Disclaimer: I don't own Back to the Future, Forwards to the Past, or Staying Put in the Present.
Author's Note: Another chapter, in which the storyline moves along, locals and visitors have some good conversation and stuff finally comes out in the open. Also, I'm pretty sure an author isn't supposed to like his own OC this much but I really really like Ann. But I think you probably figured that out already. Please review!
Chapter Sixteen
Monday, April 4, 1988
06:30 PM PDT
Hill Valley, California
The first actual day of working on the time machine repairs proceeded without a glitch. Everyone got up early, ate breakfast, and went out to the garage. Then Local Marty and Calvin arrived, the work load was divided, and everyone soon started constructing. It was difficult to divide such a sensitive job – repairing the wires of the time circuitry and replacing several outdated parts in the Fusion reactor – among everyone, but Calvin found that Doc, Emmett and Chris had certainly done that part of the task well. He worked together with his visiting counterpart (or rather, Marty's) with whom he could cooperate perfectly because they knew each other's work rhythm. It appeared Visiting Marty was just as good and bad at lab work as he and Local Marty were, and it was comforting to work so easily on a project this important.
The only thing that actually annoyed the local about Visiting Marty was the occasional stares the visitor gave him, and it unnerved him even more because he knew the reason for those stares. He'd gotten a call from his girlfriend shortly after getting home last night, and she had told him all about how she had been forced to spill the beans to Visiting Marty and what she had discussed with him. Calvin thus knew Visiting Marty knew his problems, although he wasn't sure whether Visiting Marty also knew that he knew that Visiting Marty knew. He hoped their visitor had no clue – it would keep him occupied trying to come up with a way to breach the subject, and from Calvin's perspective, the longer that would take, the better it was.
They made good progress on the first day, mostly by just removing old material that no longer needed to be used, or should be used. Of course, Doc, Emmett and Chris were the supervisors on that part, since only they knew what exactly should be replaced and what not. Regardless, Calvin and Visiting Marty both mostly worked on their own at their portion of the bus, carefully removing circuitry, ensuring nothing else was getting damaged by their work, and measuring the room for new parts. Doc admitted that he would've preferred to have room for more circuitry and had in fact contemplated installing more room when he was first constructing the time bus, but had eventually figured out that it wouldn't be necessary what with the future specialization in nanotechnology. It was yet another reason why access to future technology was so vital in this mission – even if they would have been able to fix the time machine with only 1980s technology, most circuitry just wouldn't fit.
By the time evening rolled around Doc was fairly optimistic about the progress they were making – yes, they hadn't done all that much yet, but they needed to approach this process carefully. Time travel equipment was sensitive material – dimensional travelling material was probably twice as sensitive if not more so. If they didn't do this cautiously they might end up never getting home, or one of them could get an electroshock from the circuitry. All in all, he estimated that it would cost somewhere around nine days for them to fix the time machine.
It was a fairly optimistic assessment, and Calvin hoped Doc was right, more for his sake than for his own. After all, Doc and Visiting Marty were trapped here, while they just had visitors – in fact, Calvin welcomed this as a welcome distraction from his own state. He was anxious to find out more about them, and discovered to his joy that he and Visiting Marty could understand each other perfectly well despite the event separating them being three years in the past now.
Nevertheless, Calvin knew Marty knew the truth about him (even if Calvin didn't know if Marty knew he knew Marty knew) and thus distanced himself from his counterpart immediately after work. Conversation was nice, but there had been a few awkward moments and close calls already. He didn't need more. So, when all was done, he simply excused himself as inconspicuously as he could and headed outside with the excuse that Ann was picking him up for dinner at their home and that he really couldn't stick around. Visiting Marty gave him a curious glance as he left, but didn't pursue him. Calvin made it out of the door, and as he told himself, in one piece.
He was then surprised by the fact that out there was, in fact, Ann's parents' car in the driveway. Confused, the teen walked over to the driver's seat. "Ann?"
"You told me you were going to tell them you had to leave early to go to my house" Ann said. "I figured that I might as well back up your claims."
Calvin frowned. "Really? That's why you came over?"
Ann shrugged. "That, and inviting you to really come along with me. My parents asked you to come eat with them tonight. I think they want to hear the inside story about the other-dimensional visitors without having to go over themselves." Calvin nodded – he knew Jennifer and Ann's parents weren't quite as close and comfortable with the Browns as George and Lorraine were, especially due to the fact that George and Lorraine had known Doc Brown for much longer. "I still don't like that I couldn't come over today, though."
"I told you, Doc-Emmett made a schedule so everybody serves equal time fixing the bus" Calvin reminded her, taking the passenger's seat. "We can't all work at the time machine simultaneously or we'd keep either running into each other or getting too exhausted to do a proper job. Chris and Emmett know very well you're capable. And are you really that eager to risk electrocution?"
"About as eager as I am to have you risk electrocution" Ann replied, reversing the car down the driveway and turning in the direction of the Parker home. "I get the problem, I just don't like not being included." She smiled, a rare sight on her but one which always warmed Calvin's heart. "So, how was your day?"
"Average progress" Calvin replied. "Visiting Doc thinks we can be ready in about nine days." When it was just the locals, he and Ann remained inclined to use 'Doc' for their own friend, leaving them with 'Visiting Doc' for the Doc that was, well, visiting. "I hope he's right. Having other-dimensional visitors is fun, but it can be pretty stressful. I think they have that problem more than we do, since they're not used to having counterparts around all the time."
Ann shook her head. "It's so strange how different their life went. And yet they're a version of you guys." She frowned. "I wonder if it means anything that they don't have a version with me in their home world."
"Only that they're missing out" Calvin replied, putting an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder in a gesture so cheesy that he knew Ann couldn't help but enjoy it, no matter how cliché and lame and overdone she would consider it. Sure enough, she gave him a wary smile.
They got to the Parker house after about six minutes, Ann parking the car in the driveway before they headed inside. Calvin had, of course, been there many times before, but he still felt too uncomfortable to really crash on the couch, let alone a bed, something he did need after a long day. Instead he sat down in the living room with his girlfriend after greeting Mr. and Mrs. Parker.
