Chapter 3- OUTATIME

DJ continued to ride through the empty streets. All the chipmunk could hear were the rustling of leaves and a faint horn of a distant train. The cool late night wind stroke his hair as he saw the Bagdasarian Mall in the distance. He then glanced over to the lit up sign by the road. It had a digital clock that read 1:15 am. "Good, I'm right on time" DJ thought to himself as he stopped by the sign and looked down to the parking lot. Like the streets it was completely empty, except for lone white truck with a grey cat right next to it. DJ recognized the feline, who began to lick himself. It was his uncle Simon's cat, Schrödinger.

DJ started to make his way towards Schrödinger as he ran through some thoughts. Why did Simon asked him to come here at a time where every store was closed and not a soul awake? DJ finally reach the grey cat as he got off his one-wheeler. He left his backpack next to the truck and then bent down to pet the cat "Hey Schrödinger! Where's uncle Simon?". The feline purred at the young chipmunk's touch and rubbed himself against his legs. Despite not being the most affectionate, Schrödinger was quite fond of DJ. He noticed that a digital clock has been wrapped around the cat's neck.

But then all of the sudden the backdoor of the white truck began to lower as white smoke escaped, counselling what layer inside. After the smoke cleared up a bit, DJ could see red and white lights shine within. The door finally reached the ground as a grey vehicle backed out. DJ couldn't believe what he saw, it was a model X Tesla. But the strangest part was that it was covered in all sorts of little machines and doodads that the young chipmunk couldn't recognized. On the back and front of the Tesla was blue neon lights. The hood had a strange contraption on it with a yellow opening. And on the trunk was a Californian licence plate that read "OUTATIME". The left falcon wing door flew open as the car blew even more strange smoke. A blue figure climbed out of the Tesla.

It was an adult male chipmunk with messy hair and round glasses. He wore a white lab coat, a blue collar shirt with a black tie, and brown pants. He was quite tall, well for a chipmunk at least. "Uncle Simon!" DJ greeted as he approached the scientist.

Simon turned around at took the pen out of his mouth "DJ, You made it". He then placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder "Welcome to my latest experiment. It's the big one. The one I've been waiting for all my life!".

"Wow, uncle SI!" DJ cheered "That's a Tesla, right? What are you going to do with…?".

But the teen was soon interrupted by the scientist, who placed down his pen and clipboard. "Listen, DJ. All of your questions will be answered. We need to start now. Take your phone out and start recording!".

The young chipmunk did as he was told as His uncle leaned against the car and faced the camera (DJ is holding his phone on it's side because he knows how to record a video). "Hello, this is Dr. Simon Seville, we're standing at the Bagdasarian Mall parking lot. It's Saturday morning, June 13th, 2020. It is now about 1:18 am" Simon explained as he looked down at his watch "and this is temporal experiment number 1". He then knelt down and started to pat the driver's seat "Come here, Schrödinger! Here kitty kitty!". Schrödinger then jumped up onto the driver's seat. "Alight, now to put your seatbelt on" Simon then facened his cat to the seat, and surprisingly he didn't seem to mind. DJ's uncle then took out another similar watch to the one wrapped around the feline's neck as DJ himself knelt down to position the shot. "Please note that Schrödinger's watch is in precise synchronization with my watch" Simon said, and to prove his point, he showed the watches to the camera and they both turned to 1:19.

"Got it, uncle Doc" assured DJ.

Simon nodded his head and then he reached over to the passenger's seat and took out what looked like a remote control with a very long antenna. He then patted his cat's head, "Have a good trip, Schrödinger!".

The doctor then shut the door, leaving his pet inside, and stood back up straight. DJ looked down at the controller "Is that thing hooked up to the car?".

The doctor just kept his focus on the Tesla "watch this". DJ nodded and then pointed his camera to the car. Simon pushed up on his controller and the car drove down to the other side of the parking lot. DJ turned to his uncle as he tried to piece together what the brainiac was planning. "Don't look at me, look at the car!" Simon yelled. DJ jolted his phone back to the Tesla. The vehicle reached the other end of the parking lot and Simon made it do a sharp 180 degree turn. The lab coat wearing chipmunk then pulled his nephew's arm and position themselves directly facing the car. "If my calculations are correct," Simon continued "when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, your going to see some serious shit".

He then flicked the red switch on his controller and slowly pushed up on the left stick as The Tesla started to rev up as the speedometer on the controller rose higher and higher. Scared that the car was going to hit him, DJ tried to shift out of the way, but his uncle caught him and gestured him to stay put. The bespectacled chipmunk then flicked the red switch again and the car started to speed towards them. DJ was for sure that the car was going to run them over, and tried to get out of the way but Simon stopped him again. "Watch this, watch this!" the scientist said excitedly. The Tesla started to spark and light up, and when the speedometer hit 88, it made a loud BOOM. All of a sudden it made a blinding flash. A trail of fire ran under the two chipmunks feet as they turned around, trying to find where the car had gone, but in was nowhere in sight. It had disappeared! All there was left of the Tesla was the licence plate, which was spinning on the ground before toppling over.

