Chapter 3

Thursday, February 19th, 1987

Hill Valley VD

5:57 P.M.

Doc Emmett Brown whistled happily to himself as he returned to his hometown, just a few minutes after he'd left it to visit Seattle in 1993. His new TDL invention worked perfectly. Sure, there had been some surprisingly rough turbulence as he entered the time period, but he doubted that was from the car. He had probably just hit a pocket of high wind or something. After all, he had come home fine. I can't wait to tell Clara and the boys the news! Maybe now we can see about that family vacation to Germany.

As he neared home, however, Emmett suddenly got an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. His intuition was informing him something was not right. In fact, whatever that something was, it was as far from right as you could get. He frowned to himself. What could it be? Then he saw it.

His house was abandoned.

Emmett was stunned. He circled it a few times, just to make sure. The roof had fallen partway in, the windows were broken, the garage where he worked was nothing more than a rickety shack, and the grass was tall enough to make a good bushel of hay. There could be no doubt. No one was living - or could live - in this place.

Worried thoughts raced through Emmett's mind. Great Scott! What in the name of Sir Isaac H. Newton happened to my house! There's no trace of Clara, Jules, or Verne! Did I do something to upset the balance of the space-time continuum? How could I? I went into the future! For five minutes, no less! Where could they have gone? He held his head. Think clearly, Emmett. You need a plan. You need to find Marty. He'll help me find out what's gone wrong. He landed and swung the car around, heading for the Town Square and Lyon Estates.

After about twenty minutes, he turned onto J.F.K. Drive, where his house had once been. As he drove by, he took a quick glance at the gift shop that had replaced it. What he saw shocked him so much he nearly slammed on his brakes.

His garage/house was still next to the Burger King. Not a sign of "Gifts-N-Things" at all. Not only that, he could also see someone moving around inside!

He pulled to the side of the road, attracting some honks. First, he checked that he was seeing what he thought he saw. Maybe he had been distracted and only thought he had seen his old house. Nope - still there. He checked the time circuit display system to verify that it was the right year. That was right too - February 19th, 1987, 6:19 P.M.

But it doesn't make sense! he thought, staring at the structure only a few feet away. George and Marty sold my garage when I came home with my family. "Gifts-N-Things" owns the land now. My garage is gone. Or, it was gone.

Emmett started at it for a while more, then decided to investigate. At least his old home was familiar territory to him. He drove back across the street and parked in the Burger King lot that bled into his land. The door, he discovered, was unlocked, allowing him to stick his head in. The place did look like his garage, but it was - neater. It had a woman's touch. "Hello?"

A woman he'd never seen before got up from his bed. She was thin, with long black hair and icy blue eyes. She was attired in an absolutely beautiful white dress with red embroidery. Emmett vaguely thought she was pretty, but the sight of a woman in his house had awakened more feelings of concern for Clara.

The mystery woman crossed her arms and scowled at him. "Five minutes, huh? And now you're trying to sneak in the front door." Her scowl turned into a playful grin. "You're a very bad boy, Dr. Brown. I think I know how to get you. You shouldn't tell your weakness to a woman, honey."

HONEY! "I - uh-"

"So how did it work, anyway?"

"It?"

"You know, the T - D-"

She stopped suddenly, her loving look replaced by a confused one. She motioned him inside. Emmett obeyed, reluctantly. She walked right up to him - and sniffed him. Fright took the place of the confusion. She hurriedly stepped back and grabbed a heavy flask sitting nearby. "Okay, what's the deal? Who are you!"

"Last time I checked, Dr. Emmett L. Brown."

"Not the last time I checked," the woman growled, waving the flask in a threatening manner. Emmett held up his hands in surrender. "I know you're not him. What have you done with Emmett?"

Before Emmett could answer, there was a crash in the garage. Marty McFly exploded through the door, out of breath, his face dead white. Following him closely was a worried-looking Jennifer Parker. For some reason, Marty was wearing the shirt and pants of a tux, while Jennifer was in what appeared to be a bridesmaid's dress. The woman stared at them, momentarily forgetting her visitor. "Marty! What's wrong?"

