Chapter 14

"You actually said that?" Marty asked, incredulous.

Bess nodded sheepishly. "We Tannens aren't the most tactful people in Earth."

Marty laughed.

"As I was saying..."

"Hang the narrative!" Marty exclaimed unexpectedly. "It's definitely interesting and even funny at times, but it isn't helping us solve this mess one bit."

The other occupants of the room stared at Marty for a moment. Finally Emmett spoke up. "You are quite correct, Marty. We were too wrapped up in the tale to notice that it was not helping. We need to focus on the main problem."

"Which is my disappearance," Marty clarified. "Maybe the girls could tell us if they found out anything more about that."

Bess nodded. "As soon as the boom gate went up and the cars cleared, it went down again and Doc's time-train appeared, frightening us out of our skins, but relieving us as well. For a minute we were sure Doc and Marty were lost forever."

"So did you look for me again?" Marty asked impatiently.

"Doc already had, and he hadn't found anything new, and that it was really difficult and dangerous to search without disturbing history," Catherine said sadly.

"So you just gave up on me?"

"Doc said he was working on an invention to help us find you, but he hasn't finished it, and I don't know what it is," Catherine explained. "For the last few weeks, we've allowed the rumour that Marty was kidnapped by the Libyans go around, to buy us time."

Marty suddenly remembered something strange had happened a little earlier, but he couldn't quite remember what it was. He decided to leave that thought and try to get a handle on what had gone wrong instead. "So, uh, where did this whole problem start? I mean, what caused what?"

"Good question Marty," Bess encouraged.

"Maybe you're starting to think fourth-dimensionally," Emmett suggested.

"Hey, I've had plenty of experience. But I didn't really say anything useful yet,"

"It's a start. Now, let's think. We only travelled to 1980, which could not have caused Catherine's existence. Thus we must have changed something in Marty's behaviour, which caused him to affect his parents in a different way, which in turn caused them to have twins instead of only Marty. The appearance of Catherine would have then had further effects, but they must not have altered anything significantly. Additionally, the presence of Bess instead of Jennifer may have either arisen initially, or due to Catherine's existence."

"Hey, that's pretty heavy Doc, as Marty would say," Bess commented. "But it doesn't explain how it all started."

Marty started to look a little uncomfortable. "Uh, I did happen to run into myself back in 1980."

"You did? Why did you not mention this sooner?" Emmett demanded.

"Hey, I only just got here a while ago and I've been wrapped up in the story ever since."

"What exactly happened?"

"Well, I remembered that Needles was going to dare me to tow behind a car - on my skateboard - and I wouldn't have done it, so he's been teasing me ever since. So I encouraged myself to do it."

"Marty!"

"Okay Doc, I'll admit that I was being about as stupid as when I bought that almanac. But I didn't mean to run into myself, and I'd already started talking to me before I really thought about it. I figure that shows I'm not really much good at thinking fourth-dimensionally."

"Quite true," the inventor agreed sternly. "Preventing Needles from calling you 'chicken' could change the course of our previous trips quite drastically. For instance, if you hadn't allowed Biff's taunts to bother you, I wouldn't have needed to have pulled that stunt airlifting you out of that tunnel, I wouldn't have been flying around in the thunderstorm, the DeLorean wouldn't have been hit by lightning, and I would never have been sent back to 1885."

Marty mused over these words. "I think I get that. But how did that change my first trip to 1955, and cause Catherine and Bess to end up here?"

The girls in question had been quite interested in what Marty and his friend were talking about, and would have liked to ask numerous questions. Fortunately, they managed to hold their tongues until now. Catherine spoke, but not to ask for any explanations on long past time trips.

"Would the day in 1980 you went to happen to be that windy day, April Fourth?"

"That's the one," Marty affirmed helpfully. "Why?"

"That was the day you had that big accident."

"What big accident was that?" the inventor asked, his interest snagged. "Remember we don't remember the new timeline."

"Well, Marty came off his skateboard, towing behind a car," Catherine began.

Marty groaned. "Man, I sure messed things up this time. How bad was it?"

"You were in a coma for a week, and couldn't remember much for another fortnight. Your memory eventually came back, but you never remembered that day, and the specialists warned us that further concussion could cause serious, long-term memory loss. That's why we were acting like we were when you first showed up."

"Bad!" Marty squeaked.

