I'm certainly enjoyed my visit to Marty, yet I'm more than a little relieved the shocks stopped coming in thought Doc as he exited the McFly's future townhouse at 7:45 AM. Now, all he had to do was get in the DeLorean and return to 1985, hopefully this mission would be okay.
Opening the gull wing door and getting in, the scientist slowly began to digest all he had heard. I must be very careful to never let on that Marty knows I will be married. If he presses for information, as I know the kid will, I must be secretive regarding myself.
Seconds later, the DMC was turning out of a much busier Hilldale – one filled with people leaving for work or hanging out in their garages, at least. Doc was heading back east, towards downtown Hill Valley, ready to depart back to his own time. As he entered the expressway, he knew he had to be very careful on re-entry to 1985. True, that would be less dangerous than going to the future (due to knowing what would be in a certain area); however, knowing who would be there would be harder to predict. The last thing he'd want to do would be burst onto a busy road literally in the middle of traffic, or even in front of one car! The questions he'd have to deal with later weren't ones he was prepared to handle.
Now was the time to think about it. When he made the opposite trip, he had been very lucky, but than again, he hardly had any choice. It would definitely be strange going from now daylight hours to nighttime, but that was the only thing that made sense, as well as to do it from the same location. Imagine how Marty or his family would react if I just blasted right onto his street the following morning!
After passing an already busy Café 80's and Courthouse Square, he reached the edge of town near JFK Drive 5 or so miles past Hilldale. Just as he predicted, the apartment houses and the new skyway above were bustling compared to almost 2 hours prior.
Marty recalls the Libyans being no longer a threat, so I shall return at the precise time I left, thus knowing where and when to temporally displace from. The previous time is still entered into the time circuits 'LAST TIME DEPARTED' display. October 26th, 1985, 1:38 AM.
He recalled seeing the Gale-Canton Real Estate Agency at the exact point he arrived at, so he went about a mile past that, where the businesses stopped and there appeared to be only houses, before the busy road still went up into the hills.
Making a U-turn and quickly accelerating, he set the DESTINATION TIME for the same time, only a minute earlier. He knew not to disturb his past self (if his earlier self saw him, that could cause some problems, nevermind if the still okay Libyans were to see two Docs in two DeLoreans!). Punching in 1:37 AM, the scientist saw the road around him now was clear, so he held his breath and hit the gas, soon reaching 88, within half a mile.
October 26th, 1985.
1:37 AM.
Within a second, the rising sun in the blue, clear sky turned eerily black. It abruptly startled Doc, but luckily he knew right where he was, as he quickly reduced his speed and pulled over to the side of the not-yet-built-up road. In the distance, he heard a pair of fast cars, and, what sounded like gunshots.
Great Scott! To think there's another me in one of those cars. It's a good thing he does not know I'm here, for that could disrupt the continuum. And to think I've gained all this knowledge in two hours just to be watching myself from an alternate angle! Unbelievable.
Looking ahead very intently, he could faintly see a blue light picking up speed and vanishing into the air. Tires screeching diverted his attention away from that as the ugly VW van toppled over into a ditch. He was glad to see them out of commission, but somehow was relieved to hear they weren't killed.
In the otherwise quiet and serene night, Doc slid back into his DeLorean and normally drove past the Libyans' van. If Marty Sr. said they had survived, he gathered they must've gotten medical help in the 'original' timeline without his help, so he didn't mess with this, for fear of his own life, as well as the space-time continuum's!
Now that he had successfully traveled through time and back, he wondered if he should just return home and go to sleep. He would simply check on Marty the next morning. There would be plenty of time to talk. Besides, he knew Marty was a little unhappy since he couldn't go to the lake with Jennifer as planned, so he figured a morning visit might cheer him up. They had both had a long day after all.
A few minutes later, he casually slowed down to pull into the Burger King parking lot on JFK Drive. The fast food place was closed, but a few cars were still in the parking lot, as a couple tired looking employees came out, one of whom was locking the front doors up.
"Hey, it s**ks we didn't even get to watch the end of the World Series, don't you think, Dave?" said a young man of about 20 with a haircut that looked like A Flock of Seagulls combined with a Hair Metal band.
"Yeah! The customers told us the Royals beat the Cardinals, but that ain't the same," replied Marty's 22 year-old brother. "Why does Mr. Smith have to be such a jerk**f, anyway? Nobody's gonna get hurt if we've got one TV on. Oh well, mom would've given me cr*p about it even if I was at home."
"Whoa, if your uncle ain't visiting you guys this weekend, are your parents gonna care if I come over tomorrow?"
"I don't know, Ralph, you and my Dad get along, but you never can know with mom. Hey, you know she still don't want my brother going out with his girlfriend, and he's already 17 for God's sake, not 7! How stupid is that?" retorted David McFly. Just than, he turned around when something got his attention.
"Holy s**t! Doc Brown, when did you get that totally bodacious set of wheels there?"
Clearly unprepared and just wanting to get in and go to bed, he gave the easiest answer. "Dave, is that you? Oh, I suppose I've been a bit busy and forgot to tell you I, um, bought this used the other day with a very low mileage."
Dave, a car enthusiast, noticed something unusual on the dashboard.