They'd barely been there for ten minutes when Marlene Parker announced dinner was ready, and everyone gathered at the dinner table. From the looks on everyone's faces, Calvin could tell Robert and Marlene Parker were trying to conceal their interest in hearing about the project, while Jennifer looked more… well, honestly curious. Of course, she was more used to the strangeness at the Brown residence.
Sure enough, Calvin had barely started eating when Robert Parker addressed him. "So, Calvin," he said, "long day today?"
"More or less" the nineteen-year-old replied. "We didn't actually make much actual progress on fixing the time machine from the other dimension, but we did lay some pretty solid groundwork."
Robert nodded. "I see" he mulled. "So, when are those visitors going to be gone again?"
"Robert" Marlene admonished him. Her husband shrugged.
Calvin sighed, wryly looking at his future in-laws. "Doc's still aiming for nine more days. So that should put us somewhere in the next week – maybe Wednesday, probably Thursday or Friday taking into account setbacks and tests."
Robert Parker nodded and turned to his newest daughter. "I hope this isn't going to interfere with your studies, Ann? I know, you're in college now and that you can be slightly more flexible with the way you divide your time between studying and leisure, but that doesn't mean you can just forget about your work altogether. You do have exams coming up. Can't you ask Dr. Brown for a smaller shift?"
Ann stared angrily at her father. "I'm twenty, Dad. I'm old enough to decide how to spend my time. And we need to help the other Doc and Marty get home."
Calvin and Jennifer cautiously exchanged glances, while Robert nodded. "I know that, honey. But I am your father, and I'm responsible for you. You wouldn't want to fail on your final tests after spending so much work, and you do have occasional problems in catching up with the other students after… well, not being able to go to school in your youth as much as you should." Ann turned red, and her father's cheeks colored as well. "I'm sorry, just trying to state my point here. I'm not asking you to give up on the work altogether – just reflect on your options. That goes for Jennifer too, by the way."
Ann nodded. "I know I need to study, but if I'm confident enough to take the risk of taking out time for helping repair the DFSCUPCIF – the dimensional travelling device – then please, Dad, you be confident in me being able to do that. I thought you'd be happy if they were gone."
Now Jennifer and Calvin were really staring at each other, and at the others. Calvin felt uncomfortable in the middle of the Parker family argument, and resumed eating his food as inconspicuously as possible. Meanwhile, Robert was flustered. "Well, isn't that all of our intentions? To help them and get them home? That's even what you just said, wasn't it?"
"That is true, Ann" Jennifer said. "We all want them to get home." She shot her a look telling her sister not to blow the subject out of proportion.
Ann either didn't notice the look or just ignored it. Knowing her, it was probably the last one. "Yeah, but for the past days I just keep getting the impression Dad wants them out of here not to help them, but because he's annoyed with us going over to the Browns. Is that true, Dad?"
Robert blinked, but then he nodded. "It is true that I feel uncomfortable at having all these cross-dimensional visitors over" he replied. "But that's just because I worry about you. It's bad enough when you tamper with time – it's another thing when I know my children are interacting with people from a parallel world, or even want to go there! This isn't an issue average parents have to deal with – it's easy enough to worry when you travel to the big city, and it is much more so when you go to the Brown's where all that weirdness happens, and you go there almost all the time! Perhaps I'm exaggerating, but given that this isn't an issue that ordinary parents have to deal with – and I'm not a science fiction author like George McFly but an ordinary housefather who's never asked for this – I think I'm actually coping really well as it is."
Ann frowned at her father's outburst. "You do know I'm from another universe too, right? As is Calvin in a way?"
"Well, technically Calvin is from another timeline rather than another universe – which is another technicality the average parent shouldn't have to deal with" Robert said cynically. Then he softened. "I understand what you mean, though. I don't want to talk down on you, and having you with us is an experience we'll happily give up on our normal life prior to 1985 for – but you have to understand that for your Mom and me it isn't easy. Our life was proceeding normally prior to 1985, and then all of a sudden it got into this mess – a mess of which I appreciate the great parts, but a mess that is making it all just so darn complicated."
"Your father does have a point there, Ann" Marlene agreed. "When you muck around with time travel, you never know what might happen. The fact that you announced one day that the name of the ravine had been Clayton before your run-in with an Old West gangster – just the thought of it is giving me the chills – made it change into Wayne might not seem like much, but it's a sign of what could happen on a much bigger scale. The Browns are great people, no doubt about that. It's just that we'd like you to stay away from all the lunacy that goes on at their house."
"I'd agree with you if Doc and Chris were using time travel to change things randomly – but so far, every instance has been to protect us or to keep Calvin safe" Ann said. "I know, if Calvin had never time travelled he wouldn't be in this situation now, but even with time travel, ironically, you can't change that anymore. So we have to use time travel to keep him safe, to ensure that we all will be safe from threats in the future, and Doc and Chris have been withholding even about that. I told you about the lecture they gave Mike when he looked up Calvin's fate, didn't I? Calvin, you were there, tell them."
Calvin blinked nervously, as everyone's looks turned on him. This was the one thing he'd been hoping to avoid and now Ann, in her usual determination which would not bow before anyone or anything, had stampeded over his subtle messages that he'd rather stay out and called special attention to him. Of course, it was true – he had been there when Mike looked him up, but he had been groggy from the kidney surgery at the time and hadn't really caught anything what was happening. He really got to hear the story later, just like the others. But that didn't mean he couldn't confirm Ann's statements. "Doc was pretty mad at Mike" he agreed. "And when I went to 1955, he had only just invented time travel but was responsible enough to keep me inside."
"But you didn't stay in, because you had to fix your parents' relationship… right?" Robert replied, in a question that was supposed to be a statement but came out as a half-question anyway because Ann's Dad clearly wasn't sure whether this had been done by him too or just by his counterpart – not that Calvin could blame him, he was still getting all their intertwining lives mixed up every once in a while. "And that proves my point – even if you and the Browns try to be responsible, accidents do happen, and the slightest thing can have the biggest consequences."
"True, true" Calvin agreed. "But Ann is right – right now, we have to help our visitors get home. We certainly can't keep them here." He wanted to add that he wasn't sure whether living in another dimension was good for them, but decided not to as it would most likely clear the way towards another discussion on his own fate.
