Author's Note: Yes, here I am again, uploading a chapter for this story after who knows how long. Anyway, this is the so-called Plutonium World Chapter, and after reading this, I suppose you'll know what that means, even though it might remain unknown to you up until you've read a third of the chapter. Anyway, have fun reading this.
Disclaimer: If I'm not mistaken, I don't own BTTF. I could be wrong, though, but I don't think the Bob's sold it to me.
Chapter Nine
Saturday, April 2, 1988
12:40 P.M.
Hill Valley, California
Marty McFly felt uncertain, as the bus once again moved into a new universe. He really had been at this for a long time. He wondered just what the new universe would bring.
The teenager tried to count for himself what all they had gone through. There had certainly been many universes. First of all, there had been the world in which Marty's future son had been trapped in the 1980s, and had not been able to make it home again up until a week from now. Then, there was the world in which Marty himself had been stuck in the 1950s. Then, there had been the brief visit to the world in which Doc's house was not built, in which they didn't stay long enough to get details on their own personal situation. Then, there was the world in which Doc had not moved back to the future once getting trapped in the past. Also, there had been the world in which Marty had kept the sports almanac but raced Needles. Next was the world where that original trip to 1885 had never happened but everything else was pretty much the same. Also, there was the universe in which Doc had never met Marty. There was the twisted version of the Biff-horrific reality. Finally, there had been the universe in which Marty himself was the inventor and Doc pretty much filled in the assistant role. However his counterpart and Doc's other self were perfectly nice in that world, Marty had felt very much uncomfortable there. The only kind of world in which that could've been worse would've been a world in which Marty himself was a girl, however the teen doubted that such a world would exist, even on these mad hops through inter-dimensional space. However, considering the craziness that they had seen so far, it might very well be possible. Nothing was impossible, after all.
The teenager looked over to his friend, who was also leaning back as the familiar sensation from dimensional travel, which had been so foreign when they had started this trip, so long ago, started to fade and they were set into the new reality. "Hey, Doc?" the teen asked. "Where are we this time?"
To respond, the scientist looked outside – and gasped. "Great Scott!" he exclaimed. "Marty, take a look down there!"
Confused, the teen looked out of the window – and then, he saw it too himself. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed, his eyes focused on the window. "Where are we – did we just land in the middle of a fairy tale?"
As Marty looked outside, it certainly seemed to be that way. While the road was pretty much normal and familiar, the persons on it weren't. There was no single car in sight, but human beings, some pulling a wagon with some stuff on it, and some just running around, were running over the roads. Their speeds were incredibly high, mostly above fifty or even sixty miles an hour. Marty's jaw dropped even more as he noticed that they were glowing up in various colours – some yellow, some blue, some green, and some red. All ran in various directions across the roads, with Marty and Doc gawking at the scene from out of the time bus.
"It very much looks like it" Doc finally managed to bring out. "That we landed in a fairy tale, I mean. This… this is incredible. I've never seen this before. Apparently, we're in some kind of a supernatural world…even I can't imagine a scientific rational explanation for this to exist. It's just too… strange."
"Yeah" Marty said. "At least time travel made somewhat sense. This doesn't, at all." He looked at his friend. "So, what'll we do now? Leave again?"
Doc thought about that for a moment, then shook his head. "No" he said. "If there is a scientific explanation for this, after all, then we might be in a farther advanced world than we are familiar with. In such a world, there might be technology with which to fix the time machine. If there is no scientific explanation, well, then we'll at least have had a good look at a world, which we most likely will never encounter again. This world certainly seems to be very unique."
"Very much, yeah" Marty said. "I don't think that I've ever seen something like this before – not even in comic books, or other works of fiction. And you're right – I am kind of curious." He glanced down the street. "So, where do we try to land? Close to your lab – if it exists in this kind of world?"
"Well," Doc said, trying to think about what they had seen as rational as he could, "it seems to be that we currently are at a road with a lot of traffic. I assume that the most likely reason that no one has spotted us just yet, is that we're high up in the sky, and it would be dangerous, and most likely useless, for one to look up. Also, our engine doesn't make that much noise – as it's been worked on in the Twenty-First Century, in the so-called Fusion era. It is very uncommon to have a noisy engine in the future."
"Another reason for me to wish that I'd live in 2018 and not 1988" Marty said, with a smirk. "Well, fusion wouldn't be invented just yet – but I suppose that you get the idea. Whenever I wanted to visit Jennifer or someone else, and it had to be secretly at nighttimes, I'd have to sneak out and take my skateboard – as my truck would be too noisy." He frowned. "Granted, in the original timeline, I didn't even have that issue to deal with – as I didn't have a truck at all. Also, in that world, I sneaked out far less often, as, seeing that I had a mother who was a lot stricter, I knew that, if I got caught sneaking out, or returning home, then I'd be punished far heavier, than in the new timeline." He scratched the back of his head. "Man, this really is still confusing, after three years. I might've kind of adjusted to it, but I don't think that it'll ever become really normal, to remember two kinds of pasts."
"No, I suppose not" Doc said. "I kind of have those issues as well. Granted, I've never changed my family life – but I can clearly remember a youth with Clayton and Eastwood Ravine, and I can remember not seeing you ever again after November twelfth, 1955, 10:04 PM, up until the day we met in 1975, but I can also remember seeing you again and having to send you back to the Old West because you had concluded from evidence in the library of Hill Valley that you had to go back." He looked at Marty, smirking. "And then there's the timeline that you remember, additionally, in which I got shot to death by Mad Dog Tannen, in which you and I found my tombstone at Boot Hill Cemetery. I'm just glad that I don't remember that. Seeing clear evidence of my own death must've really freaked me out, to speak with your kind of words."
"Oh, it certainly did" Marty said, smirking as he thought back of that day. "You were really stunned and horrified at the same time. And to think that you'd just talked about looking yourself up and why you couldn't… well, it had become necessary, now, whether you'd like it or not."
"Yes, I suppose it had" Doc said, with a sigh. "I'm glad that's erased, though – I'd hate to know the smallest things about my future. Well, even if I'd known, it's all in the past." He smiled for a second, then looked out of the window. "Well, it looks like we're nearing JFK Drive – if it's even called that in this weird reality. I believe it was Tannen Drive in the Hell Valley world."
"Yeah, it might've changed it's name" Marty said. "I can't really see all of this as a reason for president Kennedy not existing, though, but it is possible, I suppose."
