mean Biff won't abandon his usual methods of terror."
"We're on it, Doc. Good luck."
"Thanks. I have a feeling we'll need it."
Friday, June 6th, 1986
Hill Valley, California
6: 53 P. M.
Marty knocked on the door to Doc's lab. "Hey, Doc?" he called. Doc had summoned him here with a fairly urgent-sounding phone call, and Marty wanted to know what was up. With any luck, it was news that reported Biff's time machine was no more.
Doc opened the door, yawning because of the sunlight. "Hey, Marty. Come on in, I want to show you something."
"VAMPIS's smashed remains?" Marty asked hopefully.
"Sorry, no. We still haven't had any luck finding it. Biff hid that machine well. What I want to show you are a few improvements to the DeLorean. They might come in handy if I ever do tell anyone else." He led the teen into the garage/lab, where the DeLorean sat patiently. Marty noticed immediately a small box attached to the top of the car, centered behind the flux generator. As his gaze went downward, he spotted that the door locks were missing, revealing smooth metal.
"Doc, what did you do to the doors?" he asked, looking back at his friend. "If you took off the locks, anyone could break in!" The teen had a vision of Needles joyriding through time.
"Don't worry, Marty. I simply replaced the key locks with a better system. They're fitted with Identi-Pad car locks now, circa 2020. They open upon thumbprint activation. If someone doesn't smash them, only the 4 of us can open those doors."
"Really?" asked a skeptical Marty.
"Positive. Go ahead, test it. Press your thumb against where the old lock used to be. You'll know you're in the right place when it gives slightly under pressure."
With a shrug, Marty tried it, running his thumb along the door until he found a softer spot. His thumbprint tingled as it was scanned. Then he heard the door unlock with a cheerful, "Access granted, Marty."
"Cool!" Marty exclaimed, duly impressed. "How's it work?"
"It has a computer chip inside that stores the exact shape of your thumbprint - every unique ridge - in its memory. When you press it, it uses a small laser to make a picture of the print for comparison purposes. If the prints match, you are granted access. The computer voice is just to make it less impersonal."
"Like scanning a bar code," Marty nodded. "But how does it know me? This is the first time I've pressed one of these things."
"Not exactly. I encountered your future self by the DeLorean as they were installed. It appears we were on a shopping trip together that day, and he - you - wondered why the DeLorean was in a garage. He - you - helped me to program them. I've yet to clear Jennifer, though."
"Far out. How did I look, in the future?"
"Extremely good for 52," Doc said, not seeing anything wrong with a vague physical description. After all, Marty saw himself in the mirror every day. "I imagine you've had a Revita Clinic visit or two."
"Good. I don't want to look like an old geezer."
"Speaking as an old geezer, I'm insulted," Doc joked, for some reason examining one of his watches.
"C'mon, Doc, you're no geezer. A geezer is someone like Strickland, not somebody who can invent time travel at 64. And you're not gonna age any more besides. Although I don't think wearing lab coats in the summer will help any."
"I had put it on automatically on the 4th," Doc said. "Sometimes I forget that it gets hot in summer. I'm not wearing one now."
"Thank God. If you had, I think Mystie might have fainted when you guys woke up."
Doc laughed. "Well, she did complain on the 4th," he admitted. "But I didn't invite you over here to discuss my eccentricities. I wanted to show you the new security measures on the DeLorean."
"Why all this nervousness about security? You were never worried before."
"That was before Biff obtained a time machine. Despite the fact it looks weird, my car was open to joyriders. Not anymore. In case someone passes the initial lock, there's a second one, slightly modified, on the time circuits themselves. They may steal the car, but they can't start traveling to different centuries. I'm considering adding some sort of access code as a second precaution. It could be a key for getting the flux capacitor to work."
"If you want to, go for it. But what happens if, hypothetically, they get past both locks and get the time machine going?"
"If they manage to travel through time, that device kicks in," Doc explained, pointing out the new box. "It's a sensor device. Just before the car breaks the time barrier, it reads the time from the 'Destination Time' readout and transmits it here." He held up his left wristwatch, which was a calculator watch like Marty's.
"Your watch?"
