AUTHOR'S NOTE: Those of you in the know please forgive me if I'm slightly off at times here onward with established FOTN dialogue, as I haven't seen it enough yet to know it line for line. Moving right along:
It was the most incredible thing Marty had ever seen, even passing his first view of the DeLorean going through time. Looming before them was a gigantic metallic spaceship that looked like a silver brain of sorts, heavily secured to the floor with enumerable chains. "This is heavy," he exclaimed.
"Heavy?" Johnny-5's sensors whirled, "Indeed. Approximate weight, 7.6 tons."
Everyone stared strangely at the robot. Amy came rushing in. "I can't get the truck started, so we'll have to..." she started to say, but quickly slipped into silence as she noticed the spaceship. "What's that?" she asked, looking almost frightened that something bad was about happen.
"Spaceship, UFO, flying saucer, extraterrestrial craft," Johnny-5 over informed her.
"Oh well," Amy shrugged, "guess we won't be needing the truck anymore."
"Indeed," Doc examined the craft more closely. "The external shell of this vessel is made of a hypolithiatic dipolymer the likes of which are not native to the known Milky Way," he breathed excitedly, "This comes from areas of space for beyond where we humans could ever possibly hope to go for at least the next two hundred and fifty years."
"So the big question, Dr. Brown, now what do we do?" Newton inquired.
"It wants me," David said before Doc could come up with an idea. The boy walked slowly toward the craft, and then, to the amazement of everyone, part of one side of the spaceship mutated off and formed into a set stepping-stone steps leading into the craft. "Amazing," Doc gasped, "There is indeed a telepathic link between them!"
"So I guess we go in?" Marty asked.
"It appears the best option," Doc said, "and we may be able to see how it operates and how the time circuits work."
David was already climbing slowly up the stairs toward the ship, which were apparently solid. Marty shrugged and climbed up after him. He glanced in amazement at the stainless steel interior of the spacecraft. "Amazing," he commented, "Do you remember this, Dave?"
"No," David said rather emphatically, "I told you, it was all in an instant from where I was concerned."
"This is truly remarkable," Doc breathed as he examined the spacecraft, "Millions of years of searching the heavens wasn't all for naught."
"Oh yeah, but where's the crew and the controls?" Marty implored, "I don't think they just up and left."
"The main controls must be somewhere in the..." Doc started to say, but he stopped and gasped in amazement as a metallic chair rose from nowhere out of the floor right behind where David was standing. "Great Scott!" he gasped, "They've been expecting him!"
"What are you talking...?" David turned and noticed the chair. It was at that moment that Marty noticed movement from the very front of the craft. What had appeared to be an ordinary ball in the middle opened to reveal a glowing ball of light of some kind. But if that was starling enough, everybody in the ship jumped and even screamed in shock when it started saying something out loud in some alien dialect. They all stared in shock at it as it went on, Wayne dropping the crate carrying his shrinking machine in surprise. "Uh, live long and prosper?" Marty said hesitantly, flashing the Vulcan signal at it.
"I wasn't addressing you, life form," it said in perfect English, "I was addressing the Navigator." It then turned to David and said, "Sit down."
"Excuse me, are you the being that has brought David to this point in time?" Doc inquired, walking up toward it.
"Affirmative," the alien said, "But I have little time for discussion. I must recover my star charts and return to Phaelon."
"Good and well, but I must tell you that by taking David here out of his time period you have caused a serious rift in the space-time continuum!" Doc informed it, "So if it's at all possible I would like to send him back to 1978 if you'll give us access to your time facilities. The longer we stay here the more..."
"Request star charts," the alien droned on, ignoring Doc completely.
"Wait a minute, did you plant all that stuff in my head!?" David spoke up.
"Yes," the alien said. It abruptly zoomed out of the wall, revealing it was connected to the ceiling by a long shaft, almost like a periscope. "You are the Navigator," it thundered grandly, settling inches from David's face. Marty whistled at this sudden turn of events. "This is even heavier," he commented.