"It's gone, Myst. It's gone. I can't feel him anymore," Marty said in a strangled whisper. "One minute, everything was normal, the next - I was alone. Mystie, what happened to him!"

"He's right there in the door," Jennifer said, looking at Emmett in bafflement.

"That's not Emmett," Mystie said, once again making threatening moves with the flask. Emmett kept his hands up. "His smell's wrong - well, it's right, but it's wrong too - and his clothes are different. Where's my Emmett?"

"Yeah, who are you?" Marty demanded,

"A very confused time traveler who was merely trying to test an invention," Emmett said quickly. "May I ask who you are, Miss ?"

"My name's Mysteria Brown, nee Jones. Now where's Emmett?"

"I don't know!" Emmett snapped. "I have a few questions of my own - such as why are you and my garage here? As far as I know, you and I have never met, and this garage was torn down to make way for a gift shop!"

Mystie, Marty, and Jennifer all shared a glance. "Oo-kay," Mystie said, sniffing him again. "You say you're a time traveler testing an invention. What sort of invention?"

"The Temporal Displacement Locator - TDL for short. All I did was go to Seattle in 1993."

Mysteria lowered the flask a little. "That's what Emmett was testing," she admitted softly. "And that's where he said he was going. But - you're not him. I know my husband."

Emmett's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Husband!"

"Yes. Didn't you hear me? I said my name was Mysteria Brown."

Emmett shook his head. "That's not right. I'm already married. I have a wife and two kids. Clara, Jules and Verne," he said firmly.

Jennifer couldn't hold back a smile. "Well, I believe those would be your kids, but they're certainly not here."

Emmett felt his eyes begin to tear up. "My - my family's gone? My house, my wife, my kids. . . . Damn it, where am I? This can't be Hill Valley!"

Mysteria relented with the flask. It was pretty obvious that he wasn't going to hurt any of them. "Sit down. Maybe we can figure this out together."

He sat down. "I noticed this place is neater than I remembered it," he muttered.

"I've been living here with - you," Mystie explained as everyone pulled up a chair. Emmett noticed Marty kept looking at him, then down at his heart. "I knew I shouldn't have let him take the time machine! I didn't want anything like this to happen today!"

Emmett looked at everyone's clothes. "Are you renewing your vows today?"

"Actually, they just got married," Jennifer said, holding Marty's hand.

"Married? Great Scott!"

"Relax, it's after the ceremony," Mystie said. "My Emmett convinced me to let him test the TDL before we went on our honeymoon."

Emmett groaned. "Oh no. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. You couldn't have known he would disappear." Mystie stared at him. "Jesus, this is weird. I'm used to encountering future or past versions of you - not ones of the same age."

"Tell me about it," Emmett agreed, looking around the garage/house again. "I didn't think I'd ever see this place again. It's like I've landed in a whole other world. An alternate reality."

He blinked suddenly, looking quite thoughtful. "Alternate reality," he repeated slowly. "Yes, that might explain it. Like the 1985-A we created with the sports almanac. A time-line change of some sort. Although. . . ." He turned to Marty, who was massaging the flesh above his heart. "Marty, let's cut right to the chase. Did you or did you not go to 1955 by accident after I demonstrated my DeLorean time machine to you?"

Marty nodded. "Yeah. I ended up changing the way my parents met and made them better parents for it."

"All right. Did you or did you not buy Gray's Sports Almanac when I took you and Jennifer to the future?"

Marty looked puzzled at this. "Uh, no. Jennifer wanted to buy it, but I convinced her that it would be a bad idea."

Emmett frowned. "That's not right. According my memories, Jennifer should have been unconscious in an alley. You bought the almanac alone via thumb credit."

Marty and Jennifer looked at each other. "Unconscious in an alley?" Jennifer repeated. "Why would that be?"

"Are we talking about the same trip here?" Marty added.

"Didn't I take you two to the future the morning after you got back from 1955?"