Bess had her own comments to add. "I saw the whole thing, and I felt so sorry, and so mad at Needles, who I'd kinda liked a little, that I never spoke to him again and tried to help you recover by being friendly. We've been friends ever since."

"Uh, interesting. Say, maybe the problems with my memory caused trouble when I hit my head when I pushed Dad out of the way of Grandpa's car," Marty suggested.

"Marty! You are thinking fourth-dimensionally!"

"Really? Thanks, Doc. So did that help?"

"But Dad did get hit by Grandpa's car! That's how he met Mom!" Catherine protested.

"What? That's what happened before I ever travelled back in time. How could being whacked on the head in 1980 stop me from accidentally trying to save Dad in 1955? And why would Catherine be born, and why did I vanish?" Marty questioned in quick succession. "It doesn't make sense!"

"Hmm, no, not really, but it is definitely a starting point," the scientist agreed optimistically.

Marty tried to find a useful question. "Catherine, did Mom or Dad ever mention the name Calvin Klein?"

"Of course! That's Dad's name, idiot!" Catherine said in a corrective tone.

"S-say that again?" Marty stuttered in a disbelieving voice.

"Calvin Klein is our father, I'm Catherine Klein, and you're Marty Klein," she explained.

Marty's eyes widened and his face paled, "This is heavy," he whispered, before slumping his head to his knees.

"Did I sad something wrong?" Catherine asked, innocent but worried.

"No, you said nothing wrong at all. In fact, you may well have explained the whole situation," Emmett answered. "Clara, do you... oh, where did Clara go?"

The girls looked around the room to find that Clara had definitely left the room.

"She must be checking on the boys," her husband reasoned. "Never mind."

"How did Catherine explain everything?" Bess wondered.

"As I remember Marty's first trip, he prevented his father from being hit by his grandfather's car, but was hit himself, knocking him unconscious. He, and my past self, then had to spent the week trying to redirect his mother's affections onto his father, rather than himself. The catch is, his mother took to calling him Calvin Klein. If that bump to his head really did erase his memory, it's no wonder we couldn't find him. In fact, from what you told me, I wouldn't be surprised if he had been unconscious for several days."

Catherine looked thoughtful. "Are you saying that Marty is my - and his - father?"

"Precisely."

"Oh boy..." Catherine mumbled softly.

Bess had an objection. "But... wouldn't he have had identification saying who he really was?"

Catherine swallowed uncomfortably. "I had his wallet with me, remember?"

"Ah yes, you did say that. I believe we know enough about the situation to attempt a repair. Simply preventing young Marty from giving in to Needles and hence from attempting skateboarding so dangerously should restore the continuum."

"Does that mean I won't exist, and Bess..." Catherine asked uncomfortably.

"I am afraid so, but if we fail to fix the problem, this Marty," he indicated the motionless teen, "will be erased from existence."

"He will?" Catherine asked.

Bess laughed. "He already figured that out; that's why we're here. I had to help him escape, though."

"That's it!" Marty exclaimed, his head popping up, but not looking any less unhappy. "I knew something strange had happened, but I couldn't remember after all the storytelling. When I left, I heard my dad calling for me, but his voice seemed all wrong." He groaned. "That was my voice. I've had some strange adventures with you, Doc, but this... beats all."

"I need to tell Clara we're going, and then we can leave."

"We who?" Bess asked.

"Marty and I. No one else is needed, and less time travellers mean less problems. Besides, Jules is hurt."

"And I haven't been feeling so well lately," Clara added, appearing in the doorway. "I was hoping the picnic would help, but the confusion hasn't helped anything, so I would prefer to give further trips a miss today. Did you discover the problem, or are you going back to find that out?"

"We have it all sorted out, dear. I'll explain it later. Girls, you should really be going, since you don't really belong here."

"Hey Doc, what about my truck? We left it at my house, so how do I get home?"

Emmett considered the question. "It should return here when we restore history," he finally decided.

"But why was my truck here when we returned from 1980?" Marty argued.

"We kept it hidden ever since he went missing, since he took it to the mall. We stashed it in your new garage after you moved in," Catherine explained.

"A happy coincidence. We'll we had better say our goodbyes and be off. It was certainly a pleasure to meed you, Catherine and Bess, despite the, er, circumstances. Is that the telephone I hear?"

It was indeed, so Emmett ran off to answer it, leaving the three teens to look at on another uncertainly.