At that moment the science loving chipmunk's face lit up in colors "What did I tell you?! 88 MILES PER HOUR! The temporal displacement occurred at exactly 1:20 am and 0 seconds!". The adult chipmunk started to jump around like a little kid while the actual kid looked around in immense confusion.

DJ have no freaking idea what just happened. The teen then tried to pick up the license plate but dropped it as soon as he felt how hot it was. "Jesus Christ, Uncle Simon" DJ looked in horror "you disintegrated Schrödinger".

"Calm down, DJ. I didn't disintegrate anything. In fact Schrödinger and the car's molecular structure are still entirely intact!". Simon then took out a notepad and pen and started to write notes down as he walked up to the heavily confused teen.

DJ could not understand what his joyful uncle was saying "Then where the hell are they?!".

"The appropriate question is "when the hell are they?". You see, Schrödinger has just become the world's first time traveler! I sent him into the future!". The scientist then enthusiastically pointed his finger to the direction the car disappeared "One minute into the future to be exact. And at precisely 1:21 am and 0 seconds, we shall catch up with him and the time machine!".

DJ turned his head to his uncle when he said that last part. "Wait a minute, wait a minute, uncle Simon… Are you telling me that you built a time machine… out of a Tesla?".

Simon chuckled at DJ's question "The way I see it, if you are going to build a time machine into a car ,why not have a green thumb? Besides, electric cars are better suited for the flux dispersal…". The bespectacled stopped talking once he heard alarm on his digital clock go off. "Look out!" he yelled as he pushed DJ out of the way. A loud flash occurred where the Tesla disappeared as it reappeared. It spun out out before coming to a full stop.

The car was covered in ice, but other than that it seemed the same as it was before. The two chipmunks stared at each other, but no words were spoken. Simon then slowly approached the car and tried to open the driver's door, but then he quickly pulled his hand back in slight pain. "Is it hot?" asked the teen.

"No it's cold, damn cold" the scientist answered. The doctor then used his foot to open it and inside the Tesla was none other than Schrödinger. The cat had curled up in the driver's seat and closed his eyes. The bespectacled chipmunk chuckled once more "Just became the first living being to travel through time and of course he was asleep when it happened". Simon then shook his cat awake and he got up and stretched, seemingly unfazed from what transpired. Simon then took at look at Schrödinger's clock and compared it to his "Schrödinger's clock is exactly one minute behind mine!". As evidence, when Simon's clock turned 1:22 as Schrödinger's clock turned to 1:21.

Simon patted his pet to get off the seat as the feline scurried over to the truck. "He's alright" DJ muttered, feeling quite relieved.

"That's right DJ!" Simon responded "In fact he is completely unaware of what just happened. To him, the trip was instantaneous. That's why his watch is exactly one minute behind mine: He skipped that moment to instantly arrived at this moment in time!".

The young chipmunk was still a little confused, but by this point his uncle certainly delivered his promise of an intriguing experiment, "Wow, Uncle Si, you weren't kidding when you said this experiment was going to knock my socks off!".

"I'm glad to hear that. Come here, I'll show you how it works!" the adult chipmunk beckoned.

DJ excitedly followed his uncle to the vehicle. Simon then sat down on the driver's seat. "You see the touch screen?" the older chipmunk asked as he pointed to the built in gps/radio touchscreen. The younger chipmunk promptly nodded. "I have modified it so you can pick your destination in both time and space. You heard of gps? Let me introduce you to tps". He then pushed the button to turn it on. The screen displayed two options, one labeled "space", and the other "time". The scientist then touched his finger on "time". The screen then displayed 3 different times and dates. The top one was labeled "DESTINATION TIME". "This one tells you when you're going" explained the doctor. It currently read JUN 13 2020 1:21 am. The middle one was labeled "PRESENT TIME". It read JUN 13 2020 1:22 am, a.k.a the current time. "This one is pretty self explanatory, it's pretty much a normal clock" Simon added. And the bottom one was labeled "LAST TIME DEPARTED". "Lastly this one tells you when you'd been" the lab-coated chipmunk concluded. It read JUN 13 2020 1:20 am, the exact time the Tesla disappeared. "Any point of time is only a few presses away!" Simon remarked. He then tapped on the destination time and a keypad appeared on screen. The left side showed the 12 months of the year, the middle add your typical keypad format that you see on telephones, and the right had 3 choices of "AM", "PM", and "EXIT". "Let's say you wanted to watch the moon landing live" Simon then entered JUL 20 1969. "Or the coronation of Queen Elizabeth I". He next entered NOV 17 1558. "We could celebrate my 500th birthday!". The doctor then typed in APR 14 2475. "We could even party like it's 2999!". He then typed in JAN 01 2999. After thinking up some possible dates that the time machine could take them, one particular date hit his brain. "Here's a red letter date in the history of science!" Simon announced as he typed in another date "July 14th, 1990…". Said date displayed on the screen as Simon paused.

