Running Out Of Time
Chapter 3
The Test

Harlan Airport
Staten Island
1:12 A.M.

On the airstrip of the abandoned airport, Dan and Roland unhooked the trailer from Lucky Black, Dan's truck. Eduardo fell asleep in the backseat of the truck. As Roland set up the stands under the trailer, Dan went in the passenger side of the truck, and woke up Eduardo.

As they walked to the trailer, Eduardo asked...

Eduardo: Are you sure this is a safe place to test this thing, man? What if a plane comes?

Dan: Don't worry about it. This place as been abandoned since 1991. The likelihood of a plane passing by is 0 to 1.

All the Ghostbusters then stood by the trailer, as they awaited Dan's next order...

Dan: Ok, there seems to be locks on the corners of the panels. I take it the sides fold down. ::Unlocks one corner:: Now, on three, unlock the panels at the same time. Ready?

Dan went to the next corner. The others found locked locks, and got ready to pull on them.

All: Three!

They all pulled the locks, and ran back as the sides of the trailer unfolded. On the platform, sat a large object under a tarp - As said before. Dan walked up one of the sides, and pulled off the tarp. Dan and Roland in particular, stood in awe. Eduardo stood there, and rubbed his goatee...

Eduardo: What is that? It looks like a car, to me.

Dan and Roland turned to Eduardo, and then looked at each other...

Dan: It's a DeLorean!

Eduardo: What's a "DeLorean"?

Dan: You don't know what a DeLorean is?

Eduardo: No. Should I?

Roland: It's one of the rarest cars in the free world. The guy who made it, designed the Pontiac GTO.

Dan opened the door of the stainless steel vehicle. He looked in, and saw various wires, LED readouts, and a flashing "Y" device in the back. The back window was taken out, and replaced with 2 comic-looking vent devices. There were other odd looking doo-dads on the back that he didn't know what they were.

Dan looked back in the cab, and saw what looked like a remote control car control sitting on the driver seat. He took it out, and looked at it.

Eduardo: Ok, so this is the experiment?

Dan: It might be the car.

Roland: What's that you got?

Dan: Looks like a controller. Found it on the seat.

Dan looked around it, and looked for a label of who made it, or what it was for. As he did, he hit a switch, and a electronic revving was heard coming from the car. Dan jumped off the platform and looked at his fellow Ghostbusters...

Eduardo: What the hell was that?!?

Dan looked back down to the remote, and a small LED screen popped on. It beeped as it reset to, "0.0."

Roland: Is that thing remote controlled?

Dan: One way to find out.

Dan moved the joystick on the right side of the remote forward. The DeLorean screeched off the platform, and speed down the strip. Dan looked back to the LED number screen, and it read "43.7", and was still rising. Dan took his hand off the joystick, and the car stopped. The controller beeped, as the LED screen went back to, "0.0." Eduardo looked at Dan, Dan looked at Roland, Roland looked at Eduardo, and then, they all looked at the DeLorean.

Dan looked back down to the remote, and started to push the joystick forward again. He managed to turn the car around so it was pointing towards them. Dan saw a switch that had a label that said, "Stop" above it. Out of curiosity, Dan sit the switch, and the label lit up. Nothing happened. He then pushed the joystick forward again. The car didn't move. He pushed it harder, and again, nothing.

He noticed the LED read-out was climbing. Still, he pushed the joystick up. The others started to hear screeching of tires, and the smell of burnt rubber. Roland started to tug at Dan's shirt. Dan just kept looking down at the LED screen, as Roland tugged at his shirtsleeve again. Finally, Dan looked over as he yelled...

Dan: What?!?!?

Roland and Eduardo pointed to the DeLorean at the other end of the strip. It was still there, but the tires were smoking. Dan looked back out to the remote, and saw that the red, "Stop" label was still on. He figured out what it was...

Dan: The stop switch holds the car in place as it builds up speed from a stationary position!

Roland: What kind of relevancy does this have to it, though?