Finally Marty spoke up. "Well, eh, I guess what I mean is..." He sighed and began again. "Catherine, it's been nice knowing you and I wish I had a sister like you. But I don't think Doc would allow a change like that. I'm just... sorry."

"Hey, it isn't your fault. Don't you worry about it. I won't: I can't worry about it, since I won't be around."

"Doesn't it scare you that you... won't exist any more?"

Catherine hesitated. "I'd rather not think about that too much. So I'll just say goodbye, Marty... Dad."

Marty rolled his eyes. "I'd rather not think about that either: that'll probably drive me crazy. Goodbye Bess. Thanks for helping me out; you've been a good friend. I'll remember that, even though you won't."

"Hey, we thought you were the one with memory problems," Bess laughed. She was about to give Marty another hug, when Emmett stuck his head around the corner.

"Marty, that was you on the phone."

Marty coughed.

"He asked if you three were here, and I said you weren't. So we'd better leave to make it true."

Everyone laughed at the inventor's sneakiness, and Marty started to head out the door.

Catherine suddenly called, "Doc, I've got something for you, to help you know when the problem is fixed." She ran up to him, pulled open her wallet, and pressed a photograph into his large hand.

"What is it, Doc? A picture of me and my, uh... siblings?" Marty asked, stumbling a little when he realised that all three of his siblings were also his kids, as well as aunts and an uncle.

"No, it's a wedding photo of..."

"Then don't show me, I don't wanna see," he said hurriedly. Then he changed the subject, saying innocently, "Catherine, that's a nice wallet you have."

"Don't even start!" she shot back.

"Hey, what did I say?"

Bess giggled. "Never mind. You'd better make like a hoverboard and get out of here."

"Huh?" Marty shrugged and followed the senior time traveller out to the barn.

"Marty, you close the door after I'm out," Emmett called from the already-hovering train.

"Check, Doc," Marty answered, fairly cheerfully considering the circumstances. He shoved the doors closed, and swung up into the cab.

"Right, we don't need to go back as early, since we don't need to have lunch again. Also, we should avoid flying near our picnic area, and it would be favourable to reduce the walking distance."

"Sound's good, Doc, but how do we fix the problem without stopping ourselves from knowing about it?"

"Whoa there, Future Boy, you're starting to sound like you know what you're talking about. I don't know for certain if it is necessary, but just to be safe, we'll drop a note off, in the time between leaving and returning of out first trip today, to tell us to fix the problem and write the note."

"Uh, I think I understand: we'll tell our past selves to do what we're about to do to make sure we do it, right?"

"Precisely. Prepare for temporal displacement: we're at our departure point and are moving at 85 miles per hour."

"Holding tight, Doc," Marty answered, remembering that transition while flying in the train was a good deal rougher than transition while driving the DeLorean, ignoring any surprises on re-entry. "This had better work," he added.

12:45 pmApril 4 1980
Hill Valley, California

After the bright and noisy effects of traversing the fourth dimension had waned, Marty asked, "So Doc, how should I go about fixing this?"

"There are two possibilities I see: one is to meet your younger self before he enters the store, and delay him long enough that he and your... earlier self do not meet, or even see one another. Any interaction between you and your earlier self would be disastrous. Also, your younger self must not see both his older selves together, or in different places within too short a space of time."

"And the other way?"

"Talk yourself out of towing after talking yourself into it. This isn't such a good idea, as your younger self may be confused by your change of mind, and it requires greater interaction with your younger self. You would need to take great care to avoid making the problem worse. If you want to try the first way, you better get going right away. If you don't make it, try the second method, and if you mess that up, well go back with enough time to try the first way."

"Got it." Marty snapped up a radio from the floor and jumped out onto the grassy ground. "You read me Doc?" he asked in a rush after vanishing into the trees.

"I hear you, Marty."

"Great, I've just hit the street. Y'know, it would have been smart to change clothes first."

"Too late to think of that now," Emmett transmitted back.

"I'm nearly there, so I'll stick this baby in my pocket for a while."

"Roger that."

Marty stuffed the device into his pocket, averting his eyes from the path ahead.

"Oof!" He suddenly found himself sprawled on the floor with a man, a woman, and a cloud of papers spread around him.

"Er, sorry... I gotta run!" He kicked up his heels and made haste towards the music store.

He ran up to the front of the door, just in time to see himself, younger by five years, step inside. "Doc, are you there? I got here just a few seconds too late. Switching to plan B," he said into the radio.