The doctor had to think for a moment what the significance of the date was. "Of course, July 14th, 1990!".

DJ looked at his uncle confused "I don't get it, what happened on that date?".

"Why it's the day I invented time travel" Simon answered.

DJ scratched his head his head "I thought you invented time travel today?".

His uncle shook his head "No, today I invented the time machine. I invented time travel itself when I was your age".

The teen nodded his head, though to be honest he only half understood what Simon was talking about "Wait, you were my age when you invented time travel? How come I haven't heard of this before?".

The scientist face then turned red "Well to be honest, how it happened was pretty embarrassing. I haven't told anyone about this. I remember vividly that I was in the bathroom back at Dave's old house. It must've been about 7 am because I was an early bird". Simon then typed in the time into the destination date. "And I was…" the doctor coughed before continuing "singing along to the "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips on the radio while I showered. I got way into the performance and I slipped and banged my head on the sink".

DJ winced "Ooo, that gotta hurt".

"It did, but at that moment a revelation formed, a picture in my head, a picture of this!". Simon then turned around and pointed to the strange contraption at the back of the car. It was shaped like a Y and was lit up with electricity as it was concealed behind glass "This makes time travel possible. The Flux Capacitor".

"The Flux Capacitor" DJ repeated as he looked in bewilderment, pointing the camera at the invention.

"It took nearly 30 years, but now my idea has been realized!" Simon marked. His eyes then widen "Wow has it really been that long?".

The older chipmunk stood up and looked around "It certainly has been a long time. I remember that it took years to build this mall. There were always construction here and the city kept holding cash for them to continue. Me and your father used to joke that we would have children before they finished building the mall. But they actually finished only shortly after I thought up the Flux Capacitor. Our band even got to perform at its grand opening".

DJ had forgotten that Simon himself was a famous rockstar along with his father. In fact all of his uncles and aunts were. Of course his parents were the stars, but their siblings were pretty beloved in their own right as well. The teen then remembered what he overheard from his dad earlier and wanted to ask his uncle a question "This may be a random question, but do you ever miss performing, Uncle Simon?".

The scientist seemed to be taken by surprise by his nephew's question. He then thought for a bit before answering "I do sometimes. Though science has always been my main passion, I enjoyed being in a band with my brothers. I especially enjoyed it whenever we got to perform with the girls". When Simon said "girls", DJ assumed he meant his mom and her sisters, who were The Chipettes. And that reminded him of a particular favor he was doing for one of his aunts.

"Oh, that reminds me!" DJ interjected "I got something for you". Simon looked curiously his nephew walked over to his backpack and took out a big green book. "Here's the 100th anniversary issue of West Eastman High. Auntie Jeanette wanted me to give this to you".

DJ then handed the book to Simon, who for some reason got pretty flustered. "Th...This is from J..Jeanette?" the scientist stammered.

"Yeah, she remembers how much you enjoyed high school and thought you would enjoy looking at this".

Simon got even more flustered "Wow, she remembered that? We haven't talked in years!".

DJ raised an eyebrow as he heard his uncle, now that he thought about it, he hasn't seen Simon and Jeanette interact in the past 6 years. "How come you two stopped talking, uncle Si? Weren't you like best friends?". He heard stories how much Simon and Jeanette hung out because they were both quote "the nerds" of his parent's friend group.

"Yeah, we were" Simon answered, "Though we didn't do what best friends typically did, we always enjoyed each other's company. She was the only person I could talk to about science and math and history and theories… I guess we both been busy…"

DJ wasn't buying his uncle's explanation. If you asked him, he thought Simon feels more towards Jeanette than he let on. "Why don't you go see her?" the teen asked.

The doctor jumped and nearly dropped the book out of his hands "Oh, I don't know. Isn't she busy?" the scientist reflected.

"Uncle Si," DJ said, raising his eyebrow "she's a school librarian and it's the first day of summer vacation. I think she has a pretty wide schedule.".

The bespectacled chipmunk shifted his eyes to the left "Maybe I'll visit her tomorrow. Besides, I'm not done discussing the experiment". Simon then placed the book on the passenger's seat of the Tesla.

The scientist then started to make his way to the truck. "Whatever you say" DJ said to himself "So does the time machine run on the car battery?" the teen asked, trying to change the subject.