"So your solution is to use more time travel to fix problems created by time – or actually dimensional – travel" Robert Parker said, sighing. "I get why it's necessary in this case, but you know you can make things worse. Of all the journeys through time you've taken, how many have been completely without problems? And even the ones which ended up well, how many have produced changes to our present which we still don't know the full consequences of?"
"A lot" Calvin admitted. "I can't say the exact number, but there were a lot of accidents. But we seem to have come out okay from all of them in the end."
"Not to mention that in time trips to the future, we saw that our lives looked okay" Ann cut in, apparently dissatisfied at the way he was handling things. He didn't mind – in fact, he hoped she wouldn't involve him in the conversation again. "Time trips Doc and Chris took many of, and which always went off without a hitch."
"Maybe that's because they were always travelling to the future, while you went to the past" Marlene suggested. "That does sound safer."
"Actually, I'm not so sure about that, Mom" Jennifer sheepishly cut in. "Doc and Chris are always saying that future information can lead to disaster, and what Mike… saw, on their trip to get kidney surgery, has driven some of us nuts trying to explain how it came about. Knowledge about the future can do more harm than good."
"That doesn't make it physically just as unsafe" Robert argued. "What your mother was trying to say was that if you travel to the future, you have better access to technology so you can fix the time machine if something goes wrong. But what you said does underline my point that all time travel has its drawbacks. Certainly, accidents occur that turn out happily, like how Dr. Brown met his wife, but by now everyone has a family… what kind of happy accident could you need that you are willing to risk time travelling for?"
"Calvin's health fixed" Ann said dryly.
Robert nodded. "Of course. But that's not the kind of thing that could be easily fixed by going to the past and experiencing something there – unless someone there could offer a refreshing new insight on the situation, which would mean you have to interrogate everyone in Old West Hill Valley and that is just plain nuts. And from what I hear about the future travels the Browns have undertaken, they haven't bumped into someone there with an enlightening conclusion either."
"So you're suggesting that we do nothing?" Ann exclaimed. "That Doc and Chris just stop trying? You know, that other-dimensional option, no matter how lousy and flawed Calvin and I might think it is, was one that wouldn't have even been on the table without time travel!"
Her father sighed. "No, I'll admit that you have to use time travel and dimensional travel to fix Calvin's problem. I just hope you'll be careful, okay? And that once Calvin is all right again, you'll take a break from time travel. I understand perfectly well what you've just explained about both doctors Brown being responsible with it, but it is still one of the most dangerous things anyone could do."
"If" Calvin muttered under his breath. He couldn't resist, but wished he had as he saw his girlfriend's glare turn to him. Well, so much for hope that she hadn't heard.
"When, Calvin Arthur McFly" Ann said with a voice that indicated that he'd better not disagree with her. "We're going to help you and you will be able to stay here. We're not giving up. Remember the prediction from the future! It may be constantly in flux, but that doesn't mean we can't cling onto the hope that we will find a solution, just like we did then! We just have to think hard enough!"
"You don't think that maybe I should go with them after all?" Calvin wondered out loud, but soft enough to keep anyone but her from hearing it – if everyone else hadn't all been intently listening to whatever he was saying. "I know you don't want me to leave, and I've said that I wanted to stay here, but when death is staring you in the face…"
"It's not staring you in the face" Ann said curtly. "And if it is, tell me about it and I'll tell it to mind its own business."
"Ann!" her mother admonished her.
"Well excuse me for being passionate about my boyfriend's life!"
Marlene nodded, giving her would-be son-in-law a sympathetic look. "Haven't your visitors been able to come up with anything else yet?" she asked. "We were talking about refreshing insights, after all, and what's more refreshing than being from another dimension altogether?"
"True" Calvin agreed. "But we've only told Visiting Marty yet so far – or rather, Ann did – and he didn't come up with anything right away and I think he's too busy working on the time machine to come up with anything now. And then there's the other dimension's Doc, who might be able to help us – but if we tell him and he can't help us, then he might back up Doc and Chris and say that I should go to another dimension. Perhaps theirs, perhaps a random third one if they don't want to take me in… in any case, I wouldn't be living here anymore."
"Maybe we won't even be able to fix their bus and they'll be forced to stay here" Ann said sullenly, in what appeared to Calvin to be another random bout of depression. "Could be interesting."
Calvin remained quiet after that, unable to come up with anything to fix this, and glancing across the table he saw the rest was just as stuck as he was. Marlene Parker, ever conciliatory, gave her daughter a look and casually broached a new subject. "What about you, Jennifer?" she asked. "How was your day?"
The other Parker girl blinked. "Um, okay, I guess" she replied. "College, studying… nothing much. I did drop by the Browns around lunch and had an interesting chat with Visiting Marty about… well, about me I guess."
"You don't live there" Robert murmured. Marlene shot him a look and turned back to her daughter. "About you?"
"We were talking about whether I was similar to his own girlfriend, and where we were different" Jennifer explained. "It was really interesting. Apparently, his Jennifer was a bit more talkative than I was. I guess that's just a side effect of having Ann for a twin."
Ann raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Nothing – I'm perfectly fine with you doing the talking" Jennifer clarified. "But apparently I have gotten a bit quieter and more withdrawn since there were two of us rather than still one in their reality. I don't have any problems with that, but it was interesting to see how that was different in their world. It really seems like their world is what our lives would have been like if we had never met you as former Hell Valley inhabitants."
"That does seem to be the consensus" Ann mused. "I wonder what might have happened to Claudia and me. Or would their Hell Valley Jennifer not have a twin? There was no sign of one in the movie… then again, you didn't even appear in that part of the movie. Well, the regular you did, but not her counterpart."
Calvin was about to suggest that she might want to refrain from talking about the movie in front of her parents, who were obviously even more uncomfortable with that subject than with the others they'd discussed, but he wasn't sure how much Ann and Jennifer had actually told them – if they were smart, no more than necessary – about Visiting Doc's films, so he remained quiet and suddenly found himself wandering off in thoughts.
Ann might not exist in the other world, but he didn't exist either. Yes, of course he was a version of Marty and there was a version of Marty there, but he wasn't there. This was a different Marty, one that had never had to contend with more than one of himself in his life, and whose life had diverged radically after that October weekend.