"This is no longer an ordinary watch," Doc said with a mischievous grin. "I altered it into a Time-Tracer watch. It displays the current time the DeLorean is in. That way, we know exactly when the miscreants went to. This also discourages unauthorized 'borrowing'."
"Oh, c'mon, Doc, I wouldn't steal the DeLorean!" Marty snapped, insulted. "Why would I?"
"The urge will come to you, Marty. You'll have some problem that you must fix using time-travel. Trouble is, that problem could shape a vital part of your life. For example, as I was finishing up the DeLorean the final week, I felt the urge to go into the past on my first trip and warn my past self about his developing reputation as the town weirdo. But when I thought about more, I realized the experiences I've had because of that shaped the me of today. If I changed that, I would be different. Maybe I would never have invented the time machine, and that would have caused a real paradox. So I changed my mind and decided the future was a better destination. I can tell you're thinking of an event you'd want to change. That car race."
"Yeah, you're right," Marty admitted. "Even though I didn't race him, I thought that it could be better if I had never been tempted. But, like you, I thought about it some more and decided against it. If I'd never gotten into the confrontation, my temper might still be out of control, and something worse might have happened to me. But I wouldn't steal the DeLorean, Doc. Swear on - on the DeLorean," he finished, giggling.
"I didn't really think you would. I was thinking more along the lines of your future children getting their hands on this. Who's to say they wouldn't be tempted by a joyride through time?"
"Gotcha, Doc. But what use is knowing what time they're in?" Marty asked, bringing their conversation back to their original topic. "We've only got the one machine. How do we bring them back before they seriously mess up history?"
Doc's smile widened. "The Time-Tracer watch can do more than just alert us." He motioned Marty away from the DeLorean, then pressed a button on his watch. "Watch this."
Suddenly, the headlights flashed and the motor started up! Doc pressed '1+4+7=" on the Time-Tracer. The DeLorean promptly rose into the air, went in reverse for about a foot, then set down again. Marty marveled, extremely impressed. "So it's a remote, too!"
"Precisely. Just like the one I used during the initial test, only more compact and less conspicuous. Certain combinations of numbers make the time machine perform different functions. This way I can quickly bring the thieves back and use either my sleep-inducer or my hypnotic ability."
"Way cool, Doc. Did you show Mysteria all this stuff?"
"Course I did! She lives here, doesn't she? I also gave her clearance to the time circuits. She's currently out with Jennifer looking for VAMPIS."
"Yeah, Jenny called me about that," Marty nodded. "Are you going to clear me?"
"Yes. You're my best friend, and you're going to be a legal adult in 3 days. But you have to promise me to use the DeLorean responsibly. No trips to change a past action or to see your own future."
"Promise, Doc. Hell, I know all this from my first trip ever through time. When a guy has to date his mother, he learns a pretty valuable lesson."
"That's true," Doc admitted, using the Time-Tracer to bring the DeLorean up to them. "Forgive me for being so paranoid."
"I'd be paranoid too, if I learned somebody I hated had a time machine," Marty said, shrugging it off. He climbed into the driver's seat while Doc got in the passenger's side. "What do I have to do?"
"Press your thumb to the pad."
Marty did. A severe voice informed him, "Access denied."
"New accesser. Rescan," Doc told it. The computer scanned Marty's print again. "Print stored," it announced. "Please state the name of the new accesser."
Doc nudged Marty. "Marty," the teen blurted, slightly rattled at talking to a computer.
"Access granted, Marty," the computer said cheerfully. The time circuits lit up. Doc turned them back off with the handle. "You're all set. Jennifer is now the only Time Tripper who cannot access the machine. And, judging from those voices, that's shortly about to change."
"The girls are coming back? Man, I sure hope they found the machine!"
Mysteria and Jennifer came in, looking upset. "Hi, Mystie. No luck?" said, greeting her with a kiss.
"Actually, the opposite. We found it. In the middle of the woods."
"Then why the long faces?"
"We found 7 soulless vampires, all armed, there too," Jennifer informed him, hugging Marty in hello. "We had to run for it as soon as we found it."
"Jesus Christ, Jennifer, are you okay?" Marty asked, worried.