"Anything is possible" Doc agreed. He soon had to change his speculations, though, as when he looked out of the window, he could clearly identify the sign still reading 'John F Kennedy Drive'. "But it's not in this world" he concluded. "Things are still the same here."
"Do you think your mansion still stands?" Marty asked. "It did in the last world."
Doc shook his head, chuckling a little. "Marty, no matter how awkward you might have been upon meeting your smarter self, you don't have to automatically associate this world with that one just because for you, they're both strange. I can understand your nervous feelings, but I happen to think that this is weirder than the previous world in many ways! And remember, I should be the one feeling uncomfortable. After all, it was me who was, well, let's just say… not too smart. He wasn't stupid, but he didn't have my IQ... or even yours, for that matter."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right" Marty said. "I can't help but feel awkward, though. Seeing me being that smart is weird. And even you couldn't really understand the language he spoke in sometimes. I mean, I understood 'temporal field warping and displacement machine' just a little, but some of the other things he said… well, I couldn't even pronounce them, so it was almost impossible for me to understand them. There's no way that I could've ever pictured myself as being like him before today, but I guess it's possible. It does freak me out, though."
"More than this world?" Doc said, smiling. "After all, this is not too common of a universe either. Great Scott, I still can't imagine this. You'd expect that after all these universes, I'd be used to all these strange things, but I guess I am not. Not just yet, at least. I wonder whether my other self can explain more about this."
"We'll hear that in a few moments, Doc" Marty said, pointing ahead. "That's your other self's house, and it looks like he's at home."
As Doc looked, he could confirm that, indeed, his counterpart's house still stood, and didn't seem to be in bad condition like it was in the world where his counterpart had never moved back to the present until 2045. For a moment, he wondered whether he might've returned to the world where his other self was married to Susan Clayton and Marty had taken the sports almanac. As he thought that, he immediately abandoned that thought, though. After all, that world hadn't included the human-powered moving thing. No, this would be an entirely different world once more.
He turned to Marty, remembering what his friend had just said, and shook his head. "That's not too certain, Marty" he said. "After all, we don't know whether he's home. He might be out of the place for a while. Going for a drive somewhere… um, a walk, I mean." He shook his head. "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed this world. It's so scientifically impossible."
"Yeah, I think it's weird, too" Marty said. "Guess like these other us-es have quite a story to tell, if they really are what we think they are – the ones that really caused this whole mess. Although, with no fuel problems or other things like that, I doubt you could really call it a 'mess' if it's positive."
"Correct" Doc said. "Still, it's very unusual from our point of view." With that, he landed the bus on the ground in front of his other self's garage, and exited, Marty following. He locked the doors as tight as usual – in this world, the bus could attract even more attention if the locals didn't know what a vehicle was – and started to walk up to the garage door. As he arrived, he paused to look at Marty, who just caught up to him.
"What's the matter?" Marty asked.
"I was just wondering whose turn it should be to knock on the door" Doc said. "Let's see… you did that in the world where Marty Junior lived in the 1980s, and in the world where you were trapped in the 1950s. Then, I was the one to approach the version of me who wasn't settled in the 1980s, and it was my turn again with the me from the world where you had the almanac. Then, I was also there for the world where you never went back to 1955 and altered your parents' history. You were the one to approach the version of me who had never met you as you had never been born. In the Biff-world there wasn't any version of me so that doesn't count. Finally, I was there as well in the world where we just came from. So, the conclusion is that I think that it should be your turn again."
"That's all right with me" Marty said, shrugging. "I just hope that you don't look radically different, though. I mean, that could happen, in such a world – and that might cause me to faint, instead of him."
Doc smirked. "Well, I guess that if I was the one to approach him, we'd both faint, so this is better" he said. "And besides – don't take conclusions until there is enough evidence to do so. For this, there is almost none. If you put your mind to it… well, you know what happens then."
Marty rolled his eyes at his friend's over-use of that phrase, then took a deep breath as Doc hurried away. Trying to focus, the teenager moved over to the door, and rang the door bell.
Moments later, the local Doc arrived at the door. Marty's first reaction was a sigh of relief – he didn't look all too different from the Doc Brown that he knew. Next, though, Emmett frowned. "Marty?" he asked. "Weren't you just with me in the lab area a few minutes ago?"
Marty winced. "Um, that's a confusing situation, Doc" he said, nervously. "I was thirsty, so I had to go and pick up some… um, some Pepsi's."
Emmett frowned. "Some what?"
"Pepsi's" Marty repeated, stunned. "You know – drinks?"
Emmett shook his head. "Never heard of that version before" he said. "How much water is in it?"
Marty frowned. "Water? Why would there be water in it?" Then again, maybe there was water in Pepsi's, but he didn't really know too much about the ingredients of drinks, not even about his favourite.
"Because that's always the case?" Emmett replied, looking at the teenager as if he thought Marty was going insane. "How else could you drink it! I mean…"
Emmett's baffled feelings were interrupted as a familiar looking young man appeared in the doorway. "Hey, Doc, what's taking you so long?" he asked. "I thought we'd…"
His sentence was cut short as he noticed his counterpart. Local Marty's face went white, and for a moment, Visiting Marty – who didn't notice any of those feelings with himself aside from a very faint dizzy feeling that passed after a few seconds – thought his other self was going to faint. That, however, didn't happen. An equally stunned Emmett came to his senses just in time and got a tight grip on Local Marty's hand. "Marty!" he exclaimed. "Don't you dare to faint now!"
Local Marty returned to life. "Well, I think I've got a decent reason" he joked. The teen looked at his other self and shook his head. "What is he – I – doing here?"
"I don't know!" Emmett exclaimed. "I thought he was you! Granted, he said a lot of weird things…" He paused, and looked at Visiting Marty with a frown. "You haven't changed time, have you? Or are you from the future?"
Visiting Marty shook his head. "It's a bit of a complicated story" he muttered. "I think that Doc could tell you better than I can."
Emmett's eyes widened. "You mean… I'm with you?" he stammered, holding on to the wall for support.
Visiting Marty smirked. "You definitely are" he said. "Doc! You can come over here now!"
As Doc came out of his hiding spot and walked towards the front door, Emmett was torn between fainting and staying on his feet. He finally chose the latter, however his face remained rather pale. "Great Scott" he whispered, softly. "You're me!"