In a way, the other Marty's life had to have been more mundane than that of him and his twin brother. Yes, he was familiar with time travel, but his parents didn't know, he didn't have any doubles, and Doc had even lived in the past for some time as far as Calvin had gathered rather than returning to 1985 right away. It was there that he had married Clara Clayton, and it was there that his children had been born, all with Marty still living out his normal existence back in 1985.
It was hard to imagine what that would have been like, living his life – even for just a few months – without his best friend. Having an abrupt break of emptiness after what Local Marty dubbed 'that October weekend' without anyone to talk to – well, except possibly Jennifer, whom Calvin wasn't sure could be kept out of the know forever. As he had seen in the second movie, she had found out about them travelling to the future before fainting, and their Jennifer had remembered some of that even if Marty had managed to convince her that it was all a dream before she had been told the real truth later that night. Calvin wondered whether the other Jennifer would continue to believe the lie, and if so, how Visiting Marty had adjusted to having absolutely no one in the know about the true origin of his parents' improved relationship, Lone Pine Mall and Wayne Ravine. Did they even have Wayne Ravine in the other reality? Calvin couldn't be sure.
And then there was the matter of what that would have been like for Doc. He knew from experience that Doc liked living in the Old West and wouldn't have minded staying for longer than the weeks they had been there. But living there alone, without anybody with him (well, except Clara) who understood, for several years? It was barely imaginable. If the third movie didn't make that part of the story clear, he would really have to ask Doc Brown about it – it might make good content for a new book.
If he would ever get a chance to write it, that is.
Perhaps he truly wasn't meant to be after all. He wasn't there in the other world, and, as Doc and Chris had time and time again explained to him, he was a duplicate Marty whom they were baffled had been able to co-exist with the original one – be that Mike or Local Marty – for so long. Perhaps his time, and his luck, was truly running out, and he might as well accept that in this dimension, there was only room for one Marty McFly.
Of course, even if that were true, it wouldn't change anything. Knowing Ann, she would still defend him as fiercely as she always had, never mind if he actually agreed with her. Without a doubt, she would argue that he was being incredibly silly and shouldn't even consider stopping to fight. And Doc – their Doc – and Chris, for all the disagreements they might have on the matter with Ann, would definitely back her up on that. Emmett Brown wasn't one to resignedly accept defeat because destiny might say so – after all, both counterparts' lives had been saved at least twice when they 'should' have died. Doc would probably argue that if there was anyone who deserved to die, it was him and not Calvin.
It took him a few more minutes before anyone actually pulled him into the conversation again, which by then had turned into wholly new subjects. The day's problems, and all they implied, were forgotten. But nevertheless, Calvin McFly just kept on worrying. And he strongly suspected that the reason Ann reacted so strongly to him doing so was because somewhere, she knew he was right.
oooooooo
It was amusing, Emmett Brown figured, how fast one got into a new rhythm. Here he was, living his life alongside his 19th Century wife, who should have died long before he was born, and along with his own counterpart from a different dimension with his wife – who was in turn a relative of his own wife, although not in this dimension – and adoptive kids, who were respectively the counterparts of his own best friend and his girlfriend. That should have been enough to drive any man crazy, but nevertheless, after about two years of living like that it had, in fact, become more or less normal.
And now that he was hosting yet another inter-dimensional counterpart and his Marty, Emmett found himself adjusting just as easily. Sure, he still had his moments of amazement at the background of his visitors, but nevertheless after three days of them staying over he was becoming used to it. A few rooms had been cleared out, some appointments had neatly been rescheduled in his agenda so that he would have time to coordinate and help with the repairs of the time bus, and there were a few more guests at what was usually already a crowded dinner table. And it was all very normal.
Therefore, when he had to pick up some parts at the electronics store in the afternoon and Doc asked whether he could come along, Emmett barely mulled at how unusual it would be for two Emmett Browns to go into town just like that. Of course, his counterpart would have to look like he was Chris, but that could easily be arranged. When Christopher Lloyd Brown moved into this reality with his family he had initially been planning to have his appearances fully altered to make sure he looked only like a relative rather than a near-clone of Dr. Emmett Brown, but before that could be arranged they'd already had run-ins with town residents whom they had had to tell this Chris was his cousin. As such, a complete appearance makeover was right out, and Chris had been limited to painting his hair, wearing it slightly differently, and wearing different clothes. The changes were sufficient to keep up the façade, but as the fact that he had thought to recognize 'Chris' right away when Visiting Doc came over three days ago (too be fair, he didn't know any other people that were the spitting image of him) indicated that they hadn't done too much. Perhaps that could change in the future – for now, it made it easy for Doc to take on Chris' appearance for their trip into town.
But while that was quickly arranged, another issue seemed to be set to become more important, namely Clara's shopping list and the comments Doc had made on it. Clara had asked her husband to pick up a few groceries while he was out anyway, Emmett had complied, and Doc had seen the shopping list and chuckled.
"Is something wrong?" Emmett had wondered.
Doc had shaken his head. "Nah, it's just the inclusions of diapers and baby nutrition on the shopping list. It feels like so long since I had to – or, looking back, maybe 'got to' – take care of that. Well, except for our youngest, but Clara mostly takes care of him."
It was just an offhand remark, but it had been on Emmett's mind as they drove in his car to the electronics store. He had heard before that Doc had spent several years in the 19th Century, of course, but he had paid little thought to what that implied. Living in the era for a few weeks had been a great holiday for him, but he was happy here and didn't mind living in the 1980s. The fact that Doc had been there for years, though – he still wasn't sure quite how long it had been, but he seemed to recall the other scientist had said 'ten years' at one point, which was frankly incredible – made him somehow feel both jealous and sympathetic. Jealous, because he loved the Old West and would have been thrilled at the chance to explore it further – he had, after all, considered staying behind with Clara before Chris had rudely but effectively disabused him of the thought that this could be a good idea – but also sympathetic, since 1885 sounded a lot less tempting when he would be trapped there. He was a scientist, a man whose dream had long been to see the future and look beyond his years. Living his life out in such an era, where the slightest cough from one of his family members could mean a disastrous illness that would have been easily cured in 1985, where he would have to watch every word he said for fear of messing up the space-time continuum, where he would never see a car, a television, a computer, much less his best friend again… put like that, being trapped in the 1880s sounded like agony.
Of course, he couldn't really tell that that was what it had really been like – he, after all, hadn't spent so much of his life in the past. And thus Emmett Brown kept wondering what the best way might be to breach the subject, even as they both walked into the electronics store.
