Chapter 8

Emmett's mind raced. From Bess' earlier mention that Marty had not known her before his trip back to 1955, and her mention of her father, he suddenly realised that Bess was the daughter of Biff Tannen. "Great Scott!"

"Yeah, I reacted like that when I woke up to find I had a girlfriend who was the daughter of the guy who had just beat me up for helping him drive into manure. And my Doc said he wasn't too happy when I told him about meeting Bess, although I don't remember that. It's pretty funny when you think about it."

"I suppose it is, although it is not particularly humourous at this moment."

"So where am I in your reality?" asked Bess again.

Emmett thought for a moment. "I believe that you live on the other side of Hill Valley with your mother and older brother, most of the time."

"Most of the time? What about my dad?"

"In my reality your parents are divorced. I assume that didn't happen in this reality."

Bess looked stricken. "No, they aren't. At least I do exist though."

Emmett detected a deeper meaning in those last words. "Is that supposed to mean something?" he asked gently.

Bess looked down. Marty gave her a sympathetic look and said, "In the reality I came from before I messed stuff up with my parents and Biff, Biff's wife divorced him before Bess was born. Only her brother existed. In this reality, they stayed married."

Emmett understood. "In my reality, they stayed married long enough for Bess to be born, but split eventually. I suppose that is because my Marty did not actually get into a physical fight with Biff, but merely knocked him into manure again. Also the loss of the sports almanac would have unfavourably changed his behaviour."

Bess shuddered. "I don't know whether I want to end up like that."

"But you won't know the difference. The only people who will ever remember this reality are myself and my family."

"Either that, or you and your family get erased," added Marty, trying to help. "I don't want that to happen, but I'm not big on the idea of losing Bess. And you still don't know how to fix anything."

"In my reality you have Jennifer. She was your friend both before and after you adventure in 1955. The absence of Jennifer in this timeline seems to be the main thing affecting our travels in time. However, I have no idea what caused her non-existence."

"Could be something either you or your family did in the past couple of days, in the past?" offered Marty. "If you'd messed up any earlier, you would've noticed sooner."

"Point taken. When I first saw the photograph fading, only the top of our heads were fading. The catch is, we had just moved away from Hill Valley."

"So? That doesn't stop you from changing Hill Valley," Marty pointed out.

"You are quite correct. l have to ask my family exactly what they have done in the day we just left."

Bess had been quietly thinking all this time. "Couldn't you simply make Marty get a clock-tower flyer? That ought to fix the problem."

Emmett shook his head, sending his white hair flapping in several directions. "Not necessarily. The only reason Marty kept the flyer with him and remembered he had it was that Jennifer had written a note on the back. Additionally, Jennifer's actions in 2015 were instrumental in Biff's borrowing of the time machine. And just as importantly, even if fixing the presence of the flyer caused us to go to the future and Biff was still able to give his younger self the almanac, it is still extremely possible that the absence of this Marty's extra fight with Biff, combined with the effects of losing the almanac, would lead to the marriage breakdown which eventually occurred in my reality."

Marty tried to make sense of that observation. Finally he said, "Are you saying that Bess would end up on the other side of town, and I would be without any girlfriend?"

"Effectively. It would be best to go to the root of the problem. Which I shall do post-haste. Goodbye Marty, Bess."

"See ya, Doc."

Bess just nodded sadly. Then she sighed. "I'd better get home. I don't feel like piano just now."

"Yeah." Marty gave a big yawn. "It's a bit late for music. I'd say I'll see you tomorrow, but that might not happen."

Bess did not answer. She just walked away with a tear in her eye. Time travel could be painful.

10:13 PM

Nov 8 1985

Hill Valley California

Emmett arrived back at the train, having taken a detour through the Peabody Mall, as it was known in this reality. He had taken a photograph, both for future reference (even if that be in the past), and to show Clara, whom he had notified he was returning.

He opened the door, clambered in, and sat down.

"Did you find the problem?" asked Clara who looked like she had been sleeping.

"Partially. I know that the absence of Jennifer is a major factor here, but I cannot tell what we did to cause that absence." He waved the photograph in front of his wife. "This is one of the side effects."

Clara took the photo so she could look at it without her husband continuing to shake it up and down. "What happened to the other pine?"

"Apparently I ran over it when I went to 1955 to get Marty, since he was unable to use the lightning, due to Jennifer not existing to give him the 'Save the Clock-tower" flyer. I dismantled the time travel components immediately after the trip."

"Which means you never came to 1885."

"Precisely."

"So how can you fix the problem?"