"We're fine. One of them did throw a stake at us, but he missed by a mile."
"There were 7 soulless vampires? I thought there were only 6," Doc asked.
"The new one is Skinhead," Mysteria told him. "I suppose Biff's eventually going to turn his whole gang and himself into them. Funny thing, though - he's still got his crewcut despite being one of them."
Doc squeezed her. "Well, you're both safe, and we've found VAMPIS. I'm not sure what we can do with that information, considering the armed guard, but it's good to have. In regards to our time machine, I have some improvements I'd like to show you, Jennifer." Doc proudly demonstrated the new features to the dazzled Jennifer, clearing her for access in the process.
"Terrific, Doc. This is great," she praised as he finished up. "I've got a question about the Time-Tracer. Do you have another one?"
"Yes, I made a spare in case the original gets broken. Why, do you want to borrow the watch?" he inquired, confused.
Jennifer shook her head, the enthusiasm suddenly leaving her face. "No. I had an idea, but it was dumb."
"No idea is dumb," Doc scolded. "If I had let myself get discouraged like that, none of this would be happening. Let's hear it."
"Well. . .I was thinking if we could attach the Time-Tracer to VAMPIS, then Biff couldn't go anywhen without us knowing."
"Jennifer, that's a brilliant idea! Instead of desperately trying to figure out what's wrong and fixing it, we could simply practice preventive maintenance in the time itself! What on earth could have caused you to think that idea was dumb?"
"Emmett, how could we get past 7 armed soulless vampires?" Mysteria pointed out.
"Oh, yeah." Doc put his mind to the problem, thinking hard.
Einstein trotted up to him. "Doc, I need to go out," he mentally told his master.
"I figured you would ask. I imagine you'll be out there all night from all that water you drank."
"It gets hot in fur! And I can't sweat like you can!"
"I know, I know. Come on, I'll let you out. And later, if you ever empty your bladder, we'll go for a walk.
"Good. Thanks, Doc." Einstein licked Doc's fingers and ran outside to the sapling that graced Doc's small backyard.
"Einy need to go to the bathroom?" Marty asked, by now used to hearing Doc talk to his dog.
"And how," Doc nodded. "He drank an entire bowlful of water, and then half of the next. He woke me up to refill it."
"I bet his blood's watered down," Jennifer joked.
A light bulb went off in Doc's head. "That could be the answer! Animal blood1 The butcher we buy our blood from recently got in a shipment of pork and pig's blood, right Mystie?"
"Disgusting stuff," Mystie shuddered, making a face. "Pig's blood is loaded with strange bacteria. And it tastes funny to boot. Only a starving souled vampire would touch it."
"But a soulless vampire. . ?"
"They eat anything. They prefer torturing someone to death, but they're never ones to pass up free food."
Marty caught on to Doc's idea. "We get the pig's blood and use it as a lure so we can put on the Time-Tracer! Given their known habits and our own speed, this should be a breeze!"
Doc smiled. "'Given their known habits. . .' That sounds like something I would say. I suspect Marty has been spending far too much time with me." "Precisely, Marty. Let's implement."
Friday, June 6th
7: 39 P. M.
"Oof!"
The Time Trippers landed with a thud in Doc's backyard. Doc rolled off Marty. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to land on you."
Marty looked back at his best friend with a 'stoked' expression. "Doc, that was totally awesome."
"Running from soulless vampires is totally awesome?" Mysteria asked sarcastically.
"No, but the ride was. You never told me flying was like that!"
"I never expected to carry you on a trip." Doc shook his head. "That was too close a call. If we hadn't taken you to the air, we could have ended up as anonymous ashes."
"Did you get the Time-Tracer box on?" asked Jennifer, waiting for her heart to slow.
Doc nodded. "I put it under another box, where you're not likely to notice it."
Mysteria flopped down on the grass. "Back in Missouri things were never this complicated. Sometimes I think I should have never left." Seeing Doc's downcast expression, she added, "Then I look at you and think what I would have missed."
Doc gave her a kiss, then a quick love bite. "I'm glad that's over. Now all that remains is to wait."
"And that'll be even harder, Doc."