Doc rapidly walked past all the shelves at a speed Emmett could only just keep up with – another side effect of living much longer as a blacksmith than he had? – and after touring the entire store turned back to him. "Just as I thought" he said. "Outside of your family, it seems very little has changed. This electronics store appears identical to what it was in my world."
Emmett nodded. "Did you see anything useful for repairing the time machine that wasn't on our list yet?"
Doc shrugged. "There might be a transistor that could be useful to shore up the safety of the time circuits, but none for the essential repairs – and I'd prefer to do non-essential repairs when we get home anyway. No offense, but I feel like it would be safer for us to leave this world as soon as we can."
Emmett nodded again. "I understand. Let's check out what we've bought and head over to the grocery store."
As they did so, Emmett noticed once more how no one seemed to pay attention to him and 'Chris', with the cashier making small-talk not noticing anything strange either. Granted, he hadn't noticed anything either, but on some level it remained weird. They headed over to the grocery store, Doc keeping an eye out for any building or street that looked different from how it did in his home reality. Judging by his silence, their Hill Valleys were virtually identical.
The occasional trip to the grocery store was one Emmett didn't really mind taking. Yes, it always took him some effort to push himself out of his laboratory, but once he was out on the street, talking to others and breathing in fresh air, he always enjoyed himself. Staying in one same room for hours on end was rather stifling, after all. And given that when he did go out of the house it was often on a journey to the future with the time machine, it wasn't too bad to occasionally remind himself what period he was living in.
Grocery shopping was thus one thing Emmett didn't mind, but there were certain limits. He was comfortable with regular grocery shopping, which he had been doing all the time in his bachelor days. Of course he had to take into account the larger quantities he had to buy food for, but that was okay as he'd always stocked up on food anyway, so he could simply buy the same amount every week as he'd bought every month in his bachelor days. It wasn't even the variation, as neither of his housemates were picky eaters after growing up either in Biff's world or in the Old West. He did have to pick up some more juice than he was used to and was occasionally chastised for bringing home junk food, but that wasn't the problem. The real issue was with the younger members of the family.
It had been one thing to spend much of the last few years as a surrogate father to a rebelling, uncomfortable but altogether good teenager. It was something wholly different to become an actual father to a baby boy, with one more child of indeterminate gender on the way. He felt inadequate, unequipped to raise a child at his age of sixty-eight, and always trying to draw comparisons with Chris' parenting style (which fell short, because of course raising a one-year-old or a nineteen-year-old are very different things) or with his own parents, which was so long ago that he had to spend minutes thinking hard just to come up with the most superficial details on his childhood. He had even considered travelling back there to check it out firsthand, but that plan was too risky and had more flaws than he bothered to count. He would have to do his job in the here and now, with all the problems it brought.
Diapers were one of them. Not only was putting them on and off a job not even a delighted new father could stay enthusiastic about, he was always unsure which brand to buy – not that Clara didn't write him a note on the subject, but Emmett never knew whether he was doing it right. With food those worries were amplified. What if the brand he bought wasn't the best of all options for Jules? He knew he wouldn't want to eat any of that crap, but how did one tell the difference between good mush and inadequate or even bad mush? And then there were the looks other customers gave him – he didn't mind others looking at him because he was strange, but the fact that he was too old to buy diapers and baby food did sting, not in the least because it reminded him of his age with regards to Clara. He knew Clara loved him and leaving him was the farthest thing from her mind, but he still worried.
All those thoughts were going through Emmett's brain as he picked another few bottles of baby food – Chris had asked him to take some along for their boys as well. Then, Doc casually spoke up, remarking they always bought the different bottle, but that was okay, the differences were minor.
Emmett blinked. "That's right, you have kids too" he said. "Although considering you spent a longer time in the Old West than I did, I'd thought they would have outgrown baby food age…"
Doc smirked. "True, but I have three kids at the moment. Martin, the youngest, was born seventeen months ago and so is still very much in that age bracket. Jules and Verne, of course, are far past that stage – Jules is ten right now, while Verne is eight."
There were so many little things those sentences told him, and Emmett's head almost spun. His counterpart had sons of his own who were ten and eight years old? And one of them was named Verne… well, that was only to be expected, he'd been considering that name himself for a second boy and it was kind of a given after 'Jules'. That had to mean that Doc had already gone through many of the problems Emmett was facing… and he had confronted them not in the comfort of 1980s Hill Valley, but in the Old West, an era known for its romantic outdoor life and heroic struggles of good and evil but not for its hygiene. And given that children would have needed that hygiene more than anyone else… suddenly, Emmett felt rather silly for complaining at all about the difficulties of fatherhood. Apparently, he didn't know half of it yet.
Fortunately Doc didn't notice his counterpart's musings, because he was doing some musing of his own. "It's strange to think you're only just starting off fatherhood" he said. "To go back to those early days… how's that treating you so far?"
"It's… difficult" Emmett admitted. Frankly, he wanted to say that it was extremely difficult and complex, but that felt like exaggerating his own problems. Also, he wondered how it was possible that Doc could long back to when his eldest kids were little, but he supposed it was like aging – when he was little he wanted couldn't wait to be older, when he was getting older he wanted to be young again. At least with rejuvenations, he could achieve that to some extent.
Doc smiled. "If you want to, I could give you some advice on child-rearing" he said. "I don't know if it's any good, but although I worried myself sick sometimes, the boys seem to be turning out okay."
Emmett smiled back, certainly able to sympathize with that. But there was one point which had struck him as odd. "You don't intend to give me that advice here, do you?" he wondered. "This is a public place, after all..."
Doc looked around, and then to his surprise shrugged. "There's no one around, we're not directly talking about… temporal affairs, and I doubt any of the monitors around even record what's being said, much less that anyone watching them will pay attention. I'll take that chance."
He had a point, of course, but Emmett still felt uneasy. "That doesn't mean it's necessary to take the risk. It's not like we're in some random spot in the space-time continuum where talking about temporal traversing will raise eyebrows – even if we do it in language like this – but this is my home time, and my home town. I know Chris would rather, say, miss out on his wife's birthday – and those two are trying really hard to create a solid, happy family so that's one thing he wouldn't want to miss – than talk about this issue in a public store."