Doc and Visiting Marty exchanged glances at the familiar phrase. "It's a complicated story, but for now, it'll suffice if I tell you that no, I'm not" Doc said. "Well, I am, but not from your world."
"Not from our world?" Emmett repeated. "You don't mean you're an extra-terrestrial individual, do you?"
"No, I don't" Doc said. "It's a completely different situation all together, but I'll tell you once we get seated."
Emmett nodded. "All right" he said. "Follow me."
Doc and Visiting Marty walked after the other inventor into the garage, and Marty figured that it looked pretty much similar to how he remembered it. There was the kitchen, there was Doc's bed, there was the amplifier – to his amusement, Marty noticed that it was a new one. Guess I blew it up here too…
As Emmett gestured for them to get seated, both Doc and Marty took a good look at their newest host. Emmett didn't look all too different from Doc, as he had concluded before, but he did look slightly older. Hardly noticeable, but it was true. The teen wondered why that was. Could it be from a lack of rejuvenation? No… then Emmett wouldn't have been so energetic. Granted, Doc had been that way even before getting his rejuve, but after a few days, Marty had noticed some changes, and those were obvious here, too. Still, Emmett looked a slight bit older, and Marty wondered how that came to be.
As he moved his head to study his other self in the same way, Emmett spoke up. "So, as I was wondering before, what are you doing here?"
"We're having a problem with my time machine" Doc said. "I'm not sure if you ever built one, since our worlds seem to be vastly different, but if you have not, I can assure you that they do exist, and I am in possession of one."
"You don't have to worry about that" Emmett replied. "I did build a time travelling device, although to call it a 'machine' sounds a little odd to me. But go on – what is the problem you're having?"
"Well, as I said, it's a long story" Doc said. "In short, it's like this – today, Marty and I went to test the bus…"
"…the what?" Emmett replied, frowning.
"The bus" Doc responded. "I can understand you don't recognise the term, as apparently, in your world, vehicles don't exist at all from what we've observed. In our world, vehicles are constructions with round wheels underneath which are powered by a motorized engine."
Emmett shook his head, astonished. "Sounds rather intriguing" he said. "We do have those things – well, without the motorized engine part, I have no idea what that is – but we rarely use them, as powered running goes faster." He paused, causing Marty to wonder what powered running was – even though he did have some kind of a suspicion. "Anyway, go on with your story. We'll discuss that difference later."
"Right, we will" Doc said, nodding. "As I was saying, we went to test the bus, which is our time machine." Emmett raised an eyebrow at that, and Local Marty was torn between acceptance and disbelief as well. "I had built in a device that would enable us to travel through dimensions, and it worked, as we had two successful trips. However, as we planned to go back home, something malfunctioned within the DFSCUPCIF – the dimensional analogue of the flux capacitor, which is what makes time travel possible – and we were stuck hopping through dimensions. Finally, it was the previous dimension, which inhabited a Marty and me whose intelligence levels were switched around, where Marty was the one to find the problem."
Emmett had been looking at his counterpart with some scepticism, but his eyes went really wide at the last part – not that the visitors could really blame him, of course. "Excuse me?" he said. "Did you just say Marty found the solution to your problem? Are we really talking about the same Marty McFly here?"
"Hey!" Local Marty half-chuckled, even though he looked quite pale himself.
"I'm not quite sure" Doc responded, nodding. "But, yes, I can understand your confusion. It is true, though – Marty managed to find the problem within the DFSCUPCIF, and however he was not able to fix it, he gave us some sufficient help. I hope that you could maybe help us to find out how we could fix it. That would probably take some time, so we would understand it if you didn't want to help us."
"I'd love to" Emmett said, giving his counterpart a supporting smile. "However, I'm not sure whether I would have the ability to do so. Especially since your time machine is built into a vehicle."
"Which, to me, brings up the question where your time machine, um, device is built into" Doc said, obviously getting to be interested in the subject. "Let me guess… is it a refrigerator, perhaps? Like in the Teens In Time trilogy?"
"The what trilogy?"
"Never mind" Doc said, shrugging it off. "So, anyway, would you mind showing us your time travelling device? Not to put any pressure on you, but seeing as we told our story and told you about our world, I think it's only fair if you do the same about yours."
Emmett thought about that for a moment, then shrugged. "I guess you're right" he said. "Wait here – I've got it stored in the closet somewhere…"
"It's that small?" Doc muttered to no one in particular as Emmett walked off to get whatever made time travel possible in this world. "Great Scott…"
"Yeah, it's pretty small" Local Marty agreed. "I was kind of surprised, too, when he first showed it to me."
"Let me guess" Visiting Marty said, with a smirk. "Did that happen at the Lone Pine or Twin Pines Mall parking lot?"
"Um, no" Local Marty replied, obviously confused. "Back here at Emmett's house – in the backyard, to be specific. What's a 'parking lot', anyway?"
That question was delayed as Emmett returned with a rucksack of some sorts, with a clearly fluxing flux capacitor attached to it. However, the whole rucksack looked as if it was one unified time travelling device with the flux capacitor, as the normal flux capacitor was with the DeLorean. Doc and Visiting Marty looked awkwardly at it. Finally, it was Doc who spoke. "It is very strange to see this" he whispered. "How does it work?"
"Good question" Emmett said. "Look, it's actually very simple. There's this keypad right here, which enables you to set your destination." He pointed at a keypad on the side of the bag, which kind of resembled the one in the time machines Doc had but was much smaller. "You just tap in the destination here and it will appear on the display."
"It's the same way with my time machine" Doc commented. "Well, the display and the keypad are smaller, but the basic principle is the same."
"Interesting" Emmett replied. "Anyway, I don't think that what follows next is going to be exactly similar. We fuel the time machine inside the bag." He turned to Local Marty. "Marty, could you hand me a bottle of plutonium?"
For a few moments, Doc and Visiting Marty just stood there, astonished. "You mean, you still use plutonium in your time machine?" Visiting Marty finally said.
"Yes, I do" Emmett said, as Local Marty headed over to the refrigerator, which was clearly filled with just bottles of plutonium! The teen picked out a large sized bottle and a smaller one, and headed over to the local inventor, handing him the larger bottle. "Here you go, Doc" he said.
