Chapter 3

Monday, June 9th, 1986

Hill Valley, California

1: 05 P. M.

Biff pulled on his stolen radiation suit, checking obsessively for rips and holes. It wouldn't do to get radiation poisoning right now. He had a lot of time periods to visit, a lot of history to 'correct'. Chuckling evilly, he donned his hood and pulled 2 sticks of plutonium from their protective case. He carefully loaded them into the fuel chamber, starting slightly as each was sucked in. Once the machine was fully charged, he pushed the case into the time chamber.

As he took the suit off, he congratulated himself on his genius plan to leave today. "This is too perfect. Crackpot Brown and his equally weird broad will be asleep. That damn McFly kid and his girl will be at his party. They won't suspect a thing until it's too late. Then they'll be trapped in my world. And I'll make sure they're first on the menu."

He tossed the suit inside the chamber and did a quick check of the outside. Yes, everything was in order. It looked the same as it had during his first 'practice' trip. He got inside and closed the door.

It took a moment to find the starter switch for everything in the pitch-black of the inside. Eventually his hand found the proper switch by the box that contained the time capacitor. With a quick flip, his sight was returned through its soft glow. Grumbling about the lack of a light bulb in the chamber, he focused his attention on the destination panel. Did he want to go to the future or the past first? "I've always wanted to see the future. But I've got a lot of important stuff to do in the past. Ah, hell, I'll just go in order." He tapped in his first destination on the keypad. Then, after a final check of everything, he started the motor and held on for dear life. He had installed a grip bar in the machine after his 'practice' trip into the future. The machine worked great, but you got banged around as it spun.

Faster and faster the chamber turned, until Biff was sure he'd be sick. Finally, as his stomach proceeded up his throat, the machine hit 90 miles per hour. It promptly vanished in a flash of light. Only a square of dead grass and a ring of fire remained to show it had ever existed.

Meanwhile. . .

Monday, June 9th

12: 53 P. M.

"Yo, Marty! Happy Birthday!"

"Hey, Spydo," Marty greeted his band-mate. "Glad you could make it to the party. Hi Heather."

Heather, Spydo's girlfriend, handed him their gift. "Happy birthday, Marty. Hope you like it."

"I haven't been disappointed yet." He opened the box to find a T-shirt inside. On the front was a photo of the band, with "The Pinheads" written in big letters above it. "Cool, our own merchandise," the birthday boy joked. "Thanks, guys."

Spydo glanced around at the assembled guests, most who were just talking or enjoying cake. "Isn't your friend Dr. Brown and his fiancee here? I don't see them."

"They're not coming until tonight," Marty explained. "Mysteria's got a skin disease, so she has to sleep in the day. Doc does too now, so they can be awake together." Spydo nodded.

Chris Smith came over, holding a glass of punch. "Great party, Marty. It was nice of you to invite us."

"You're my friends. Why wouldn't I invite you?" Marty smiled as he saw the crew from Darkness Falls playing one of the party games Lorraine had set up. "Anyways, I thought you would forget what sunlight was unless I got you out into it." Chris rolled his eyes and had some more punch.

George joined the group, armed with a camera. "Boy, it feels funny to know you're 18. Soon you'll be moving out of the house; you've already got a job. . . . You're all grown up."

"Don't get all nostalgic, Dad," Marty warned.

"I can't help it. I miss the days when you were young. After all, we can't go back and relive them." Marty just barely hid a grin.

Heather suddenly squealed. "Look at that weird car! Who would drive such a thing?"

Everyone looked in the direction she was pointing. Marty let out a gasp of surprise. "That's Doc's DeLorean! Jesus, I thought he was coming later on!"

"Oh, it's Brown's car? No wonder it looks weird," Heather sniffed. Marty shot her a dirty look.

The DeLorean parked in the McFly driveway. Doc and Mysteria got out, both yawning. "Of course it would have to be bright sunshine today. Not a cloud in the sky," Doc grumbled, glaring at the sky.

"Well, would you have wanted it to rain on your best friend's birthday?" asked Mystie, retrieving their packages from the back seat.

"No, but it would be nice to have an occasional cloud. I'm exhausted." He shut his car door with a bang.

"So am I, but we can only make the best of it." Mystie smiled at Marty. "Hi Marty. Happy birthday. I hope you can excuse the mood Emmett's in."

"Hey Mystie, hey Doc," Marty said. "What are you guys doing here so early? I thought you'd be over after dark."