Doc shrugged. "Fair enough" he said. "I guess you and Chris have become more concerned with letting anything slip about ti-, er, this, after that incident with Biff?"
That was, in retrospect, a good analysis, and as good a reason as any as for why this sudden difference in opinion had come about. That couldn't be all, though. "Yes, but I did intend to destroy the machine before that happened. As did you, from what I saw in the movie."
"True" Doc agreed, then remained quiet. Emmett frowned at him, but decided not to ask anything as the two packed the groceries and headed past the cashier out of the store, then got in the car and headed home.
It was only there that Doc spoke up again. "I think the difference in opinion comes from us not interacting directly with the results of Biff's horrible world" he suggested. "Certainly, Marty spoke to his mother's counterpart – Mike's mother – and he had a nearly fatal encounter with Biff, but we didn't live with it anymore after Marty burned the almanac in 1955."
Emmett frowned. "You didn't forget about it, did you?" He couldn't imagine that event, which had made such a profound impact on him, being forgotten by his other self even as enough time had passed.
Doc chuckled, and shook his head. "No, I don't think I could ever forget about that timeline" he said. "It was the first alternate reality I ever saw, and though I'm not sure whether it is the worst it certainly is one of the worst. The difference is that I am reminded of the dangers of time travel every time I accidentally cause an alternate reality – which is not that often, thankfully – or when I reminisce about that crazy weekend with Marty. You get reminded of it every day, and if you aren't, Chris will do it for you. Right?"
"Probably" Emmett agreed. "Whenever Chris and I discuss time travel and I'm inclined to ease up on the rules we set for ourselves, he reminds me of Hell Valley. It gets annoying after a while, but I know he's right."
Doc leaned back into his seat and pondered that. "Is he really?" He held up a hand as Emmett started to complain. "Don't get me wrong, I fully believe in tight security around time travel, and it isn't really my place to say anything about your methods – not to mention I'm speaking from just two days of experience. It's perfectly fine if you don't pay any attention to what I am saying."
There was a but. There always had to be a but.
"But I do think Chris might be a little… extreme. I don't know about you – or rather, I'm fairly confident that I do know about you, even though I'm not a hundred percent certain – but I started work on the time machine so that I could see beyond of my years. So that I could explore the future and the past – being cautious and responsible, of course, but still leaving a few roads open to me. Certainly, there was the added value of the technological breakthrough time travel would be in itself, but given that we knew we couldn't show it to the world, that was never going to be the main purpose."
Emmett frowned. "I definitely remember having dreams of revealing the time machine to the outside world – not for the fame and glory, of course, but because it would provide me some financial security and assure myself that I wasn't a failure."
Doc nodded. "I felt the same way, but that ended after I saw all the problems it had gotten Marty into and realized I could never show it to anyone outside of a trusted circle. So that motivation was gone then." He held up a hand to forestall protest again. "I know what you're going to say – that the time paradox which would result from not building the time machine would give me reason enough to build it after I first met Marty, right?" Emmett nodded. "That's true, and it was a major motivator for me whenever I wasn't sure I was going to succeed in this – but just as many times, it served as a hopeless pipe dream that another version of me might have achieved but that I couldn't imagine to match. The real hope that kept my dream alive was getting to see the future, and in the last weeks, even months before the time machine was finished, that was all that was on my mind – well, next to juggling avoiding the Libyans and getting Marty safely back in time, of course. Remember how we left 1985 immediately after Marty had returned from the past? Going to the future was our primary goal to build the time machine then, and I'd wager it still is now. Security is a good thing, but if Chris is keeping his time machine stored in your basement and locked up tighter than Fort Knox all the time I wonder why he bothers to still have it around."
Emmett snorted. "I don't know where you got that impression from, but you're wrong" he informed his counterpart. "Chris definitely doesn't keep the other DeLorean in the basement all the time. He took it along on his honeymoon, and Mike, Marty and Ann used to go back to 1885 and rescue us when we got stranded there."
"And that was how long ago again?" Doc argued. "It must have been a while, because you met your wife there and now you have a son with another one on the way. And I know how tight the security on the other DeLorean is – Chris showed it to me this morning. It was tight before that trip and he made it even tighter afterwards. I know that would make me less inclined to take that time machine. When was the last time Chris used his own DeLorean?"
That question got Emmett thinking. In a way, his counterpart did have a point. Although both of them owned time machines, harmoniously stored next to each other in the basement, he couldn't recall the last time Chris had taken his own out. Instead, the car was just on the same spot all the time, and had gotten major upgrades in security while Emmett's own car had had improvements in internal design – which didn't matter for the other DeLorean, simply because it never moved. Whenever time travel was needed, Emmett would take his own DeLorean to the future, sometimes if rarely accompanied by Chris, who would frequently comment on the dangers he was facing with his less secured car. He doubted the other inventor would condone more than one time journey a year if not for Calvin's bad health. Was his other self truly getting too paranoid?
But he didn't want to give in right away, and as he turned into the driveway towards the Brown mansion, Emmett had a thought. "You can afford to be relaxed about time travel" he said. "We have been faced with the horrible and dangerous aftermath of just one journey for the last two and a half years. Considering that we have been spending so much time repairing one mishap with no solution in sight, just from one journey through time, do you really think we aren't justified to be less happy go-lucky and better prepared than you?"
"True, true" Doc agreed. He chuckled. "How did we even get to this subject? I thought we were talking about raising kids."
"That's right" Emmett said. He whistled. "I can't imagine how you had to bring up your children in the 1880s. I would have been worried sick about them catching local diseases or, when they got older, spilling information about time travel – or didn't you tell them?"
"I didn't, not at first, but they could certainly have gotten a clue that there was something strange going on" Doc replied. The car stopped outside of the Brown mansion, but neither of the men moved from their seats. "So yes, that had me worried many times. It was strange because I'd been fine with taking those risks myself – I had even had a romantic view of the time period, which I'd seen come true in parts – but once I started dating Clara, I started worrying about her and later about the kids. There's something about children that makes them look so much more fragile, even more so than they really are. And then there's the fact that eventually they had to go to school, which had potential to alter history and, like you said, cause word getting out that something strange was going on at the Browns' place."