"Thank you, Marty" Emmett said, smiling. He then simply put the plutonium bottle in the bag. "As you can see, the plutonium can be kept in the can, which will break upon time travel and can be done in the garbage bag. Further, the time travel is triggered by…"
The local suddenly stopped, as he noticed that his listeners didn't even listen to him anymore. Instead, both were staring dumbfounded in the direction of Local Marty – who had opened the second bottle of plutonium, taken out the plutonium stick and had just took a bite from it. "All right, what's the matter?" Emmett finally asked.
"He's eating the plutonium!" Doc finally managed to bring out, stunned. "Great Scott…"
Emmett looked at his friend, then nodded. "You're right" he said. "Marty, put that thing down. It's one-fifteen P.M., you've had lunch just three quarter ago. There's no need to take a snack now."
"That's not what I meant" Doc said, somehow managing a faint smile. "I meant that in our world, no one eats plutonium. In fact, plutonium is radio-active, and could kill us if we stand close to it for too long."
Emmett's eyes went wide. Local Marty dropped his plutonium stick, which fell on the floor. Visiting Marty smirked. "Pretty heavy, huh?" he couldn't help but quip.
"Not that heavy" his local counterpart quipped back, as both teens burst into laughter. "I'd better stick this one back into the bottle" Local Marty continued. "Wouldn't want you to get in danger because of it."
"We weren't exposed for too long" Doc assured him, as Local Marty put the half-eaten stick back on it's place, swallowing the plutonium that was still in his mouth as he did so. "We should be fine. And for all we know, the plutonium that you've got might be a different substance as the plutonium that we are familiar to." He whistled. "This is pretty fascinating, you know. I don't believe we've seen anything that odd thus far."
"Well, I wouldn't be so sure" Visiting Marty said, smiling faintly.
"Don't you dare to mention the last universe again" Doc said. "I know you're just joking, but your continuing mentions of that universe are beginning to get annoying."
"Sorry, Doc" Visiting Marty apologized. "Won't do that again."
"Oh yeah, that world where Marty helped you fix the time machine" Emmett remembered. "Yes, I can understand if that is fairly awkward." He paused. "Speaking of awkwardness, have you noticed any other changes besides the plutonium and vehicle issues, which are rather obvious by now?"
"Not yet" Doc said. "We could attempt to discuss that later, but for now, I'd like you to continue with your explanation about the time bag, or whatever you call it."
"Mostly we call it just the 'time device', but time bag is okay with me" Emmett responded. "Anyway, with the Destination Time in place and the plutonium as fuel, the only problem left is getting up to 88 miles per hour. For that, we simply use powered running, as it's by far the easiest manner of getting up to 88."
"I was meaning to ask this before," Visiting Marty said, "but I never got around to it. Anyway, now that you mentioned it again – what is powered running? I've never heard of it before." Doc nodded to indicate that he hadn't, either. "So if you could tell me, I'd really appreciate it."
"All right" Emmett said. "The actual system of powered running is fairly simple. Follow me and I'll show you outside." He took a plutonium bottle – Doc noticed that it contained far more water than the previous bottle – out of the refrigerator and walked out to the backyard of the garage. There, as Doc and the Marty's watched, he looked at the bag. "Let's see… it's about 1:17 now, so 1:20 PM should do." He tapped that time into the keypad. "Marty, would you mind being my assistant?"
"Nah, I wouldn't" Local Marty said, taking the bag and the plutonium bottle. "I've done it before, after all." He then started walking off to the other side of the backyard.
"What's he going to do?" Visiting Marty asked.
"Just watch" Emmett said, smiling. "You'll find out soon enough."
And they did. As Local Marty arrived on the other side, he gulped down the plutonium out of the bottle. Moments later, he began glowing a soft shade of green. "So that is how they do it" Doc whispered, amazed. "Drinking plutonium. This is so strange, I would've never guessed this, or even believed it, hadn't I seen it with my own eyes."
Emmett opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped from doing so as Local Marty started running back. The visitors looked at the teen, whose speed was rapidly increasing, with awe as Local Marty shot through the fields with speeds of sixty miles per hour and increasing, the green glow becoming brighter with the second. Then, as he had passed eighty, a few sparks of electricity appeared in front of him, crackling as they grew bigger. Doc was about to say something about it as he noticed something else. Marty was headed straight towards them and would reach them within seconds. He started to run away…
…as the local teen simply lit up in a flash of light and a sonic boom shattered through the fields, and he was gone.
Visiting Marty just got his mind together to jump in time as yellow/greenish fire trails shot past him. "Whoa!" he exclaimed.
"Great Scott!" his friend agreed. "He travelled through time!"
"That is correct" Emmett said, smiling. "Marty did indeed break through the temporal barrier. He should return to the spot where he left in about… one minute and forty-nine seconds."
"Great Scott" Doc repeated. "This is amazing. I guess that this time-hopping thing does have it's positive sides. I never would've gotten a chance to see this otherwise."
"And that's great because?" Visiting Marty asked.
Doc sighed. "You know what I mean, Marty" he said. "Don't be too negative all the time. You've just had a nice long sleep. Don't tell me you're getting annoyed already."
"Well, I miss my home" Visiting Marty said. "And while this is very interesting, shouldn't we try to see whether your other self can help us?"
"We could" Emmett said. "But I think that we should wait, first. Marty is due to return in a few seconds from now."
As if to illustrate the point the local inventor had made, triple sonic booms shattered through the neighbourhood and Local Marty returned, still going at eighty-eight miles per hour. Luckily, Doc and Visiting Marty had already stepped out of the way, causing the teenager to be able to race on unharmed and stop just before reaching the house. "This is heavy" he muttered. "It remains exciting every time, isn't it?"
"Oh, it definitely does" Emmett said. "But, anyway, as our visitors said while you were… well, gone would be the proper term, I guess… I should probably have a look at the time machine."
"I don't want to rush you into anything" Doc assured him, giving his Marty a disapproving look. "If you want to hear the story of what is different in our worlds first, that'd be fine with me. I'd like to get home fast, but I don't want to put too much pressure on you."
"To be honest, I would, actually" Emmett admitted. He then looked at Marty, and smiled faintly. "But we'll keep it short, okay?"
Visiting Marty smiled back. "Okay."
