Chapter 8
Saturday, October 24th, 2015
Hill Valley
6: 00 A. M.
As the light of the temporal flash cleared from their eyes, the 4 Time Trippers saw a pair of round bright lights coming towards them - fast. Doc quickly swung the car to the left and lowered it as a huge truck thundered overhead. Jennifer, Marty, and Mysteria all screamed and clung to the nearest thing they could find. The man in the truck shook his fist at them. "Watch it, maxhole!"
"Same to you!" Doc yelled back.
Jennifer looked around wildly in the waxing morning light. "What happened? What the hell was that?!" she demanded.
"Teamster," Doc informed her calmly, lowering the car into some sort of skylane, as indicated by floating markers. Around them cars zoomed past, off to some unknown destination. "Mystie, could you let go of my arm? I'm finding it hard to steer."
"Teamster? I thought we were flying!"
"Exactly. We're in the future - October 24th, 2015, 6: 02 A. M., to be precise. Did you think my car was the only one that could fly?"
"Yeah, but then it is in the 80s."
"Fair enough." Doc gently shook off Mysteria's arm and pulled from his pocket a pair of solid gray glasses. Mysteria looked at them curiously. "What are those? They can't be glasses, you can't see through them."
"They're driving glasses. They show me what's going on around me on computer screens. Extremely useful." He handed her the glasses. "Here, see for yourself."
Mystie took them and put them on. Instantly she saw multiple views of the road - the cars in front of her, the cars beside, and the cars behind. Various readouts and data analyses informed her of her current situation on the road. "Cool," she said, slipping them off and handing them back to Doc, who promptly put them on. "So, where are we?"
"Hill Valley Skyway," Doc responded, maneuvering around an Edsel. "We should be reaching the Downtown exit in just a moment. I - Yes, I know I was in commercial airspace, it was an accident."
"Who are you talkin' to, Doc?" Marty asked, recovering from the shock.
"Air traffic control. My glasses malfunctioned, I wasn't aware of my altitude. All right, all right, we'll be descending in a moment, and I can get them repaired then. Okay? Okay. And don't give me that look." He sighed. "Not my fault you're stuck in a dead-end job."
The other occupants of the car, relaxing now that they weren't in danger of being run over, became very excited, peering out the windows. "Wow, the future," Jennifer breathed. "I wonder what's happened to the 4 of us. Doc, do you think Marty and me still live in Hilldale?"
"'I', not 'me'," Doc gently corrected. "I don't know. I hope not. What I saw of Hilldale in the alternate future looked a bit - seedy."
"The entire neighborhood can't be a wreck," Mystie argued. "They could still live in Hilldale."
Doc simply shrugged. "I never saw their futures when I went the second time. Or my own, come to think of it. I was too afraid of what I'd learn."
"I would never let them commit you, Doc," Marty said firmly. "I bet you and Mystie are married and living very happily."
"Fingers crossed. Here's our exit!" Doc flew the car down a 'ramp', past a floating sign proclaiming Hill Valley, as always, 'a nice place to live'. They soared over the much larger city and the Town Square, landing in an alley nearby. The dawn sunlight was getting stronger now, making Doc yawn again. The teens glanced around eagerly, ready to go and explore. Doc took off his glasses and turned to face them. "All right, here's my plan. We'll all go out for some breakfast, then Mystie and I will let you two loose for a few hours to sightsee. I imagine you'll be very excited, but be careful. Don't touch anything you don't immediately recognize, interact with people as little as possible. Do not look yourselves up. At 10: 30 - 11: 00 A. M., we'll regroup and head out for some lunch. Then we'll amuse ourselves until Biff shows up. How does that sound?"
"Fine with me," Marty said, itching to see past the alley walls. "What will you be doing?"
"Probably the same as you. Mystie's never been to the future, and I'm sure a few things have changed since I was here last. I only took a good look in the alternate future. We'll probably take a nap too, due to the sunlight. My internal body clock is completely out of sync with the current time."
"I think mine is too," Jennifer admitted. "For some reason, it thinks it's bedtime."
"Maybe it's like jet lag," Mysteria theorized. "We have time lag."
"Nothing says we all can't take a short rest," Doc said. "We're 7 hours, 23 minutes ahead of Biff, and I want to be fully ready to fight him. Our internal clocks could use the time to readjust to the current time too."
Marty looked a little reluctant. Their last two adventures had exhausted him, but still. . . . "I dunno, Doc. This is the future!"