Emmett shook his head. He knew that school would present its own share of problems in the 1980s, but to imagine it in the 1880s… "Well, at least they wouldn't have had anyone bullying them for being related to the town crackpot" he said wryly.
Doc nodded. "Actually, there hasn't been a lot of that in the 1980s either" he said. "I guess most kids either don't know who I am or they and their parents don't care about my reputation. Jules does get some flak for his studiousness, but that's unrelated."
"Jules will be a studious boy then" Emmett mused. "A good thing Chris wasn't here – he wouldn't have been happy with you for spilling that. I can't really say I am."
Doc smiled sheepishly. "You're right" he said. "It slipped out before I realized what I was talking about. Of course, there's no guarantee your Jules will turn out the same way, and I didn't give you that much to go on, but… maybe we should end this conversation before anything else happens."
"Probably" Emmett agreed. "Are you sure you can't tell me any more about child rearing?"
"Nothing, except do your best, ask Clara for help, don't panic and relax" Doc replied. "By the time Jules and Verne were about twenty months old, the situation normalized again, so you should be just about at the end of the worst… for the first one, anyway. And you'll know the basics by the time Verne rolls around. Remember, if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."
Emmett frowned. "You know, that phrase sounds a lot hollower from this angle."
"Oh, I know" Doc quipped. "I am you after all."
Emmett nodded thoughtfully, getting the car and opening the front door of the house for Doc. Thereafter, he headed back to his wife, carrying the groceries with him.
oooooooo
From the moment he made his deal with Ann, Visiting Marty had suspected the secrecy about Calvin's nature wouldn't last. In fact, it surprised him that everything went all right for the first two days, and even though he kept an eye on Doc, Marty couldn't give any indication that his friend was catching on. Of course, part of that was due to Doc's endless dedication to their work. As determined as he had been when they were still hopping through dimensions to keep on looking even if it would take them another 200 to go through, just as determined was he now to finish the repairs on the DFSCUPCIF. As such, it wasn't too unexpected that the scientist would dismiss any oddities from Calvin as irrelevant trivialities that would have no effect on their schedule to return home and were therefore not important.
Not that there were many incidents Doc could've gotten hints from. Marty wasn't sure if Ann had told Calvin about their conversation, but from then on it seemed as if Calvin was trying extra hard to appear average. He didn't speak unless explicitly addressed, and even then his answers were short but never to the point of being remarkably rude. He did everything he should without complaints, and occasionally glanced over to what the others were doing to make sure that he wasn't exceeding or falling behind on schedule. He even resisted the urge – one Marty could clearly identify – to be overly sappy with Ann when he worked with her on the third day, apparently not wanting to risk even such an innocent cause for people paying attention to them. Meanwhile, Visiting Marty wasn't able to pay as much attention as he wanted to, because the people he was working with – Claudia and Local Marty on the second and third day respectively – apparently had been told about him knowing as well, because they tried to start a conversation with him suspiciously often at moments when he was glancing towards Calvin. He supposed that was for the best, though – they did have to focus on their work in building the time machine, and if nothing had happened he might have forgotten about the matter entirely. There were small, remarkable incidents, though, like Calvin occasionally putting a hand to his head while working, but being fine a few seconds thereafter and continuing as if nothing had happened. Those were the ones that kept him alert at the fact that something was going on, but Doc didn't notice them and Visiting Marty really didn't want to raise a fuss. For the time being he still kept quiet, but he was already contemplating the wisdom of that course of action and intended to speak to Doc on the morning of the fourth day when it happened on the afternoon of the third.
Calvin and Ann were working on reassembling the wiring behind the time circuits, while both Marty's were trying to repair the time circuit control microchip. That latter job was more complicated than expected because this version was a futuristic expanded edition outfitted to enable dimensional travelling as well – even keeping options open for destination location, which was an addition the Docs of both this and their own world were considering for the future – and at least half of the job consisted in replacing complex 2070s electronics assembled by Doc personally with repair circuits from a few decades earlier. The inventor had to step in to help several times, and Visiting Marty had suggested that he should take this part and they would take some easier task, to which his friend had replied that that simply wasn't an option – if he had to do all the difficult jobs, the repair work would take longer to finish, and he was confident that they would manage this just fine. As such, Visiting Marty had actually had little time to pay attention to Calvin at all until the incident happened.
It was a little past 2, and Clara had just made coffee for them and put it down on a table for them to fetch – an unusual hour perhaps, but with this kind of work he'd never been professionally trained for Visiting Marty was grateful for every drop of caffeine, as were many of the others. Calvin, on the other hand, seemed too preoccupied with the circuitry to go and fetch something to drink, which Visiting Marty casually remarked to Local Marty about, who told him that rather than just with the repair works, Calvin was in reality preoccupied because he was probably thinking of ideas for his book on the side.
Next, everything occurred very fast. Ann overheard the conversation and nudged Calvin, who looked up to see Visiting Marty staring right at him. Not wanting to appear suspicious, he jumped to his feet – which alone made him put his hand against his forehead for a second – and walked over to the coffee table.
He never made it there. A few steps before he was at the coffee table, Calvin put his hand against his forehead again, groaned, then slumped over forwards, plummeting against the coffee table and making the pot jump up, hit his back and then shatter to the ground, some coffee spilling over his back and left arm but some even dripping through that left arm.
The results were immediate. Emmett and Chris let out an immediate "Great Scott!" and ran over, being only cut off at the pass by Ann, who was there in a matter of seconds to tend to her boyfriend. The only one still on his spot was Doc, who was still preoccupied by his circuitry for a few seconds and then looked up with a confused look on his face before walking over.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Calvin fainted" Visiting Marty replied, then hesitated but nevertheless added: "And it's because he's erasing from existence."
That provoked a "Great Scott!" from his best friend all right.
He wasn't even sure why he said it. He just knew that he wanted to see the end of all this secrecy about one of his counterparts' lives. They had the duty to help Calvin, and now that he had seen firsthand the reality of Calvin's condition, he feared that they would be going home without doing anything about it.
Doc actually remained quiet for a few moments, taking everything in as Ann tried to revive Calvin while Chris checked his vitals and Emmett headed off to fetch a towel to clean the poor boy and the mess that had been made on the floor. He also checked to make sure everyone had left behind their projects correctly, without any danger to the sensitive circuitry. It was only after he and Chris had carried the unconscious boy to a couch, with Local Marty pushing up his rump so that there wouldn't be too much weight on either arms or legs, that Doc cleared his throat.