Marty and Jennifer both shook their heads. "Nope. You - he didn't even come back until the 27th. We went to the future on my birthday last year. It was his present to me - along with a kicking new guitar."

Emmett's spirits sank. "Then my hypothesis is correct. By testing my invention, I somehow passed into a whole new reality. But how? The TDL is only designed to bring you to different places, not different worlds!" He furrowed his brow. "Another short circuit in the design? Or maybe this was just a random event. Maybe I found a hole in the fabric of the space-time continuum." He suddenly looked back at Marty, concerned. "Were you in an accident on the 27th?"

"I was going to be, but my Doc warned me off it. Why, was yours?"

"No. I was just wondering - because it was through our adventures together that my Marty avoided it. How did he warn you off it?"

"It was kinda silly, really. He just told me not to drag-race Needles, saying that if I did, I'd regret it. I couldn't pry anything else about my future out of him." He blushed. "Which resulted in me thinking I was going to die if I got into that stupid drag race, so I faked Needles out. Doc told me later I would have just smashed my hand up, but. . . ."

Emmett stared at him a moment, then got up and banged his head into the wall. "Whoa, what are you doing!" Mysteria cried, getting up and pulling him away. Emmett was stunned at the strength he could feel in her arms. "Stop that!"

"Yeah, that's kinda disconcerting," Marty agreed, also getting to his feet.

"Sorry, but I feel like a complete idiot now! That's all it took, huh? Withholding enough of your future so you'd frighten yourself into not doing it. Damn, how could I have been so blind. . . ."

"What did you do?" Jennifer asked, now curious.

"Honestly? Sort of panicked. Did your Dr. Brown tell you about how your life was going downhill?" Marty nodded, making a face. "Well, my plan was to sort of shock you by letting you see it firsthand, while simultaneously saving your son from a jail sentence. He was going to be bullied into a robbery by Griff Tannen on the same day you lost your job. After you'd rescued Marty Junior and realized what a mess you were in, I was going to give you your way out." He blushed at Jennifer. "I didn't factor in your presence when I came and picked Marty up. I ended up knocking you unconscious and leaving you in an alley, thinking you'd be safe. I was a complete idiot, I admit that," he rushed to add, seeing Jennifer turn red with anger. "You were found by the cops, and one thing led to another until I was stuck in the Old West. I ended marrying a woman I met there, Clara, and we had two sons, Jules and Verne. I built a second time machine and returned to the present in 1986."

"Wow, sounds like quite a trip," Mysteria said, stunned.

"It was. Understandably, Marty and I are avoiding most time travel at the moment." He leaned against the wall. "How did I meet you?"

"At a Halloween party hosted by some friends. It was love at first sight. We got engaged in December of 1985. But - well, we've had some nasty experiences with Biff and his gang, so we had to put off the wedding."

"He didn't steal your time machine, did he?" Emmett asked, feeling a sick lurch in his stomach as he remembered Hell Valley.

"Well, no, but a colleague of yours managed to build one, and he got his paws on that. We managed to stop him from destroying the space-time continuum." She sighed deeply. "Thank God he's out of the picture. He died during our last tangle."

"Sounds like you've had a number of adventures yourself." Emmett paced a moment, then sighed. "I haven't a clue how I could have altered the time-line to create this world. Maybe when your Dr. Brown gets back, he can help us figure this out."

"I certainly hope so," Mystie said, looking worried. "I'd like to know what happened to him. My Emmett promised to be back in five minutes. That's why I was scowling at you before. Now that this has happened. . .I'm getting kind of worried."

"Me too," Marty said, his hand sliding up to his heart again. "I just know something's happened to our Doc. I can feel it."

Jennifer suddenly had a very nasty thought. "Oh boy. I think I know what happened to our Doc." Everyone turned to look at her, eager for answers. "I'm not too sure on the whole science of it, but - This Doc ended up in our world after testing the TDL. Our Doc was testing the same thing, at the same place. What if, our Doc is in his world?"