"Understood," came back the reply.

Marty paced anxiously in front of the door, hearing snatches of conversation. He cringed as he heard Mr Phillips say, "Say, would you be related to the Kleins?"

He suddenly realised it was a bad idea to walk around so close to the entrance. His earlier self would be coming out of the store soon, before his significantly younger self would appear. He scooted over to a bench and picked up a paper to read, upside down. He realised his error after receiving a disapproving glance from a policeman on patrol.

"Oops, the outer cover is backwards," he covered, flipping the pages around. The cop gave a careless shrug and walked on.

Marty sighed relief, and then ducked behind the paper as the door opened, jingling the bell. He stayed as still as an ice statue at the north pole until he heard the footsteps move a safe distance away. Then he poked his head up and watched himself walk away

"I've heard of 'watching your back', but this is crazy," he muttered as he waited for the other him. Finally the door jingled open again to let the kid leave. "Here I go again," he said under his breath as he stood.

"Hey, you're still here," the twelve-year-old proclaimed upon spotting him.

"Yeah, I need to talk to you again."

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"Ye... no, listen. Forget what I said about skateboarding. You're just a kid and shouldn't be doing something that dangerous. I'd feel terrible if anything happened to you because of what I said earlier, okay?"

Young Marty shrugged. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers. Who are you, anyway? What do you care about whether I skateboard or not? What makes you think Doug will even ask me?"

"Er... you'll understand when you're older."

"Oh yeah? That's what everyone tells me. Now tell me who you are or I'll leave."

"I never realised I was such a pain," Marty mused. "Me? I'm Ma... Ca... Clin... er..." he struggled to find a suitable name.

"In that case, don't tell me anything, I know you're lying." And with that, the pre-teen ran off.

"Oh boy, this is not good," Marty declared. He fished out his radio. "Doc, Doc, you hear me?" He waited for an answer. "Hey Doc! Marty to Doc!" He shook his head in frustration, and ran after himself.

Spotting a cluster of youths near and on a bench, he skirted around them and then edged closer to listen. Among them, he quickly recognised himself, Trevor from the Pinheads, and Bess. There was no sign of Needles yet. Oddly enough, Trevor was the only one with a skateboard.

"Man, we sure looked young," Marty said aloud, but quietly. "Amazing how things change over the years. Hey, who's that?"

A short, skinny, redheaded boy skateboarded up to the group. "Hi Marty, here's your skateboard back," the boy shouted with a wide grin.

"Thanks, Neil," the young Marty answered.

The observing Marty suddenly remembered. Neil had been one of his best friends when he was younger, but he had moved east only a few months in the future. He hadn't thought about Neil for a couple of years, and certainly did not remember lending him his skateboard.

"Say, does anyone know if Doug'll be here?" young Marty asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Sure, why do you ask?" young Bess replied.

"Oh, no reason. Hey, here he is now." He pointed toward an approaching cyclist.

Doug squealed to a stop, jumping down to the pavement with a flourish, as if to announce his arrival.

"Hi Doug, nice bike," said Bess with an interested tone. "Is it new?"

"Yeah, it's the one I've been saving up for. Cool, huh?"

"It looks great," said Neil approvingly.

"Hey, skateboards are better than bikes," argued young Marty, giving his older self chills as he remembered saying that very thing.

"Nah, you can go so much faster on a bike, bikes have pedals. It's much harder to push yourself along on a skateboard," Needles argued.

"So? With a bike, you can't tow behind cars," Marty retorted with a lot more intent than his older self remembered.

"Marty's right, I've seen some big kids do that," Trevor agreed. He noticed the force of Marty's voice. "You wouldn't be thinking of trying something like that, would you?"

"Sure I would," Marty shot back.

The observing Marty cleared his throat, and shook his head.

His younger self ignored him. "I would, and no one's gonna stop me. He dropped hid board over the curb, waited a second for a slow-moving car to reach him, pushed forward, and grabbed on.

The other Marty gasped. He couldn't stand and watch this happen. Before he knew it, he had grabbed Trevor's board and manoeuvred himself behind the next car. "Thanks, Trevor. I'll give it back in a minute," he called back as the car sped up, dragging him away.

"Who is that?" Trevor asked, staring after the familiar stranger.

"I dunno, but I'm following him," Needles answered, swinging onto his bike in hot pursuit.