"We didn't want to miss your party," Doc sleepily grinned. "We gave ourselves severe insomnia, which is the reason I'm acting so upset. My internal clock is out of whack. Sorry about being so cranky."

"I've seen you in worse moods," Marty said. "This is easy. Glad you could make it."

"Myst, what about your skin disease?" asked Spydo. Since Marty was friends with them, The Pinheads had become friendly with them too.

"Sun block," Mysteria lied, winking at Marty, George, and Chris. "We'll be okay if we can stay in the shade. Here, Marty. This one's from me."

Marty accepted the box with a grin. "Thanks, Mysteria." He opened it up to find the latest tape by Huey Lewis and the News. "Great! I've been meaning to buy this. Thanks a lot, Mystie." He gave her a big hug.

"I'm sure you'll like Emmett's better."

"Why? What did you get me, Doc?"

Doc handed him a big box. "I heard something else of yours finally wore out. So I replaced it."

Marty frowned, puzzled. "Huh? The only thing that was broken that Doc knew about was my watch. Unless you count my old guitar finally biting the dust. It was so out of tune and the string were all worn out. . ."

Then it dawned on him. He eagerly tore through the wrapping paper and into the box. It was just as he had suspected. With a huge smile, he lifted out a new blue guitar. "It's beautiful, Doc. Thanks so much." He gave Doc a hug too, feeling their heartbeats quadruple with the nearness.

"Terrific! Now we can start playing again!" Spydo said enthusiastically. "She's a beauty, Dr. Brown, just like Marty said."

"Thanks," Doc replied, glad the band member liked his choice. He knew very little about modern rock music, besides what he heard Marty listen to. He preferred to stick to the classics when he doodled on his saxophone. Choosing a new guitar to replace Marty's wrecked one had largely been a selection of a nice color. "I'm glad you like it."

Lorraine and Jennifer wandered over, and soon the whole group was chatting happily. The Time Trippers smiled contentedly at each other. It seemed nothing could go wrong.

Then Doc's watch beeped twice. Startled, the scientist looked down. The scrolling display of

MONDAY, JUNE 9TH, 1986 1:10 P. M.

abruptly change to

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7TH, 1885 7:00 P. M.

"Oh, shit," Doc thought angrily. "Biff's smarter than I thought. He probably figured we wouldn't be able to stop him if he left today mid-afternoon. And he thinks we can't follow him through time. Well, he's going to get a nasty surprise. Marty!"

Marty looked at him, wondering why Doc was addressing him mentally. "Yeah, Doc?"

"It's happened. He's gone."

"What? Today?!" Marty exclaimed aloud.

Everyone around them looked at him, confused. "What's happening?" asked Lorraine, frowning at her son. "What did you mean by that?"

"We might have a situation here, Lorraine," Doc fibbed, hoping the female half of the Time Trippers would get the message. "We're not sure yet."

"Oh, Jesus, not a repeat of January," George mumbled in horror.

"Nothing as drastic as that, George," Mysteria said, grateful that Spydo and Heather had moved on to talk to some other friends. It was easier talking to people with an understanding of what's going on. "But if it's allowed to grow and develop, something bad might happen. Or, it could all be an easily-dealt-with false alarm."

"Give us 10 minutes and we'll quickly check it out," Marty said. "If it's a false alarm, fine. If not, we'll deal with it."

"Fingers crossed for 'false alarm'," Lorraine said, crossing her fingers. "And all of this on Marty's birthday!"

"Must have figured we'd be occupied," Marty shrugged, eager to get going. Any minute now, one of those time ripples could appear and wipe this time line from existence. "We'll be back soon, Mom. I love you. You too, Dad."

The 4 of them made quick goodbyes and piled into the DeLorean. Doc activated the time circuits with his thumb as Marty switched on the flux capacitor. "When's our first destination?" Mysteria asked.

"September 7th, 1885, 7: 01 P. M. We'll arrive 1 minute after Biff does." Doe set the time circuits and drove down the street, away from prying eyes.

"Is Mr. Fusion full?" inquired Jennifer.

"Of course. I've been keeping it full since the 6th, when we put on the Time-Tracer."

"1885," Marty repeated, confused. "What on earth would Biff want in the Old West?"

"I don't know, but we're about to find out. Brace yourself for temporal displacement." He activated the hover conversion and accelerated. In a matter of seconds, the car hit 88 mph and was propelled into the past.