"Wouldn't you rather see it awake than half-asleep?" Doc asked. "Marty, I can tell you want a nap. The Old West wasn't exactly fun, and you were having panic attacks in 1955. Believe me, kid, some sleep will do you good."
Marty gave in. "Okay. But the future better be damn interesting."
Doc laughed as he adjusted his seat for more comfort. "Oh, it is, Marty. It is."
Saturday, October 24th
7: 09 A. M.
Doc was awakened by a tapping at his window. Yawning, he sat up, lowered it, and looked out. "Yes?"
A police woman was standing there.
Despite the sunshine, Doc woke up immediately. "What can I do for you, officer?"
"My partner and I were just wondering why you were sleeping in your car in an alley, Dr. Brown," the officer, Foley, asked politely. Glancing around the car, she added, "With your wife, young Marty, and a strange girl. Was it a tough night at the lab?"
"Yes, very tough," Doc lied, seeing an out. "Mystie and Marty Junior were assisting me, as was Lucy here. She's visiting for a while, checking out colleges in California. We offered to put her up while she's here. I guess we were so exhausted, we passed out right in the car."
The officer nodded. "Okay, Dr. Brown, we just wanted to make sure you were all right." She pulled a thin box off her belt with a plate on it. "I just need a thumbscan for our time sheet." Doc obligingly pressed his thumb to the scanner. It beeped, but Foley turned it off before it could give his stats. "Thanks. We'll see you in the future, Dr. Brown." She returned to her waiting police car. "Just a really tired Dr. Brown, Reese."
Doc chuckled and woke Mysteria. "Huh? Where are we? When are we?" she mumbled.
"Time to get up, sweetheart," Doc told her, planting a kiss on her lips.
"Why?"
"We just got visited by the police. Now, don't panic," he rushed to reassure his suddenly frightened fiancee. "We haven't committed a crime or anything like that. They simply wanted to know what we were doing here. I got the impression they thought we had been here all night, so I don't want to raise suspicions."
"All right." She woke the sleepy teens and explained the situation. Marty got worried as she told them about the police. "Hey, Doc, what did they think about us?"
"Nothing, really. She called Mystie my wife, so there were no surprises there." Mysteria smiled contentedly. "She didn't recognize Jennifer, and-" Doc paused. "Hell, I need to warn you anyway. Your son looks almost exactly like you, Marty. She thought you were Marty Junior."
"Really? My kid looks just like me?" Marty asked, surprised and a little flattered.
"Yup. Which means we have an ace in the hole when it comes to disguise. Mystie and I can claim to be our future selves, and you can say you're Marty Junior. Jennifer, you're Lucy again, and you're here looking at colleges. We're acting as a foster family."
"Gotcha," Jennifer nodded. "But doesn't Hill Valley just have Hill Valley University?"
"It's bigger now - officially part of Sacremento now, I believe - so it could have more than one. I'm not sure." Doc opened his door and hopped out, blinking from the sun. "We should get changed."
The rest of the Time Trippers followed Doc out of the car as he retrieved the bags. "Whatcha got for us this time, Doc?" Marty asked, more excited than ever.
Doc pulled out a futuristic jacket, 3 shirts, a baseball cap made up of a special fabric that constantly changed colors, a skirt made up of the special fabric, his own gold coat, and 4 pairs of shoes. "We can improvise with our own clothes in this time period. Marty, would you be my example on how to put on future clothes?"
Marty looked at him funny. "Uh-sure."
"Excellent. Take off your shirt, all you need is your T-shirt. Put on the jacket, the cap, and the white Nikes. In that, you should look more like Marty Junior than you do now."
"Okay." Marty unbuttoned his shirt and pulled on the jacket in its steed. It hung very loosely on him, at least two sizes too big. As he pulled it on, a beeping noise came out of nowhere. "Uh, Doc, are you sure this jacket isn't meant for you? And where the heck is that beeping coming from?"
Doc reached down and pressed a pad next to a blinking light on the corner of the jacket. It promptly shrunk to fit Marty perfectly! "Size adjusting - fit," it announced as it adjusted.
Jennifer blinked, amazed. "Whoa. Way cool, Doc. Do all clothes do that?"
"Yup. Just take your pick of what you'd like to wear. And you don't have to do anything when it comes to the sneakers - they adjust automatically."
"Great!" Everyone pulled an outfit from the pile and changed, the girls grinning broadly as the clothes form-fitted to their bodies. In about a minute, everyone had changed and was ready to see the future. Marty stuck the color-changing cap on his head. "We set to go?"