Emmett sighed. "I really don't know yet. I cannot pinpoint any specific action that could cause this to happen. Do you have any ideas?"

"Not really. I stayed in the house most of the day, and did not interact much with anyone. Jules went to the grocer, though."

"True. I did intend to wake the boys, so I'll do it now." Emmett gently shook Jules awake, and Clara woke Verne.

"Are we there yet?" asked Verne sleepily.

"Yes, we're here," Clara answered. "Your father wants to ask you some questions."

"What questions are those?" inquired Jules.

"I am wondering if there was anything you did today..." Emmett consulted one of his watches, "or rather 90 years ago, which could have affected history."

Verne shook his head of unruly hair. "I didn't do nothing, except help Mom and draw my picture."

Jules looked uneasy, and Emmett noticed. "Do you have something to say Jules?"

"Uh, remember how I mentioned a girl named Annabelle?"

"Yes, you did. Go on," prompted Clara.

"This guy named Stewart was bullying her, trying to get her to do his homework. I made him stop it."

Emmett nodded to himself. "That could be our problem. How exactly did you stop him?"

"I gave him a taste of the vegetable basket, full force. It did not agree with his constitution."

"Really Jules, you shouldn't start off in a new town by getting into fights," rebuked his mother.

"I wasn't fighting, I was defending a girl."

"Did you ever think that history was originally supposed to proceed without any intervention on your part?"

"I failed to consider that in the heat of the moment, and besides, I thought we moved to Rocky Flat to get away from that issue."

"Indeed we did, but it seems not to have helped. In this reality, it seems that the problem is that Jennifer Parker does not exist."

"Are you referring to the female acquaintance of Marty McFly?"

Verne snorted. "Her name's Jennifer, of course she's female."

Emmett gave a small grin at this humour, and answered, "Yes, that is whom I am talking about. Her absence from the timeline has caused many other digressions, which I will not discuss right now. The main problem is how we can fix it. Do you remember what you said to this Stewart character?"

Jules strained his memory. "I believe my exact words were, 'Now don't you bully Annabelle, or anyone in this town ever again. If I see you so much as lay a finger on her...'."

"So you effectively prevented him from bullying anyone again. That could easily have major ramifications on future, or rather, past, events. I would say that you have to restore Stewart's bullying behaviour to restore the time line."

"How would I achieve that?"

"Simple: let him beat you."

Jules saw several problems with that idea. "But I would meet my past self."

"No, I mean you must fight him again tomorrow, the tomorrow of 90 years ago, that is."

"Oh," Jules said, a scared look in his eyes. "That could be painful."

Clara also looked disturbed. "I don't think that's safe or wise."

"It is a sight better than being erased. All you need to do is to let him think he is winning and run away. That should allow you to fix the time line without getting hurt. But if you have to choose between successfully fixing the problem and not getting hurt, choose the first."

Jules yawned. "In that case I'll go back to sleep, safe in the knowledge that I might get beaten up by a bully who lives miles away 90 years ago." He plopped down onto the floor and quickly fell asleep.

Verne shrugged. "I guess I will too. Wake me up when we're home."

Emmett sighed. "If only we could all do that. Great Scott!"

"What is it, Emmett dear?" Clara asked in a worried voice.

"I can set the autopilot to take us home, and then we can all sleep on the way."

"A wonderful idea," said Clara with relief.

2:00 AM

Oct 29 1895

Somewhere between Hill Valley California and Rocky Flat California

"WrrrrrrrrrrDzzzzzzzzzzzBvvvvvvvvvvVVVVVV BOOM!! Boom! Bzzzip!"

Emmett was roused from his slumber by the unearthly sounds of the flying steam locomotive achieving temporal displacement. He checked all the readouts and gauges until he was satisfied with his family' safety. After assuring himself, he went back to sleep.

Just over an hour later, Clara was disturbed from her sleep by an alarm. She opened her eyes to see an alarm clock ringing and the autopilot display announcing that the trip was complete, in bright red scrolling text.

"Emmett, could you shut that off?" she asked after putting up with the ringing. "Emmett?"

Jules poked his head up. "Where is Dad?"

Clara looked worried. "I don't know. I can't see him. Emmett?"

"He is not here," said Jules after looking around the interior of the train. "Maybe he went outside."

Clara shook her head. "We're still flying. He couldn't have gone unless..." her eyes widened with fear.

"Unless what, Mom?"

"Where is the folder of photographs?" she asked, speaking a little jerkily due to the fact that was breathing in short gasps.

"Here it is." Jules handed her the folder.