"Whoa!" Johnny-5, who'd just managed to climb up the robot-unfriendly steps with help from his third arm, wheeled across the floor toward the alien. "Brother, relative, kin, relation," he exclaimed, patting it on the "neck" with one arm.
"Your actions are confusing, metal one," the alien told it.
"No, no, Johnny-5, it's not related to you," Newton said, tapping his creation on the shoulder, "I would know if it was." He gave the alien a strange look. "What planet are you from?" he asked, amazed.
"Phaelon," the alien said, "Now if you beings of the Navigator's party would assist with the star charts, all would be well."
"Uh, pal, let me get this straight; you took David forward in time and left your navigating equipment in his brain?" Marty asked, "That was kind of dumb."
"I do not do dumb," the alien said, "Time is wasting."
"Well Doc," Marty asided to his friend, "I think this guy is more in your realm..."
July 18, 1986
5:46 a.m.
Biff wolfed down the huge stack of pancakes he'd ordered for breakfast. "So," he asked Faraday across from him on the table, "How long've you been here?"
"Thirty-one years," Faraday said, more interested in his waffles and thus not looking directly at Biff.
"Dr. Catledge got you your position in the research lab?"
"Yes. He's been almost like a second father to me. Kept faith in me when no one else would," Faraday admitted, "He was very kind to cover up the Alpha Centuri failure to the press."
"I've heard a lot about that around here," Biff said, swigging coffee, "What exactly went wrong there?"
"Mr. Tannen, that is strictly classified information," Faraday said sternly.
"Sorry," Biff shrugged. "So, will we be going to this planet Phaelon once we figure out how the thing works?" he pressed on.
"That will depend," Faraday said, beginning to look frustrated at Biff's nonstop line of questioning, "If we can come up with a way of getting there as quickly as David did without the side effect of being gone as long as he's been, we will try to..."
Just then, alarms sounded and red lights started flashing all through the cafeteria. "Oh God, not a security breach now!" Faraday groaned, putting his hands to his face, "Let's go, quick; I hope it's not anywhere near David or the ship!"
The two of them ran for the exit. Gately and Marner, freshly in for the day, met them right in the hall. "Nothing major, I hope!?" Gately asked, looking rather worried.
"Same here," Faraday breathed to him. He hailed the nearest security officer. "What is it?" he asked.
"Breach in Hangar B-6," the officer told him, "Colonel Scroeder will bring you up to speed."
"Mr. Scroeder, lock down the facility," Faraday ordered the security chief as he also came running into view.
"Already done, Doctor," Scroeder told him. "Let's go, people, get those vehicles moving!" he yelled into his walkie-talkie, "Today, people today! Surround the hangar now with everything we've got! Come on, move it, move it, move it!"
"You didn't tell me you hired Scroeder," Marner said to Faraday as they all boarded the nearest NASA car to the hangar.
"Is that important?" Faraday posed.
"Well, we didn't exactly part on the best of terms," Marner admitted, "We'd better make sure he doesn't get too carried away with the situation, like he did the last time we worked together..."
"Navigator, I sense alien presence approaching," the alien unexpectedly announced.
"Damn, they're efficient!" Doc groaned, slapping his hand to his face.
"Let me see," David asked the alien. Almost as if by magic, the front of the spacecraft morphed into a view of the outside. Hundreds of security personnel were pouring into the building, brandishing heavy weaponry. "Those aren't aliens, they're people," he informed it.
"And we're screwed unless we can get out of here," Wayne conceded, "Hey buddy, you've got any plasma evaporators or other defense devices on board this thing?" he asked the alien.
"Negative," the alien told him, "No such armaments on board. This vessel is not equipped for combat, only research."
"Well, that's it, we're dead," Marty shrugged in resignation. The craft was quickly surrounded. "All right, whoever you are, come out of there now or we'll disperse you with extreme prejudice!" Scroeder yelled over a megaphone.
"Boy they're extreme," Nick commented, although he didn't look phased by the fact they were now about to be fired on.
"Yeah," Newton agreed, looking dark, "And I'd recognize that voice anywhere." He stuck his head out of the spaceship door. "Scroeder," he called to the guard.