Dan: ::thinks:: Guys, stand back... I'm going to try something.

Roland and Eduardo moved away from Dan. Dan stood in the path of the DeLorean, and looked back to the remote that was in his hands. He grabbed the red switch, held his breath, and toggled it down.

The red light turned off, and the DeLorean rocketed into Dan's direction. The car speed closer and closer. Dan looked to the LED read-out, and it read "74.3" and was still rising. He looked back and forth between the car coming towards him, and the LED screen on the remote. Roland and Eduardo started to panic about Dan standing in the path of an oncoming car. They ran over, and tried to pull him from his position, but he wouldn't budge.

The LED screen read, "80.0". All the Ghostbusters now stood in the path of the odd-formed DeLorean, which was heading directly for them. When the LED panel read, "88.8" the car lit up, and glowed as blue electric streamers emanated from it's hood. It gave sharp sonic cracking and banging noises so loud, the screeching of the tires was almost inaudible. The car was no more than 30 feet from them now. Eduardo, Roland and Dan covered their eyes, as the vehicle flashed, and disappeared. No more than fire trails from the tires were left behind.

Dan looked first. He saw a license plate spinning briefly, then it fell to the ground with two metallic thuds. The Ghostbusters slowly backed away from the fired tire tracks, and looked at the plate. It read, "U.S. Government: DELO-12." After stalling for a moment, Eduardo walked closer to the trails, and got a better look at the plates. As he did, he thought out loud...

Eduardo: What the fu...?

Then, 3 flashes, along with sonic bangs, appeared. The loud, intense bangs knocked all the Ghostbusters off their feet, as the DeLorean reappeared, and screeched to a stop. Roland sat up, and looked at the vehicle, which is now covered with frost. He helped up Eduardo, and then Dan. As they walked to the half-frozen auto, steam blasted out the back of the vents. They all stopped, until the vapor ceased to exhaust.

Eduardo went to open the passenger door. When he grabbed the handle, he then quickly pulled his hand away, and waved it around...

Eduardo: Damn!

Dan: What, is it that cold?

Eduardo: You want to come over, and grab it, man?

Roland: I'll open it.

As Roland stepped up, he put his gloves on, and opened the door. Chunks of ice fell off the fender and the door as it opened with a electronic wining noise. Dan took the P.K.E. Meter he had off his belt, and took a scan. It came up negative. Although nothing paranormal was present, he did get a high electromagnetic flux.

That night, Dan Shannon, Roland Jackson and Eduardo Rivera had no idea what the hell happened, but they knew it wasn't normal.

***

1:30 A.M.

Dan, Roland and Eduardo sat in the 2000 Chevy S-10 to warm up from the cold night. As they sat in the running truck, they gave theories on what the DeLorean outside was...

Eduardo: Maybe it's a matter... transport... thing!

Dan: What?

Eduardo: You know, like in that one movie, with the guy from Jurassic Park?

Roland: The Fly?

Eduardo: Yeah, that's it, man! Maybe when you speed to 88 miles per hour, it can send you and the car to a different city!

Dan: Eduardo, it's not possible to the laws of physics to make a matter transporter that way. It's not even possible to make something like from Star Trek. Besides, why would something like that need to be invented?

Roland: It disappeared, then reappeared. Maybe it's a stealth vehicle.

Dan: Now that might be possible. But, like I always say, there's only one way to find out.

Dan stepped out of the truck, and walked to the DeLorean. Eduardo pushed the driver seat forward, and followed after him. Roland open his door, and ran in front of them...

Roland: Whoa! Wait a minuet! What if I'm wrong?

Dan: The Federal Government gave us a job to do. We were to test it, because it was freaking out; acting like it was possessed. Tell me what are job was again?

Roland: To detect and capture paranormal entities.

Dan: And?

Roland: And to protect the human race at all costs.