Doc studied his friends and frowned. "There's something not quite right. . . ." He snapped his fingers. "Pull out your pockets. That's the latest fad - to wear your pants inside-out."
"That sounds really dumb to me," Mysteria said as she yanked out her pants' pockets. "What happens if you have to go to the bathroom?"
"It's fashion. What can I say?" Doc shrugged. He pulled out his own pockets. "All right, we're set. Let's go have breakfast, then we'll set you two loose."
Saturday, October 24th
8: 55 A. M.
After the teens had had some pancakes and eggs at a local breakfast nook, the vampires let them go off on their own. "All right, we'll meet at 10: 30 at the Cafe 80's."
"Cafe 80's?"
"One of those nostalgia places, but not done very well. It's right where Lou's Aerobic's place used to be. You can't miss it. I think there's a skate park around here too, so you can get your hoverboard if you wish, Marty."
"I think I will. See you soon, Doc. Have fun," he added teasingly.
"You too." They parted ways. Jennifer and Marty immediately headed back into the Town Square, to get a better look at it. What they saw fascinated them. The courthouse had gotten a make-over as a mall, with a new smoked glass front. The parking lot in front of it had been transformed into a park, complete with a large pond. An opening led underneath the park, a sign above proclaiming that more of the Courthouse Mall was underground.
"Boy, look at all the stores," Jennifer said. The square itself was back in business, with shops like 'Vidbooks 4 U" and a "Revita-Clinic". Most had electronic displays of some sort, advertising things like sales of the day. The teens drunk it all in.
"Hi, Goldie Wilson the Third here!" a voice said behind them. The teens turned to see a huge video projection over a corner walkway, advertising hover conversions. "Reminds me of the ballpark," Marty commented.
Unbeknownst to them, something was happening at the Holomax theater behind them. A holographic Jaws was rising up from the projector, complete with spooky music. Puzzled, Marty and Jennifer turned - to see a huge shark head coming towards them, jaws wide. Terrified, they both screamed and ducked.
The shark chomped down on them harmlessly, then vanished, then leaving the words 'Jaws 19' revolving in the air. Realizing they were both okay, Marty and Jennifer stood up and tried to salvage their dignity. "Shark still looks fake," Marty said.
"Yeah," Jennifer agreed, trying to hide the fact that she was still shaky. She looked for the ad being displayed in the shark's steed, with the slogan, "Jaws 19 - This time it's really really personal." "Jaws 19, huh? That's way too many for any movie."
"It must stink," Marty nodded, amazed. "I wonder when we switched to holographic movies? Every movie in there is advertised as 3-D."
"Who knows? It's the future, it doesn't have to make sense to us." Jennifer glanced around the square again, gawking at the upper-level Texaco, the park, and the Revita-Clinic, among other things. "This is so weird. To think we'll be living in a world like this in 29 years."
"Cool, huh?"
"You ain't kidding."
An elderly man wearing a pair of blue and orange striped ties approached them. "Hey, kids, thumb a hundred bucks, will ya, and help save the Clock Tower."
Marty and Jennifer looked at each other, confused. Neither understood what the man meant by "thumb a hundred bucks." "No thanks, not today," Marty declined politely, remembering Doc's advice.
"C'mon, Marty. Your old man makes donations all the time," the old guy persisted.
Marty was about to correct him with, "I don't think George McFly is all that interested in the Tower," when it hit him. The old man - a name tag identified him as "Terry" - thought he was Marty Junior. That meant the "old man" he was referring to was himself, circa 2015! "Whoa, this is heavy. But then, it is me. . . ." "Sorry, I'm trying to save my cash, Terry," he shrugged, stepping away.
Terry turned to Jennifer. "How about you, miss? Lightning struck that thing 60 years ago, November 12th, 1955. It's an important historical landmark."
Jennifer held up her hands. "I'm checking out colleges. I have to save my money."
"Oh. You already check out both?"
Jennifer blinked. "Both? I thought there was only one - Hill Valley University. You know, the local college near Letchmark and Cranston?"
Terry looked at her strangely. "Have you been living under a rock? That's the old Hill Valley U.! We built the new one in 2010, when we finally joined up with Sacremento. The former Hill Valley U.'s now Brown-McFly College! Everybody in the state knows that." He shook his head. "Where are you from, lady?"
"Rhode Island," Jennifer blurted, still trying to process all the information he had given her.
"Oh, you're from the East. Still, I don't know how you missed it." He wandered off to bother someone else, leaving two more stunned than usual teens.