"Crosby!?" Scroeder was amazed to see him. "What are you doing here!?" they asked each other simultaneously.
"Crosby?" Marner stepped into view, "I don't know what you're doing in here, but if I were you, I'd surrender now and avoid prosecution."
"Howard, listen," Newton told the man, "We have a perfectly good reason to be here."
"Not good enough, Crosby!" Scroeder snapped, "Come out of there now or face our guns! The fact is you're trespassing!"
Stephanie joined her fiancé at the door. "Put your guns away!" she shouted angrily at the guards, "We have kids in here!"
"Oh, Miss Speck, big surprise," Scroeder said sarcastically, "I could have just guessed you'd be in this together with him. If you think kids are going to keep you safe from the courts, you've got another thing coming, like a hail of lead!"
"No!" Johnny-5 zoomed up to the portal, "No disassemble Stephanie and Newton!"
Scroeder dropped his gun on the floor in shock. "It can't be!" he gasped, "I saw it explode with my own eyes!"
"Eyes wrong, incorrect, inaccurate, BOZO!" Johnny-5 taunted him. He lowered his laser just enough to cause the guards to take several large steps backwards. Faraday and the scientists, however, walked forward. "David, is that you back there?" Faraday called in.
David waved half-heartedly to his forced examiner. "Dave, could you come out of there and let us take care of your kidnappers?" Faraday asked him.
"They're not kidnappers!" David protested, "They're here to help!"
"I know they told you they want to help you, but they're lying," Faraday said, "Just come on down and we'll sort everything out."
"Don't do it," Doc whispered, "All they'll have for you here is most tests, the results of which could conceivably be fatal." He strode over to the alien. "Sir, if you have any control over the operation of this vessel, I suggest you start it up and get us all out of here as soon as possible."
The alien ignored him and zipped over to David. "Navigator, I am awaiting your instructions," he told him.
"Uh, why don't we start by closing the door," David suggested, unsure what else to say.
"Compliance," the alien said. Without any warning, the steps outside welded back up into place as part of the ship's side. "That's amazing," Marty said, awed. He pressed against the wall. It was solid as a rock now. "Navigator, do you wish to depart hostile alien environment?" the alien posed David now.
"Yes, do it," the boy told it.
"Compliance," the alien droned again. Instantly Marty heard the sound of something revving up underneath his feet. "Hey Doc, something's happening here," he said, both amazed and nervous.
"Indeed," Doc pressed his ear to the floor, "From what I can ascertain, this craft seems to run on some sort of variation on a proton induction engine or engines. Very convenient for traveling across infinite galaxies."
Outside, the scientists and guards watched in both shock and horror as the spaceship came to life. "Uh oh, this isn't promising," Gately gulped.
"Don't be such a pessimist, Dr. Gately, there's no way they can break those chains," Biff reassured him. His smile vanished, however, as the ship broke the very chains he'd just lauded as if they were simple sticks and drifted toward the hangar door. "Hey, don't go!" he shouted, grabbing hold of a trailing chain, "You're gonna make me millions!" The ship nonetheless kept going, dragging Biff all the way across the floor and slamming him hard into several light towers as it went. Finally, the chain he was holding on to broke off, leaving a dazed Biff staring up at the ceiling while mumbling, "No officer, I didn't get that firecracker's license plate."
"Well, this is all good and well, but the door's probably electronically sealed," Newton pointed out to the alien inside the spaceship as it approached the hangar's main doors, "I'm well familiar with the way institutions like this work."
"Observe," the alien told him. Blue electricity shot from the front of the craft and hit the door. "Wow, power garage opener!" Marty exclaimed as the door slid open, "What other things have you got on this ship?"
"Numerous functions," the alien said as they slipped outside into the rising Floridian sun. The guards and scientists ran out after them. "Blast that thing!" Scroeder yelled over his megaphone to his men.
Marner snatched it off him. "No, don't shoot!" he countered, "We can't risk structural damage to it!"
"Howard, this is no time to get Good Samaritan!" Scroeder shouted at him, "If we get soft here, we'll lose them!"