"Did the guy before you have that display on the dash? That thing looks like a radar detector with a keypad or somethin'!"
Growing a bit uneasy, he told Marty's brother, "Oh, that's just something the previous owner had. It's just a strange number display, but I haven't seen a reason to dismantle it. It's unique enough, right?"
"You bet it is, Doc. Well, me and Ralph are gonna get going, but take care of the car, maybe I'll see you next time I work."
As Dave and his friend walked to another car to get in, Doc said a casual goodbye as he pulled around the side of his building. Especially seeing how much interest the time circuits were drawing, he was a little uneasy just putting the car out in plain sight, but he no longer had a garage he could easily get to. Stopping alongside his building near the back, he got out and securely locked the car, taking off his white overshirt - still filled with a tool belt and other accessories – and putting it over the time circuits.
Locking up and going into the front door in a typical Hawaiian shirt, he flicked on the light switch near his old jukebox.
"Well, it sure is good to be home," he said out loud. "After my close calls with – What in Edison's name happened here!" he shouted. The amplifier he had let Marty use looked burned out and destroyed, even though it was still standing. The other objects in the room also looked not quite as he had left them this morning. Although they were very neat – some even neater than he remembered, it looked 'cleaned up'.
He recalled telling Marty not to overload the amp this morning on the phone. Knowing his friend's slightly joking tone, he had a feeling Marty might've not been 100% telling the truth this morning. He assumed the incident might've already happened, seeing as he usually practiced on the amp in the morning before school. He knew Marty would be careful with his things, but also knew if the mistake was already made, he might not want to come right out and say it at the time. Earlier in the evening, the scientist was so excited about the time machine that he had simply run in to get the plutonium case and run out, not even remembering his video camera, so he just didn't notice it before.
Slowly walking over toward the living area of the converted garage/house, he shook his head and muttered aloud.
"D*mn! What did that kid do now?"
~~~
Marty McFly walked through the dark, nearly deserted suburban streets in town, carrying his skateboard as he turned right, heading into Lyon Estates at 2 AM. Within just one hour, his life had changed in more ways than he could've imagined in the strangest dreams.
He knew time travel existed. Time travel for crying out loud! I wonder if I could go back to last week and get the winning lottery numbers, some of the guys are old enough to play he thought, but stopped himself before the idea could continue.
It looks like Doc got away from those b*st*rds, but I hope it stays that way. I don't know what he got himself into with those terrorists, just hope you know what you're doin', Doc! If you made it to 2010, I wonder what you know about me. I guess I'll find out soon enough.
As he quietly started to make his way up the driveway, he realized for the moment, that all he wanted was to get back in bed for a nice rest, and praying his mom didn't notice him gone and give him h*ll upon returning. That rarely happened. He had successfully snuck out in the night many times before to meet up with Jennifer, Doc, friends from school or anything under the sun.
When he was 13, however, Lorraine had been up late and heard him sneaking out the window. She caught him before he could get past the driveway. Once they were inside, she'd yelled and berated him enough to frighten a hardened criminal. He'd learned to be careful since than. However, just as the house got within reach, a car came quickly racing into the driveway before almost screeching to a halt.
"Oh, s**t! I've had enough scares for one lifetime tonight, please don't let that be mom!" he said out loud.
"Heya, Ralph, see ya tomorrow, or at least next time I work."
From inside the car, Marty heard a faint, "Cool, Davy, take it easy." After a pause, the guy went, "Oh, hey Marty, what's up?"
Moving a little closer to the car, but keeping quiet, he went, "Yo, Ralph. A lot tonight, now I just gotta make sure mom doesn't notice me comin' back and throw a fit."
Dave's buddy agreed. "Yeah, I bet. See you both," Ralph said as he backed out of the driveway and took off.
"Hey Marty, where'd you go again?" his brother jokingly asked.
"It's a long story, Dave. I just went to go meet Doc at his place, he had to show me something."
"Doc, I just saw him as me & Ralph were leaving work. Did you get to see his tricked out DeLorean he got?"
Marty got a little suspicious and worried, yet he was glad to hear Doc was apparently okay. "Whoa, Dave, what time was this?"
"Oh, couldn't be more than 20 minutes ago. Why, is that close to when you were with him?"
"Well," Marty began, trying to think of something halfway honest to say. He really wasn't up for telling Dave about it, especially not tonight. And, there was no way he'd tell anybody about time travel! "Yeah, sort of. It was more like an hour ago. I've seen the DeLorean, but he had to go in a hurry and I just wondered if this was after that time. Glad to hear he's okay."
Apparently that was explanation enough for Marty's brother. "Yeah, he seemed a little tired, y'know, but he's fine. Now, mom expects me to come how at this hour, so you better sneak in now, than she won't notice any noise as much."
"You're right. I need to get some sleep," he said as Dave went in the front door and he opened the side door to cross the yard to the other side of the house where his bedroom was. As he got there, it slid open with no problem. He slowly put his skateboard, wheels up, on the windowsill and climbed in without incident.
Barely a second later, he crashed onto his bed, more glad than ever to get some sleep.
THE END. TO BE CONINUED WITH A SEQUEL.