Jennifer gawked at Marty, who gawked right back. "Brown-McFly College," he whispered. "I knew Dad's books were popular, but that. . . . And what does Doc do to get his name on the college?"
Jennifer shrugged. "You've got me. And if we look it up, Doc'll kill us." A strange thought came to her suddenly. "Hey, Marty, do you think that the college was named after Doc - and you?"
"What the heck could I do to get that sort of recognition? That's gotta be Doc and Dad, not Doc and me." Then he smiled. "But it's cool to know Doc will finally get enough respect from this town to get his name on a college."
"Unless that's another Brown," Jennifer warned.
"Who else? I can't think of any other Browns who deserve it more." He pumped his fist. "Way to go, Future Doc."
The video projection over the walkway changed, now reporting the results of the latest World Series. The teens watched with interest, wondering if the future would serve up any more surprises. It did. "Cubs win World Series. . .against Miami?"
"When does Miami get a team?"
"I bet around the same time the Cubs get good enough to beat them." Marty read the flashing headlines and whistled. "A hundred to one shot! Anybody who bet on them would have made some serious dough."
Jennifer's eyes lit up. "Marty, look over here." She dragged her boyfriend over to an antique store, Blast From The Past. Inside the front window was a ton of stuff from the 80s and earlier. In fact, Marty could have sworn he recognized his jean jacket in the display. But one thing didn't fit in - a sports almanac, listing major scores from 1950-2000. Jennifer pointed to it excitedly. "We could buy it," she whispered. "That poster says they buy antique bills and coins, so it would be like making a trade. And we'd have all the major sports scores until the end of the century! In case we ever had any money problems, we could place a bet and cash in!"
Marty stared at her, shocked. "Jennifer, are you nuts?!"
"Marty, it's free money."
"Yeah, I know, but that's something Biff would do! Heck, we could cause a paradox, or some wacky alternate reality. And what if Biff did get his hands on it? Then we'd be really screwed! Doc didn't invent the time machine so we could get loads of cash! The purpose of time travel is to check out humanity, to see where we're going and why, the pitfalls, the possibilities, the perils, the promise! Perhaps even an answer to that universal question, 'Why the hell am I talking like Doc?'".
"It must be all the time travel," Jennifer said, chastened. "I'm sorry, Marty. I guess I lost my head when I saw that book. I'm sure we'll have great future without relying on any help."
Marty barely heard her. He still couldn't get over the fact he'd started babbling on just like his best friend. "Holy shit, I was talking just like him. We've been spending way too much time together. I've heard of kids turning into their parents, but this is nuts."
"Hell, Marty, it isn't that weird," Jennifer said, trying to calm him. Personally, it had freaked her out a little too, but she didn't think it warranted the attention Marty was giving it. "Considering you've got a direct link to his brain. I'll probably be picking up some of Mystie's habits sooner or later. Forget about it." She pulled him towards the DeLorean. "Let's get your hoverboard and find that skate park. I can't wait to see the kind of stuff you could do on one of those."
Saturday, October 24th
9: 45 A. M.
Doc had taken Mystie and himself inside the Courthouse Mall after giving her the tour of the new and improved Town Square. They had both started yawning excessively, and Doc had felt it important to get out of the sun for a while. Mysteria was hopping around excitedly, like a kid set loose in a candy store. "Oh, the future," she whispered. "Everything's so clean and colorful and friendly. It's terrific, Emmett." A little sadly, she added, "I wish we could have kids to enjoy seeing it with us."
Doc patted her on the shoulder, feeling a pang himself. "I know. I always wanted a family myself. I think I could make a good father." He sighed. "I guess we'll have to make do with our Partials."
"No one said they weren't great substitutes. They're going to have terrific futures, I know it. Oh, Emmett, please can we look them up? Even just to see if Marty got into music?"
"Mystie, that would be highly hypocritical of us to do that. No, we must stay as in the dark as possible when it comes to specific futures, especially those of ourselves and our friends."
A woman in a skin-tight multicolored leotard accidentally bumped into them. "Oh, excuse me," she apologized. "I - Hey, aren't you the Browns?"
"Doctor and Mrs., right here," Mystie volunteered, leaning against Doc.
"Wow, it's funny to see you in public so early. Usually we only see you around late afternoon."
"Insomnia," Doc said. He was amazed and pleased to see that this woman didn't seem to be afraid of him. In fact, there seemed to be a hint of admiration in her eyes.
"Oh. Well, I wish you luck at the labs. You and Marty McFly both." She walked off.