Dan: Right. That's what I'm doing. We have a problem with this thing. What I think it is: It's a large electronic device that might be housing an energy-consuming ghost that can only be detected when the car reaches a certain speed. If the ghost gets enough power from the EM radiation, it can turn the car invisible, and keep it in a state of suspended animation.

Roland: Then what are we going to do?

Dan: The only way we're going to find out what class it is, I'm going to drive the car, Eduardo's going to go with me, and record readings in the passenger seat. You're going to get a P.K.E. meter, and record the readings as I come by.

Roland: Ok, but if you're going to do that, get your Proton Packs. If something goes wrong, you'll have a defense.

Dan and Eduardo headed back to the truck, and grabbed the Proton Packs. He also took out 2 Destabilizing Pistols, holstered one, and handed the other to Roland...

Dan: Here's your starter pistol. When you're ready, fire the gun in the air. Wait for the car to get to the other end of the strip.

Dan walked back to the DeLorean, opened the door, and stepped in. Eduardo entered the passenger side, and they both shut their doors. Dan pulled down the visor, and grabbed the keys. He looked at the keys, and noticed the keys were worn. He saw a blue ID tag keychain. He couldn't read the writing, because moisture got in, and fogged up the plastic. Dan stuck the DeLorean key in the ignition, and started the car.

The weird electronic revving was heard. This time, Dan and Eduardo ignored it. Dan shift the vehicle into reverse, and backed the car to the end of the runway. Eduardo looked at the diverse LED read-outs on the dash. He saw 3 different color read-out panels... Top in red, middle in green, and the bottom in yellow. He also saw a number keypad underneath.

Eduardo: What is this stuff for?

Dan turned over from the steering wheel, and looked at the number pad...

Dan: ::shrugged:: Not a clue.

Eduardo started to push buttons, and the red LED panel changed with a beep. It lit up: "SEP 21 2000 1:45" Dan smacked Eduardo's hand away from the number pad...

Dan: Don't touch that, dumbass!

Eduardo: Sorry, man!

Dan: Whatever rules I have in Lucky Black, apply in here. Got that?

Eduardo nodded.

On the other side of the runway, Roland picks up his radio, and reports to the others in the DeLorean...

Roland: Jackson to Rivera, ready here. Are you ready?

Back in the car, Eduardo looked over to Dan, and waited for a response...

Dan: Kick ass.

Eduardo: Ready!

Dan: ::sigh:: Yippie-Ki-Yay. ::shifts into 1st::

Dan revved the engine, as he waited for Roland's signal. Roland held the gun up high.

Roland: Godspeed, fellas.

Roland fired a proton blast into the air. The DeLorean's tires screeched as it took off down the abandoned airport's main landing strip. A red LED speedometer on the top of the dash started to rapidly climb. Dan shifted into 2nd, then 3rd. The car raced down the runway, faster and faster. Dan yelled over the racing of the engine...

Dan: Reading?!

Eduardo: Nothing yet!

The LED readout now read, "45". Dan kicked it into 4th. As he did, he hit the large switch that was in the middle console. The red LED numbers on the readout under the radio reset to, "OCT 27 1985 11:00."

The headlights of the vehicle became brighter as it came closer to Roland. He took the P.K.E. Meter that was attached to his belt out, and turned it on. He didn't see a psychokinetic disturbance, but he was getting a massive EM radiation spike, and it was getting higher.

Back in the approaching DeLorean, Eduardo was getting the same...

Eduardo: I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it, man!

Dan then blasted into 5th. The car was almost to 80 M.P.H. Beeping of all sorts started to arise. The oscillator bars that were behind the drivers seat rose. Electrical crackling was heard. As soon as the LED speedometer hit "88", The "Y" device lit up, and nearly blinded the 2 Ghostbusters.

Roland watched as a blue glow surrounded the car, and sparks emanated from it's hood. He covered his eyes, as the car disappeared with a loud bang. Roland looked to see fire trails leading into the dirt. He waited for the car to reappear. After 2 minuets, he realized something was wrong.