"If you blow them up, Scroeder, we all lose out on a fortune!" Marner yelled at him, "And I want my retirement to be a good one!"
"You're a wimp Howard, you know that!?" Scroeder grumbled, "OK, we'll try it your way, see what happens. But don't blame me if this backfires on all of us."
Inside the ship, Doc glanced out at the mass of NASA employees gathering at the gate. "They won't let us stand free out here for long," he noted, "Since you seem to be the linchpin of operations, David, I guess the next choice of where we go is yours."
"Indeed, Navigator," the alien added. David shrugged and said, "Well, just get us twenty miles from here, OK?"
"Compliance," the alien said. Doc's expression abruptly fell. "Wait, I think you should specify..." he started to say, but the alien's function abruptly cut him off. Without any warning, Marty found himself being pressed against the spaceship's floor by almost unbearable G-forces that he usually only experienced whenever Hill Valley High had field trips to Magic Mountain—and then much less than now. "Hey Doc, what's going on!?" he demanded to his friend.
"He's taking us twenty miles away, Marty," Doc explained in a long, forced sentence against the pressure, "The long way, that is!" In a split second, the ship came to a complete stop, and Marty was flung hard, along with everyone else, into the vehicle's ceiling. It took him a few seconds to realize he was now partially weightless. Looking out the window, he saw the earth before him far below. "This is heavy," he commented.
"Beautiful beach ball..." Johnny-5 droned, glancing at the planet below.
"No, that's the planet," Stephanie told the robot, glancing over at its vital signs, "That stop didn't hurt you, Johnny-5, did it."
"No pain, big Mama, I'm raring to go," the robot said optimistically, spinning around in a circle to prove its point.
Wayne opened the crate and gave his shrinking machine a thorough look over. "Thank God, it's not broken," he breathed in relief, "If anything happened to this..."
"Uh, Threepio Junior, could you take us back down now," Marty asked the alien, "This is kind of getting a little scary being up here so high."
"Yeah, I didn't mean twenty miles STRAIGHT UP!" David protested to it, "Take us back!"
"Compliance," before anyone could prepare himself or herself, they were shooting straight back down to Earth. Pressed hard against the roof, Marty braced himself for impact. While it didn't come—as they stopped inches off the ground—his collision with the floor was harder than the one he'd had with the ceiling, owing to gravity now being back in effect. He groaned and tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his chest. "That was...well...strange," he admitted out loud.
"That was great," Nick was far more pleased than the others, "We experienced eleven seconds of sustained zero Gs. No one's ever experienced that before. And we got a great look at the exosphere."
"NICK!" his sister gave him a piercing stare. She was far less composed than he, and was sweating all over. "What are you trying to do, kill us!?" she demanded to the alien.
"That was a Third Class maneuver," the alien explained matter-of-factually.
"A Third Class maneuver, huh?" David mused. He asked the alien, "Can you show me a First Class maneuver?"
"Compliance," the alien zipped off to the bow. Marty became aware that the walls seemed to be closing in now. "Now what's happening!?" he asked, not really sure he wanted to know.
"What's happening is I advise we all move to the stern of this vessel if we wish to avoid any further negative G experiences," Doc said, hustling to the back of the now-elongating ship.
"Well you're the doc, Doc," Marty rushed to join him in the rear, followed by the others. He knew they'd done the right thing when, seconds later, they took off at what seemed like the speed of sound. "I hope we've got enough gas under the hood for all this," he said out loud as the swamps zoomed by in a blur.
Outside at the base, the NASA personnel stared in shock after their runaway craft. "Well Howard, they're gone," Scroeder said sarcastically, "I hope you're happy now."
"Okay Scroeder, I guess I got a little too hasty there..." Marner said quickly.
"That's not even the worst of it," Gately said in a low voice, "One of us is going to have to tell Dr. Catledge."
"Wow, that thing went fast," Biff said as he staggered out of the hangar, "I hope we've got a good radar, because it's probably halfway to Timbuktu by now. We should offer a..." he noticed everyone was looking at him with superior glances. "What?" he asked, puzzled, "What did I do?"