"Well," Doc started, as they walked back inside and sat down on the couches again, "I guess the divergence really starts with the first test of the time machine. On October twenty-sixth, 1985, I tested my time machine with Marty for the first time at the Twin Pines Mall parking lot – it's a place where vehicles are stored, by the way. It worked, and I was about to go to the future with it when the Libyan terrorists from which I had stolen the bomb showed up and shot me."
"Terrorists?" Emmett said, clearly unfamiliar with the term – or wanting to focus on something else than the fact that his other self had just told him he'd been shot.
"Um, yeah" Doc said. "You don't know the word?"
"Nope" Emmett said. "Either they don't exist, or some alternate term showed up for them here."
"I prefer the first option, as they aren't really nice people" Doc said. He then paused, and added: "You know, if you're going to remain confused like you are now about my terminology, then maybe it's better if you tell your side of the story first. It'll help us make sense of what we should tell you and what not, so that we don't over-complicate things for you."
"You probably have a good point there" Emmett said. "So, anyway, I tested out my time machine on the same date, but it was in my backyard. I was the one to use it first, and Marty was the second. He wanted to go to the future, but we forgot to set the destination time so he arrived in 1955, which I had previously put in as the time and date where I conceived the flux capacitor, instead." He blushed. "That was really stupid of me."
"I did some stupid things too" Doc said. "Anyway, my Marty ended up in 1955 as well, even though the circumstances were different, involving the terrorists that I mentioned before. He was just using the machine as a quick get-away, not as a time machine, and didn't think of that until it was too late."
"I guess that would be a possibility with your type of temporal device" Emmett said. "Fascinating. But, anyway, Marty arrived in 1955, headed up-town and saw his father in Lou's Café, where he had gone in to search for my phone number. He ended up following him, and intervened as his father fell out of a tree and was almost hit by Mr. Baines, Marty's maternal grandfather, who was jogging down the street in front of his house."
"That happened in our universe too!" Doc exclaimed. "This is amazing! I can't believe how much is actually similar, despite our universes being so different, fundamentally."
"Yes, it's rather intriguing" Emmett said. "Anyway, Marty woke up in his mother's bedroom, where Lorraine thought that his name was 'Calvin Klein' as it was written all over his underwear. She also had a crush on him. That wasn't really obvious, though, as she was preoccupied with something else at the time – Marty's bag, and the flux capacitor on it. She confronted him with it, and Marty confessed that it was a time machine. Lorraine accepted the story after they had sneaked away from the house and Marty demonstrated it to her that night with a bottle of plutonium. He stayed at the Baines' house that night, luckily no longer being the victim of Lorraine's crush which had faded upon hearing that Marty was her son. The next morning at 6 AM, Marty said goodbye to his mother, told her a few things about the future like how she shouldn't drink, that she shouldn't punish him heavily for setting fire to the living room rug and rewarded her for helping him by telling her about the lightning striking the clock tower on Saturday, November 12th, 1955. Then he departed for that evening, to watch said strike and assure him that all was well – which it was, as Lorraine and George were watching the lightning as he arrived and they were very much in love. Marty then headed back to 1985 where he confronted me with the mistake I made, went home – and arrived in a much happier family than he'd been in before."
"The last part – about the happier family – sounds similar, but the rest doesn't" Visiting Marty said. "This is pretty strange, you know. I can't see myself actually becoming friendly with my mom while in the past. She kept hitting on me in our world."
"Well, I suppose that the fact that she quit doing that after she realized that I was a time traveller and her own son managed to change my mind about that" Local Marty said, shrugging.
"I suppose" his other self replied.
"Anyway," Emmett said, "as Marty had arrived back to the future, I took a time trip as well, to the future – thirty years into the future, which Marty had been planning to do but was not in the mood for now after his little adventure in 1955. I looked Marty up and saw that he had got a pretty happy future, even though he occasionally had problems with being called chicken. Nothing major, though."
"It's not a problem!" Local Marty exclaimed. "I just don't want people to think that I'm a coward! Can't you understand that?"
"Sure I can, but what will it help you?" Emmett pointed out. "Seriously, what change will it make if you're called a wimp or not? Will it really make you have such a terrible life if you allow people to call you a chicken on just one opportunity?" He paused for a moment, then continued. "Anyway, I didn't see anything else that was really notable, so after looking around a little more, I went back home. We've been making occasional time trips ever since."
Doc shook his head. "This is amazing" he said. "You never took Marty and Jennifer – I assume she still is Marty's girlfriend, by the way – to the future, and Marty still has a problem with being called chicken?"
"It's not a problem!" Local Marty called out again.
"Yes, it is" Visiting Marty said, somewhat miserably, as he clearly remembered what horrors could've happened when he was still reacting to being called a chicken. "Listen, me… I don't want to get into this discussion again, as I've already had it with one of my previous selves, but trust me, you should really ignore it when Needles or other people call you a chicken. It'll only cause disasters. I know from experience."
Local Marty shot him a look. "Yeah, right" he muttered. "You know, I can't believe that you're siding with them." With 'them', he obviously meant both Doc's. "I appreciate how Emmett is my friend and all, but he really should mind his own business in cases like this."
Visiting Marty sighed. "Looks like I won't be able to avoid having to tell you about this" he said. "But I'm warning you – it's a long story. Are you sure that you don't have a problem with being called 'chicken'?"
"Yes I am" Local Marty said. "I can't believe you actually humiliate yourself in that way by refusing a dare. But go ahead and tell your story. I'm curious what you'll tell me in your obviously useless attempts to convince me. I won't be convinced anyway, no matter what you'll say, because my point is the right one and nothing you can say will turn me away from that."
"You'll be surprised" Visiting Marty said back, allowing himself a smug grin.
"Go ahead and try to surprise me. Good luck."
"All right" Visiting Marty began. "In our world, I was also reacting when people called me a chicken. However, that all changed when Doc found out in the future that my son was in jail. He travelled back to 1985, picked me up as I was just reuniting with Jennifer, and transporting me to 2015. We headed over to the Courthouse Square. Jennifer was asking too many questions so Doc knocked her out with a futuristic device. He then told me that I had to go into the Café 80s, and meet there a guy named Griff, who was the one responsible for getting my son, Marty Junior, in jail. I had to tell him I would not participate in the robbery. So I walked up to the Café, entered and told Griff off. As I was exiting, he called me a chicken, and I reacted to that, which didn't end well as he swung a baseball bat at me at the result. That could've ended bad for me." He looked up. "With me so far?"