"Unfortunately, no" answered Simon "it requires something with a little more kick, plutonium".

"Plutonium?" DJ muttered "Wait, you're telling me this sucker's nuclear?".

Simon turned around "Keep rolling, keep rolling!".

DJ was so caught up in the whole time travel business that he forgot he was supposed to be recording. "I'll just start a new video," he added, and he did just that.

"Like I was saying" Simon continued "I need plutonium, or a nuclear reaction, to produce the 1.21 gigawatts I need to activate the Flux Capacitor".

"Uncle Simon, you don't just walk into a store and buy plutonium. Did you rip that off?". Simon began to look nervous again but then sighed "Yes… I got it off some Russian gangsters in exchange for a mind control device. And let me tell you I haven't made such a thing".

"Jesus, Uncle Si" DJ muttered.

"Oh, don't worry. I gave them a false identity. Here put this haz suit on". Simon then passed DJ a hazard suit from the truck. He then grabbed one himself.

After they put their suits on, the scientist came out with a yellow case with a hazard sign on it. He then released the laches and inside there were containers of plutonium. Simon then took one out and made his way to the Tesla while DJ kept recording. He then put the container in the yellow opening on the hood and it sucked in the plutonium "Okay, it's safe now. This baby is ready to roll". The chipmunks then removed their masks.

Before Simon could realize, his nephew plopped down in the passenger's seat with his backpack in hand. DJ noticed that he was sitting on the green book and placed it in his bag "Alright uncle Si, where are we going first!". "Woah, woah, woah!" Simon stammered "You're not going anywhere".

The young chipmunk looked up to him in disappointment "You mean you're not going to take me on an adventure through time?". His uncle sighed as he gestured his nephew to get out of the car "Sorry DJ, but it's too dangerous. Don't you know about the butterfly effect?". The teen shook his head. "Well it means that if you change even the smallest thing in the past, it could change the future in unpredictable ways. Plus, don't you think you should get permission from your parents first?".

DJ crossed his arms in annoyance "Knowing my dad, he probably ban me from traveling through time for all time".

Simon could see how upset DJ was getting and started to feel a bit sympathetic. "How about this, DJ" he responded "I figure out the kinks of what it means to be a time traveler and I'll travel back to this time, and maybe I'll take you on a little adventure".

"Really!" DJ asked as his face lit up.

"Sure," his uncle responded as he gave DJ a smile "Plus it doesn't really make a difference as no time will past for you at all. Alright now get the camera ready". DJ did as he was told as Simon faced the camera.

"Hello, this is Dr. Simon Seville again. And I'm about to embark on my journey to 25 years in the future…" he then paused when he remembered something really important "What am I thinking? One tank, one trip. Without the plutonium I'll be stranded in a different time". Simon was about to grab another container of plutonium when he noticed a black van driving towards them. "They found me" the scientist whispered "I don't know how but they found me. DJ, RUN!".

DJ stopped recording once he heard gunfire, he then turned to the van "What, who is it?".

"Who do you think?!" Simon yelled as he ran to the truck as protection "It's the Russians!". A gangster then popped out from the side of the van and started to shoot towards the chipmunks with a machine gun.

DJ hid behind the Tesla as Simon went to the truck and brought out a revolver. He aimed it at the Russian gangsters tried to fire his gun, but looked in horror as he realized he forgot to load it. The van stopped right in front of the scientist and the gangster with the machine gun had him point blank. Simon threw the revolver and put his hands up to surrender. The gangster with the gun just shook his head "No one double crosses the Smirnov family". He then fired at the defenseless chipmunk. Simon then fell to the ground lifeless.

"NOOOO!" DJ screamed as he watched his uncle get shot down "YOU BASTARDS!".

He then got the attention of the machine gun wielding criminal "No witnesses!". He then started to fire at DJ. The young chipmunk jumped into the Tesla and started to drive away. Though he doesn't have his driver's license yet, he did get his learner's permit. "GET THAT RAT!" the gangster yelled to the driver.

The black van was now on DJ's tail as he tried to shake them off by turning left and right. He then pressed harder on the gas and the car moved faster. He looked down to the speedometer and saw he was going 70 mph. The gangster were ganging up on him so the chipmunk decided to press on the gas even harder "Let's see these scumbags do 90". But then the car started to spark, and make a lot of noise. And before DJ could even react, there was a blinding flash and a loud BOOM.

OOO, what happened? JK, y'all probably seen the movie. Do you think I copied the parking lot scene a bit too much? I think I did to be honest. Oh, well. BTW, if you were wondering why I chose to make the car a Tesla, it specifically because it has the falcon wing doors like the Delorean. I'm not going to reveal too much about the next chapter, but it looks like DJ is getting the adventure he asked for. But not the kind he wanted.