Doc frowned in an interested sort of way. "Labs? Huh! I must get a job at some sort of corporation! Makes sense, what's left of my money won't last forever. I certainly hope it's a good job. And a fun one."
"I'm sure it is. I wonder what she meant by 'You and Marty McFly both', though."
"I suppose Marty still assists me from time to time," Doc shrugged.
"Wouldn't it be funny if he decided to make a job out of being your assistant?" Mysteria chuckled.
Doc smiled too. "That's silly. Marty's true talent is music. Why on earth would he ever want a science-related job?" Turning his attention from the thoughts the woman's comments had inspired, he pulled Mystie towards a Discovery Channel shop. "You have to see the things in here. It's simply fascinating what they invent."
Saturday, October 24th
10: 26 A. M.
Marty and Jennifer headed down into the underground section of the mall, eager to see what shops of the future stocked. The year 2015 had already shown them so many wonders, it was hard to conceive of any more being available. "Man, everything's terrific by now," Marty breathed, throughly swept away. "Hoverboards, skycars, holographic movies, hand-held personal computers, size-fit clothes, TVs that show 6 channels at once. . . ."
"My only beef is all these super-high prices," Jennifer said, gaping at the price tags in a window. "$700 for a hoverboard, on sale! $3,000 for a pocket PC! I'm surprised people can actually buy all this cool stuff."
"Maybe everybody in the future is really rich." Marty spotted a music shop. "Wanna check out the tunes of the future before we meet Doc and Mystie?"
"Why not?" They headed in. To their surprise, there didn't seem to be any cassettes or CDs around. There were only racks of what looked like barcode scanners. On closer inspection, though, a small line of mini-CDs were revealed stacked next to the scanners. Also gone were the traditional categories such as 'Country' and 'Rock'. Now there was stuff like 'Dancebeat' and 'Vidmusic'.
"I wonder how this works," Marty mumbled, looking around. "I mean, I don't want to ask anybody."
Jennifer nudged him. "Those kids are about to try something." She pointed to a pair of teens, gathered around a certain scanner. "Let's see what they do."
One of the teens pulled out a pocket PC. "Music program upload," she told it. She pulled the scanner from the rack and pointed it at a shiny silver strip running along the PC's bottom. She pressed a button on the scanner, beaming a red light into the strip. A low hum was heard, then a beep. "Download complete. Purchase or trial?"
"Purchase."
"Thumb or cash?"
"Thumb."
"The total comes to $100 and 58 cents," the machine informed her. The girl pressed her thumb to a pad beside the scanner. "I'm using up my savings, but I really like his music. This is the only album of his I didn't have."
"You getting it on back-up too?" the girl's friend asked.
"Maybe later. After my next check from Burger King. C'mon, didn't you want to get the latest single from Coolcoolmunga?" They walked off in the direction of another rack.
"I guess you can download whatever you want to those computers," Jennifer shrugged.
"Coolcoolmunga?" Marty giggled. "All the good names must be taken." He calmed down. "I wonder who she was downloading?"
"Let's see. We won't hear about them for a couple more years at least." They walked over to the section and quickly located the freshly-used scanner. Marty pulled out one of the CDs resting beside it and looked at the cover. He gasped. "What?"
Marty showed her. The name and title on the CD was-
MARTY MCFLY
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Underneath was a picture of an older Marty, wearing a 50s outfit but playing a modern guitar.
Jennifer smiled broadly. "All right, you make it! See, Marty, I told you that you had talent!"
"Yeah," Marty said, smiling at the cover. "But where are the Pinheads? This just has me."
"Check the back. Maybe they listed you on the cover 'cause you're the lead vocalist and the lead guitarist."
Marty flipped the box over. Still no sign of his band buddies. The CD presented him as a solo artist, occasionally performing with bands like 'Creed'. "Seems like we break up," Marty sighed sadly, replacing the CD. "I hope the other guys get into the business too. I mean, J.J.'s got to, he's terrific on the keyboards."
"That's the future," a voice said behind them. Both teens whipped around to find Doc and Mystie behind them. Doc playfully shook his finger at Marty. "You're a naughty boy, Martin McFly."
"It was an accident, Doc," Marty protested. "I wanted to see what some girl had got. I had no idea it would be me!"
"I know, I know," Doc said, patting his shoulder. "I knew you were in here and not paying any attention to me or our link, so I decided to surprise you."
"Can you blame me, Doc? It's the future. There's all kinds of cool stuff to distract a guy."
"Don't I know it. Want to trade stories before we go to lunch?"
"Sure."