"I suppose so" Local Marty said, shrugging. "It was probably just bad luck for you, though."
"I'm with you as well, although I can't say I'm too happy you let slip to Marty what the name of his future son shall be" Emmett said, wincing a little. "Also, why was Marty Junior in jail? When I arrived, he was pretty much your average teenaged boy – not in a prison cell at least."
"Don't worry, we'll come to that" Visiting Marty said. "Anyway, I managed to get away – that's probably a story on it's own – and made Griff crash into the Courthouse window after a chase on hoverboards, future skateboards. You do know what a skateboard is, do you?"
"Yeah, I do" Local Marty said. "Guess they still exist because they don't have an engine in them. I use them occasionally, when I'm in a hurry and don't have plutonium on me."
"Ah, I see" the visitor responded. "So, anyway, Griff crashed into the window of the Courthouse and I got away. I bought a sports almanac that I wanted to use to get rich, but Doc told me to throw it away. We then arrived late at the place Doc had left Jennifer behind, so we had to fly over to our house in the future, as some cops had showed up to take Jennifer 'home'. So, while I remained at the car – or at least, I initially did, I admit that I looked around a bit later, Jennifer got her first good look at our home."
"Marty…" Emmett said, urging. "Don't tell him. No one should know too much about their destiny, you know that."
"Sure I do" Visiting Marty said. "But if his future is what you said, then it won't turn out like this – or at least, it won't if he listens to me today and forgets his problem."
Local Marty frowned at the repeated mention of the 'problem', and then asked: "Then what was our house and future family like?"
"A mess" Doc said, speaking up before Marty could. "Your house wasn't that bad, but the neighbourhood looked horrible. Your family life was horrible, as you and Jennifer weren't exactly having the best relation, despite your claims otherwise. Your son was a wimp, your daughter was… well, there wasn't really anything obvious that was wrong with her, but I can't imagine she was really happy about her family. Jennifer was an alcoholic, you worked at a big company, with Needles as your supervisor, and were finally fired on the evening of October twenty-first, the date we travelled to, by – once again – your chicken problem."
This time around, Local Marty could care less about the mention of the 'problem'. "That sounds horrible" he muttered. "But… how? I thought I'd be a big rock star one day, and I can't imagine that my counterpart's and my dreams would change so much between the universes! And even if they did… well, I'm not supposed to have a lousy future like that!"
"Without getting into an argument about what you were 'supposed' to have, there was a very good reason for that future" Doc said. "On October 27th, 1985, one day after the time travel test that went wrong-in-a-good-way in both of our worlds, and one day after I departed to the future, you were caught up in an automobile accident. In case you don't understand, it's a situation where two vehicles crash into each other… it's probably the same as someone running at a high speed crashing into someone else who's either not running at all or running at a lower speed or at whatever speed. Anyway, you were injured, and while Jennifer, who was also in the car, escaped fine, you damaged your right hand against the car and could never play the guitar as you wanted to again. All your dreams about a musician future were shattered. And that all because you got caught up in an automobile accident that was a result of a drag race with Douglas Needles. And guess how he persuaded you to race him?"
Local Marty had fallen pretty much silent after that speech. "He…he called me a chicken?" he finally stammered.
"Right on the money" Visiting Marty said. "Well, I never saw it, Doc did, but he told me enough to learn me a lot about my future in that timeline, enough to confirm this to you now, and I've been through that racing event. Not entirely, but partly. I learned this lesson eventually, after going to 1885 after another series of mad adventures and having to face admitting that I was being foolish all the time or going into a showdown with the local Tannen, Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen, and dying as a result. I suppose you can understand why I chose the former." Local Marty nodded, face pale. "And when I returned to 1985, I refused Needles' dare, no matter how many times he'd call me a chicken, I would never agree to his proposals again. I'm rather a chicken than dead."
Local Marty nodded, slowly. "I suppose so" he muttered. "I think that I'm going to have second thoughts accepting a dare from now on, too. But still… I can't really face the thought of being called a coward. I don't think I'm really ready for that."
Visiting Marty could understand that. "I know, it was a big step for me too" he said. "But just imagine this. How much will it cost you to admit to being a coward? Are you even being a coward in the first place? Taking the race with Needles as an example, if I had agreed, it wouldn't have made me less of a chicken, as I would've gone along with his game, doing what he wanted, because I was afraid what people would think of me otherwise. Isn't it much braver to stand up to him, say no, and ignore what he says? To be more firm and confidently turn his offer down?"
That was met with a lot of silence. Finally, it was Doc who spoke. "Great Scott, Marty" he muttered, half-smirking, "you really are turning into an adult! It'll take some time for me to get used to this…"
Local Marty smiled faintly, nodding. "Yeah" he said. "I'd never looked at it this way before. I guess that, essentially, you are right." He smiled again. "I suppose a 'thank you' would be on it's place here."
Visiting Marty blushed a bit. "Well, you are me, after all" he said. "I wouldn't want another version of me to get in trouble eventually, especially not over such an insignificant detail. It caused me a lot of trouble too, and I'm glad I helped you get rid of it."
"Me too" Local Marty said. "Thanks again."
"You're welcome."
Doc had been thinking about this for a moment. "You know what the weirdest thing is in this whole situation?" he said. "That is that I haven't made one small complaint about this." He shook his head, as the whole group laughed. "I guess it's around time to get back to the work on getting us back home. I'm getting too much used to this and telling other versions of me or Marty stories without bothering about the whole 'no one should know too much' idea."
"Yeah, it's not really like you to be so lenient" Visiting Marty agreed. "Even though I don't dislike that, I agree with you on the idea that we should try to get us home. I think my first serious attack of homesickness is coming up."
"And we can't have that happen to you" Doc said, optimistic. "Don't worry, Marty. We will get home, eventually – and I hope that Emmett here can help us with that."
"I could always try" Emmett said, smiling. "After all, if I put my mind to it, I can accomplish anything. What exactly is wrong with the vehicle again?"
