Chapter 3

8:35 PM

Oct 27 1895

Near Rocky Flat California

"Dad, are we there yet?"

"No, Verne. Our arrival will not occur for another thirty minutes. Just be patient a little longer."

Verne sighed. The beginning of the first day of the trip had been interesting, but by the end of the second day, he was dead bored, and sick of sitting in the wagon. "If only we could'a' gone in a coach. Or a train," he complained.

"Verne, for the fifth time: the train doesn't go to Rocky Flat, and a coach wouldn't be any faster, or any more comfortable after two days. Now heed your father and be patient."

Verne sighed loudly and started fidgeting. Jules looked thoughtful.

After a couple of minutes of Verne's fidgeting, Jules had had enough. "Can't you find something to do?"

"Like what?"

"Try looking at things."

"I've already seen ev'rything."

"Have you really?"

"Uh huh."

"No you haven't "

"Have too."

"Have not."

"Have too."

"Boys!"

Jules and Verne turned to their mother.

"Can't you two settle this quietly?"

"Certainly," answered Jules immediately. "Verne, I am thinking of a certain thing I can see. You have to guess what it is."

"Can't ya give me a hint?"

"It begins with 'h'."

"Horse?"

"No."

"House?'

"No."

Verne looked around for more ideas. "Hill?"

"Wrong again."

"Ahhh, hedge?"

"Verne, there is no hedge!"

"Oh. I give up."

"It's the horizon."

"The what?"

"The horizon. That line where the sky and the ground meet."

"Oh, that. But it's too far away."

"It still counts."

"No it doesn't"

"Yes it does."

"Dad!"

"What is it Verne?"

'Jules cheated. He choosed something too far away."

"I think you mean 'chose'," Emmett corrected. "But what about later?"

"Later what?"

"When we get closer to the horizon. The you could see it better."

Jules was about to pipe up and say something, but Emmett shushed him.

"When we get to the new town, can I look at the ho... hor... hozi...?"

"It will be a bit dark, but you can certainly look."

"Okay. Can we play again, Jules?"

"Sure, you pick something now."

"Um, something... beginning with... 'B'."

"Is it only one word?" Jules asked after a little thought.

"Uh huh."

"Barn?"

"Nope."

"Bucket?"

"Nope."

"Breeze?"

"Can't see that."

"Bank?"

"Huh? There's no bank near here."

"I meant like a riverbank."

"Oh. That's not it."

"Branch? On a tree."

"No."

"Bottle?"

"Not that."

"Basket?"

"No."

"Bowl?"

"Nup."

"Bale?"

"No."

"Uh... bird?"

"Nope."

"Bone?"

"There's no bone."

"In that case, I give up. What is it?"

"Brother."

"Oh. You think you're pretty smart, eh?"

"Your turn."

"I am sick of this, Verne."

"But I wanna play."

"Well you cannot, so there."

"Hey!"

"Mom! Jules won't play with me any more!"

"Can't you do something else?" she answered wearily.

"No. I've done everything else."

"Have you tried drawing?"

"Drawin' what?"

"Drawing what you can see."

"Why?"

"Later, you will be able to look back and remember what the journey looked like?"

"Why'd I wanna 'member somthin' boring?"

"Just draw the interesting parts. Or make something up. Here's some pencils and paper."

Verne accepted them and started happily drawing in the fading light.

Twenty minutes later, he had to stop. Not because of the light (a lamp had been lit) but because...

"We're here!" Emmett announced.

"Yay!" shouted Verne, who wanted to get out of the wagon. He look out to see the town. "Uh, why are the lights waaaaaaay over there?"

"Because we're not in the town yet."

"Oh. But I thought we were there."

Jules piped up with part of the answer. "Verne! You're forgetting something."

"Huh?"

"We need to get the time-train."

"Oh. Where is it?"

"Nowhere yet."

"Where?"

"Nowhere."

"Dad! Jules says the train is nowhere!"

"He's right. The train went to the future, so it won't be anywhere until then."

"Oh. When will it be here?"

"Hopefully, it will be here in a minute," his father answered.

"We have to wait again?"

'We can do something while we wait."

"Like what?"

"Can you see the light, over in the west?"

"Yeah."

"Can you see the ground?"

"It's all dark there."

"Can you see where they meet?"

"Yes. Is that the h... horizon?"

"Exactly. Is it any closer that before?"

"Uh... no."

"Quite so, my boy. That's because the earth is round. If you are anywhere on the ground, the horizon looks the same distance away, no matter where you are. It will look different from up on a mountain, though. The horizon is just an illusion: the sky and land do not really meet. They just seem to do so. I could build a model to show..."

Verne looked back at the horizon. He was thoughtful for a few moments, but something interrupted him. Blue flashes of light appeared on the horizon, as distant sonic booms rang out. "It's here!" he announced.

"9 PM exactly. Precisely on schedule." Emmett announced. He took the remote out of his coat and guided the flying train toward them. When it was fairly close, he started the horses toward the town, and steered the train to follow.

"Dad, in what place do you intend to store the train? You cannot just leave it out in the open," Jules asked.

"Indeed not, son. I have bought a shed near our new home, which is a little way out of town. It should do the job adequately."

"You certainly appear to have everything well planned, Dad."

"I have had a couple of years to think about it."

"How come you didn't tell us?" Verne asked in a whiny voice.

"Ah. I wanted to know for certain what was going to happen before I discussed it with you. There's no point in telling you we are going to move, and then not being able to. Why give you something to worry about? Wasn't three weeks of anticipation enough for you?"

"Uh... yeah." Verne only just managed to gather the meaning of that semi-lecture.

"Dad, there is something I wish to say," began Jules.

"If it isn't the fact that your mother is almost asleep, then tell me."

Clara quickly shook herself back awake.

Emmett shivered slightly, due to the bitter wind that had sprung up. He almost wished he had waited for warmer weather. The weather in Hill County was never predictable, but late fall was not the warmest time of the year. At least it wasn't winter yet. Regardless, he was glad that he was out of Hill Valley, which was a dangerous place where the time-space continuum was concerned.

Jules stated his question. "Did you ever think that it might be simpler to make the time machine travel to another point in space as well as time? That would remove the necessity of flying so far during the night. I assume you would like to avoid sending the time-machine for a night's journey on it's own again."

"You have a good point there. Which is why I have been working on such a system for the past two years. That is another reason as to why we didn't move away as soon as we returned from 1985. And speaking of moving: here we are."