She drew out the photograph of Emmett and Marty in front of the clock. They were completely erased. "No!"

"What is it Mom?"

"Yeah, what happened?" asked Verne who had woken up.

"Your father... has been erased. We must fix the... timeline as soon as we can. Otherwise, we also will be erased."

"So what actions should we perform?" Jules asked a little skittishly.

Clara thought for a moment. She checked a few clocks and displays against her watch and checked a couple more photographs from the folder. Finally she said, "We do not have enough time. We need to go forward a few hours so you can fix the problem in time."

"Do you know how to do that?" asked Jules, a little uncertainly.

"I'll have to figure it out. We're going forward to 7 o'clock."

"Won't people be able to see us, and hear us?"

"Not if we stay a little way out of town. However, that will mean you must walk into town, which will take a while."

"Is there a reason why we cannot go home now while it is still dark?"

"Yes. If we did that, we would need to wait for several hours, and I think that may be too long."

"You're the mom, Mom. I think I know how to change the time setting." Jules started hitting keys until the right time was shown, and then corrected it to show the right day and time again. "I think that should be correct."

Clara searched through the displays. "I think we need new fuel for the.. fusion generator. Do you remember where to fill it?"

Jules didn't, but he knew how to find out. "Verne, do you know where the fusion-generator filling port is located?"

"Huh?"

"Where does Dad put garbage into the Mr. Fusion thing?"

"Um, I think it's in the tender somewhere."

"Wonderful. I'll go and fill it up with whatever variety of herbaceous matter is freely available in the vicinity."

"Can't ya just stick plants in?"

Jules didn't get a chance to answer, because Clara quickly cut in, saying, " We must land first."

"Oh. It would be somewhat detrimental to our mission were I to venture out of this vehicle whilst it is still hovering at such a dangerous height."

"Yeah, that and it would be bad if you tried walking out of the train while we're still up here and you fell all the way down to the ground. Maybe I could put that in the next part of my comic."

"That's all very nice," Clara replied hurriedly, "but we need to figure out how to land."

Jules forgot the nasty comment he was concocting for Verne's benefit, and turned his attention to the control panel. After a quick glance, he pointed at a rectangular purple button, which read, 'Auto-Land'.

"That looks like the right button," agreed Clara. "Push it."

Jules pressed the button and the locomotive began to descend. Verne looked out the window and cried, "We're headin' for a tree! Turn to the... uh, the left."

Jules nudged the control lever to the left a little way, and, after analysing the train's response, he shoved it a bit further.

"We're missin' it now."

"Good work boys," their mother complimented as the train softly touched the barren earth. "I'm fairly certain this should open the door." She pressed a button on Emmett's remote she had found on the floor, and was rewarded by the whirring of a motor.

Jules clambered out and dashed back to the tender. He opened several hatches and doors before finding the filling chute. He noticed a dead rabbit, which had been stunned by the hover-jets, and dropped it in, following it with a rather unhealthy chocolate bar which he had removed from Verne's candy stash. He started to stuff the crumpled wrapper into his pocket, but thought better of it and dropped the evidence into the chute as well. He secured the screw-on cap, closed the hatch, and climbed back into the cab.

"We can now proceed," he announced grandly.

"Great. Can we go now?" asked Verne.

"Yessssss!" Jules hissed in an aggravated voice.

"Really Jules, you needn't get mad. If you spoke in a way which he could understand, he wouldn't need to ask you."

"That's his fault, not mine."

"Jules, you're the oldest, and you should be more responsible and caring towards your younger brother. You can't expect him to know everything you do."

Jules nodded, the stubborn look in his eyes receding like fog warmed by the sunbeams that were his mother's reasoning voice. "We can now proceed. That means the same as go, Verne."

"Okay. D'you know how to make us fly again Mom?"

"I'm pretty sure it's these controls," she said, pointing at an array of levers and some buttons. "The display says the hover systems are still engaged, so I think we can just pull the UP lever and it should fly."

"Sounds correct to me," affirmed Jules.

Clara pulled the lever, and let the train rise into the air. After it was high enough in the sky, she pulled the UP lever back to the middle and opened the forward throttle, and blasted forwards.

"Woah!" called Verne from where he had landed on the floor.

"Hold onto something, or it'll happen again," admonished Jules.

The train continued to accelerate until it reached a steady 75 miles per hour. Clara gave the lever a bit more of a push, and the train accelerated to 78, 81, 83, 85, 86, 87, 88, accompanied by whirring and electrical popping sounds. Boom! Boom! Ziiiiip!" The train and remaining Brown family were blasted into the morning.