"Well, you see…"
* * * *
Over the next two hours, Emmett and Doc exchanged short tales as they looked at the time bus. The local inventor was intrigued at the ability of a vehicle to travel through time, and had his visitor show him every single detail of the machine. Emmett also did various attempts to compare some of the designs of his flux capacitor to that of the DFSCUPCIF, hoping that it would help him out. He even dragged his oldest materials into it, hoping that it would work. As he was busy, Doc entertained him by telling a lot more stories, like how he was married, which was something that especially surprised single Emmett. Once again Doc explained the complicated tale about how he and Clara met and warned against Emmett trying to meet her as well. They exchanged a lot more stories about their lives so far and had a lot of fun together, as had Local Marty and Visiting Marty, who were sitting in the back of the train and watching their Doc's converse, and chatted about everything they could think of. However, as the clock finally chimed 3:30 P.M., all the stories had been told, Doc had filled the Fusion generator ahead of time just to have something to do, all the experiments had been tried from the sane ones to the weirdest they could imagine and were within their capability, and the results for the train had been nothing at all.
"I don't get it" Emmett said, as he stepped away from the control panel with a sigh. "I'm sorry. It's probably my fault, as I really don't understand how the thing works. You'd better move on. I understand it if you're getting tired of telling the same story over and over again and would like to stay here for a while yet, but you really should move on. I've got nothing to deliver you here in terms of help with the vehicle."
"That's too bad" Doc said, sighing. "Then again, I could've probably expected that the moment I flew the bus into this dimension. I had the feeling that this universe would bring us nothing. Sadly, it was right."
"Yes, I suppose it was" Emmett said, sighing as well. "Well, is there anything else you'd like to say to me before you two depart? Any 'wise words' from another dimension?"
"Not really" Doc said. "I don't have any requests or something like that. I suppose you don't either, Marty?"
The teenager had been thinking for a while, and now, he looked up to face his friend. "Actually," he muttered, "yes, I do. I'd really like to go through this world's method of time travel once."
Doc gasped. "Great Scott" he muttered. "Are you sure? You might end up being hurt, you know – after all, you have to swallow that plutonium to time travel this way. We don't know what this does to our body, as we're probably different from the locals of this world. You don't know what you're asking for, Marty. Also, there is the fact that Emmett might not allow you to do so."
"I would not allow him" Emmett said, thoughtfully, "but not because I want to deny him some fun. I just don't want him to be in danger – especially not alone, when he's never done this before." He looked at the teen. "Would you be fine if I'd carry you on my back? I've done it with my Marty a few times before, and it doesn't hurt the time travel in one bit, and it doesn't hurt you either. Does it, Marty?"
"Nope, you're completely right" Local Marty said, smiling. "Trust me – you'll be as safe as you can be with Emmett's method."
"Thanks" Visiting Marty said. He turned to Doc. "Doc… do you mind?"
"Well, if they are all fine with it, who am I to say no?" Doc said, shrugging. "I'm not your father, and you're an adult now, so you're free to choose this if this is what you really want. I would be a little hesitant about it if I was to be in your situation, but it's your choice."
Marty smiled. "Thanks" he said, looking at Emmett, who was holding a note and a pencil and quickly figuring out why the local inventor needed that stuff. "What kind of a jump are we going to do?"
"I suppose that we could simply go a minute or two ahead" Emmett said. "Shouldn't bring too much shock to our body from going to a different time, and it would be a nice quick trip. I'll even be slow to stop running after my returning, so that it's more gradual, which would most likely be better for you."
"Thanks, Doc" Visiting Marty said, smiling. "Uh… I mean Emmett."
"Never mind" Emmett replied, smiling as well. "Just a moment – I need to pick up my bag. It should still be inside the house. I should've thought to bring it along, but I wasn't expecting you to make a request like this. I'll be back in a few moments." With that, he disappeared inside.
As he went off, Visiting Marty looked at his friends and took a deep breath. "You know, while I was very much convinced just a moment or two before, I'm beginning to doubt whether I should do this now" he said. "You're right, Doc – it could hurt me."
"But Doc, I mean Emmett thinks it's safe" Local Marty argued. "And I know to trust him. He fixed the time device every time it was broken and I thought that I was going to be stuck in the past. And it got broken a few times. Not really heavy, of course, as that would disable us from travelling back all together, but sometimes the casing of the flux capacitor broke off, or the glass of the plutonium bottle broke. We had to keep remembering not to use it as a normal bag, or we would get into trouble. Do-Emmett's been angry at me for that a few times, but he was never really angry. He's a great guy, and a great friend." He paused for a moment, sad. "That's why I felt so sorry for him when I heard that you had a wife, Doc. Emmett doesn't, and I don't think he has a chance of ever getting one anyway."
Doc frowned, and then a small smile crossed his face. "I wouldn't be so sure of that" he said, thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" both Marty chorused, bursting into laughter as they realised they said the same thing.
"You'll find out" Doc said, smiling. "Marty," that was Visiting Marty, "would you excuse us for a second? You can do this on your own, and if Emmett asks us where we are, you can tell him that we're taking a walk through the neighbourhood because I wanted to see if anything changed. That is partially the case of course, but it's not the main reason."
"Then what's-" Visiting Marty began.
"Patience" Doc said. "I'll tell you once we go. Good luck with your journey through time. Don't worry, it's like our local friend said – if my other self says it's safe, it's safe. I trust him to be able to judge that well."
After having said that, Doc and a confused Local Marty walked off, with an equally confused Visiting Marty staring after them and wondering what they wanted to do. As Emmett returned, though, with the bag and a bottle of plutonium, his attention was brought back to the matter at hand – his journey. He swallowed as he thought about the odd time travelling method, and felt so nervous that he actually found himself wondering for a moment what the local was talking about when Emmett acted where his counterpart and his Marty had gone.
"They went off" Visiting Marty simply said. "Doc wanted to take a walk, and Local Marty went with him – maybe 'cause he wanted to show him around. I don't know too much about it."
"Oh." Emmett shrugged it off, luckily not asking any more, and went back to the main subject. "Well, here's the bag. I already set the destination time for 6:40 P.M. That's less than two minutes from now plus three hours. I initially wanted to just hop two minutes and let your Doc prove it to you that you'd time travelled, but now that he's off for a walk, I suppose that hopping ahead and back three hours would be better."
"Well, you're the Doc, Doc" Visiting Marty said, smiling.
"All right" Emmett said. "Well, I put the plutonium in the bag – two portions, actually, I accidentally put in two portions 'cause I'm used to having enough for a return journey and wasn't thinking of the fact that there wasn't going to be one, so now that there is, we have enough – and I set the destination time, so now all I have to do is take my plutonium and off we can go." As Visiting Marty took a few steps back, Emmett opened the bottle and drank the plutonium inside. Moments later, he started glowing a relatively light shade of dark blue.
"Why do you have a different colour from the one my other self had?" Marty asked, stepping closer.
"I'm older" Emmett said, putting the top back on the bottle and putting the whole thing down on the ground. "Under 12 is yellow. Between 12 and 21 is green, and between 21 and 60 is red. Someone who turns 60 becomes blue, and as you age more and more – age physically speaking, not mentally – your blue becomes darker and darker. When your colour finally changes to black, you'll die within a year of old age. Since my blue is relatively light, I'm still in pretty good health. Especially for a 68-year-old – most people my age have a slightly darker shade. So I suppose the future healthcare did it's job well."
"My Doc had something done to him in the future as well" Marty commented. "He called it a rejuvenation."
"Oh yeah?" Emmett said, as he lowered his back to allow Marty to climb on it. "Interesting. Well, are you ready?"
"I think so" Marty responded, somewhat weakly.
"Then off we go!"
With that, Emmett started running on the same way Marty had just seen his counterpart do that. The teenager hung on to his alternate friend's shoulders as good as he could, but was soon assured that he wouldn't fall off as both Emmett and he had a relatively good grip on each other. Their speed soon increased, nearing 88. Marty took a deep breath as electricity began appearing in front of Emmett again and closed his eyes. He faintly registered a flash of bright light and a sonic boom sounding, and then, as he realised that everything was gone, he opened his eyes again to see dark surroundings. He had indeed travelled through time.
Emmett slowed down gradually and eventually came to a halt all together, allowing Marty to step off. "Well?" he said, cheerfully. "How did it go?"
"It was pretty cool" Marty said. "I was kind of wondering how it would feel, and I certainly hadn't expected it to be this exciting. It was really an experience of a lifetime. Thanks, Emmett."
"Glad to have been of service" the local scientist answered, stretching his back and arms. "Hey, take a look at that!"
As Marty looked, he realised what his friend meant. The bus was no longer parked in front of the house, instead moved into the driveway. "Yeah, you're right" he said. "That's pretty odd. I wonder why that happened."
"Me too, but I'm not going to ask" Emmett said, as he took off his bag and tapped in the new destination time as 3:40 PM that afternoon, then changed his mind and made it 3:45, because, as he said it himself, "it'll give you a bigger chance you'll be able to leave right away". He then lowered his back again. "Well, kid, are you ready for the trip back?"
"Sure!" Marty said, smiling a bit, as he climbed back onto Emmett's back. He then held on tight, as Emmett once again raced up to 88 – apparently, the energy he had gotten from the plutonium was enough to race up to that speed twice – and broke through the time barrier in a very similar way as he had just done. This time, Marty had got his eyes open during the journey, and while he initially didn't see too much due to a minor case of flash blindness, he soon regained his eyesight and realised that everything had been restored to the way it was before their journey. He sighed with relief as Emmett stopped them in front of the house, where Doc and Local Marty were just re-arriving.
"You're just back?" Local Marty said, smiling. "Took a long time, I suppose."
"Yeah, it did" Visiting Marty agreed. "Say Doc, while Emmett and I went three hours to the future, we saw that you moved the time bus to the driveway. Why do you think you'd done that?"
"Probably a natural reaction to you guys having been gone for three hours" Doc said, deciding to ignore the question about why his friend went to the future in the first place. "I had probably been searching you for some time, and had just gone inside to pause from searching you two and instead wait for you to return. That was probably the reason I moved the bus – I was going to go inside and wanted it to be safe." He looked directly at the teen. "Are you ready to go off now?"
"Certainly" Marty said. He followed Doc as the scientist stepped into the bus and had a few final words with Emmett before walking over to the control panel and lifting up the time machine into the sky (He had, after all, already loaded Mr. Fusion before the whole 'time travel by powered running' came up again). Marty smiled at the dumb-founded faces of Emmett and Marty at the flight of the time vehicle as said machine flew up into the air higher and higher and soon distanced itself from the mansion.
As they were safely in the air, Marty turned to Doc and asked the question that was burning on his mind and had been for about ten minutes now. "All right, now why did you have to go out there and talk to my other self? You sure made me feel surprised about that. I wasn't really expecting you to go off and have a chat with other-me about something. What was it about?"
Doc slowed the time machine down from sixty-five and accelerating to a steady forty and turned to his friend. "I had noticed – as you had, undoubtedly, as well – that your other self was sad about the fact that my other self was not married" he said. "Therefore, when I took him aside, I explained the matter of Susan Clayton, whom I had encountered in the world where you had still got the almanac in your possession, and told him all the details I could remember about her – her place of birth, how they met, her profession – I even gave him the picture I got from my other self. Now, your other self can perhaps look up Susan, somehow persuade her to come to Hill Valley, arrange a meeting with Emmett and see whether it's love at first sight or not. If Emmett doesn't know that he's meeting a potential girlfriend, he won't have the high expectations that will make the possibility of a meeting with Clara almost impossible to work out right. I realised that, unlike in the universe where you were never born, I could help my single self with talking about Susan Clayton, since you were around in this world to help make them meet."
Marty was silent at that for a few seconds. "That's pretty cool of you, you know" he finally settled on. "Helping your other self."
Doc shrugged. "We weren't doing anything useful here anyway, and I figured that I could at least make sure that they would not forget us here." He smirked a bit. "Well, looks like it's about time to travel to the next universe. Ready, Marty?"
"For the zillionth time in a row now – certainly" Marty said, chuckling.
Doc frowned at his comment, but didn't say anything, instead speeding up the time bus. Marty felt himself be carried into the familiar sensation of the bus accelerating and was shocked as Doc hit the brakes at eighty, slowing down to seventy again. "What's the matter?" the teen asked.
"Nothing big" his friend assured him. "I just forgot to type in the Destination Time. Let's see…"
"What time is it in our world now?" Marty asked, curiously.
"Monday, April fourth, 1988, 12:50 PM and 40 seconds" Doc responded. "Should be a nice time. Destination Time: Saturday, April second, 1988, 12:51 P.M., PF #50."
Marty nodded, then looked forwards as Doc hit the gas once more and the bus picked up speed quickly. Within seconds, the familiar flashes of light appeared, and the time bus broke through the dimensional barrier as it had done countless times before now, and entered the new universe.