"I realize the gravity of this issue," he said, "but I hope somebody can explain to me what just happened here." He turned to Visiting Marty, who shrank under his friend's gaze. "You knew about this?"
"Yeah" Visiting Marty admitted. "But I wasn't expecting anything like this to happen – and they insisted that I shouldn't tell anyone about it. I was planning on breaking that eventually, though – I figured we couldn't keep you out of the loop forever."
As Ann shot him a dirty look, Doc let out an exasperated sigh. "All right, so what is happening?" he insisted. "I don't understand how Calvin could possibly be erasing from existence for several days on end – which he must be, or this wouldn't have been going on for so long. Did you do something in the past to endanger Calvin's existence?"
Chris sighed. "Take a seat" he said gruffly. "I guess we have no other option but to tell you the whole story now. It's not what you think it is – although I can certainly understand the reasoning, given that it is what we ourselves asked ourselves as well. We took into account the possibility of regular erasure – well, as regular as erasure could be – and from that perspective couldn't see why Calvin was fading so slowly. And has been ever since – this matter has been going on since we came to this dimension, which is now two and a half years ago. But the core thing about this is that Calvin isn't fading because of something we did, but because technically, he was never meant to exist in the first place."
To Visiting Marty's surprise, the now-seated Doc nodded. "I had been meaning to ask you about that" he said. "I just couldn't figure out how you could co-exist with each other in this world without either fading away. Granted, the fact that we came across an alternate Hell Valley dimension which was clearly your home world sometime during this trip might have indicated that you were from another dimension yourself, but given that you were only just inventing the DFSCUPCIF now that didn't sound like it could be the real answer, and it doesn't account for what's happening to Calvin right now."
Chris nodded. "Very good points" he replied. "A lot of them were ones we ourselves in fact raised when all of this was first going on, and you already nearly penetrated to the core of the business where it took us days of research to do so. But the real story is, of course, more complicated."
Keeping an eye on Ann, who was in turn watching a still-unconscious Calvin, Chris began to tell the whole story. His perspective was slightly different and at times more elaborate than what Ann had told Visiting Marty, who thus found himself listening attentively against his own expectations. Calvin woke up at one point during the tale – which was a great relief to all of them – and, recognizing the way the wind was blowing, gave some helpful additions to the tale. Visiting Marty subsequently told the others how he had found out a few days earlier, but had effectively promised to keep the secret for the time being. He finished the story by discussing the solutions he and Ann had talked about, and the problems they, especially the eventual move by Calvin into their or some other universe, would bring for those concerned by it.
Everyone was now looking at Doc, who took a deep breath. "Well," he said, "it's good to hear this out in the open." The 'finally' undertone was obvious in his voice, and made Visiting Marty feel nervous.
The inventor continued. "Calvin, I'm afraid that I am going to offer you the solution my Marty came up with earlier – that you should go with us either to our reality or to a neighboring one. I understand why that makes you feel uncomfortable – to say the least – but it is the only solution I can think of at the moment that will help save your life."
Calvin nodded. "I know, Doctor Brown" he replied. "I know I should even be grateful at this solution, because in all fairness it is a lot better than dying – but for the moment, it certainly doesn't feel that way."
The sadness in the eyes of his counterpart and in those of Ann made Visiting Marty feel hurt for their sakes, too. "Doc, isn't there anything else we can do for them?" he pleaded. "Even if going through different time periods won't help, there's got to be some other way. You've always found a way. There was always a solution."
"I know, Marty – but we haven't always liked that solution even when it was the best available" Doc replied. "Like how Clara and I were left behind in 1885 being the solution to the whole mess with the train pushing up the DeLorean. Granted, that was your idea, even though you might not have been thinking about it at the time, and it all turned out rather well… but the example from 1955 is a straighter one, when you went back to the future but left me with memories of having a best friend for one week, someone I'd become closer to than to anyone else since the death of my parents, but someone whom I wouldn't see again for another two decades and only if I did exactly what I should do to preserve the space-time continuum."
"But I won't be meeting up with the others again in twenty years, Doc" Calvin said softly. "I would be gone forever. Even if we could visit occasionally, there would be no way that I could resume my life here again. Right?"
"I highly doubt there would" Doc conceded. "But like I said, I can't think of another solution, you can't think of another solution, my counterparts and everyone else in this dimension who knows about this can't think of another solution – and given your condition, we haven't got time to think of one. I have no clue how long you'll last under the current circumstances – my counterparts might want to use that ripple-effect indicator they mentioned to check that – but I doubt it will be very long."
"Should this even be happening?" Local Marty spoke up. "I mean, I was expecting after what Doc and Chris told me that Calvin would get kidney problems first because his organ – formerly Mike's organ – was failing, so that would be his first problem rather than fading again."
"Well, they're all symptoms of the same disease" Emmett said with a sigh. "A horrible, unique disease that we haven't been able to find a cure for in two and a half years. I'm afraid my counterpart is right, Calvin – unless any of us comes up with a brainstorm in the next few days, your only hope for survival is to go with them. And even that's just based on another weak, unfounded theory. But considering that Visiting Marty has apparently known of this for three days now and hasn't come up with anything – which isn't your fault, of course, just really inconvenient – and neither has my counterpart, this 'fresh insight' isn't helping us just yet."
"But Calvin can't leave!" Ann insisted, in a wailing tone of voice that was very uncharacteristic for her. "He's not supposed to leave! He's supposed to live here and become a successful author – Mike has seen it! You've seen it! This isn't how the future is meant to go!" Calvin put an arm on her shoulder, amplifying the awkwardness by having the person whom the discussion concerned having to comfort his girlfriend who had a(n even) harder time handling it than he did.
"Yes, I have seen it" Emmett said. "But the future is constantly changing, it's unpredictable, and I have no idea what lead to that reality. Our current future may very well be that Calvin lives out his life in another dimension – or the even worse alternative." Which was, of course, death.
"Then go to the future!" Ann exclaimed. "Where's a time machine good for if you don't use it!" At that, Emmett and Doc exchanged uneasy glances pointed towards Chris. "Go to the future, find out what helped Calvin, and help him! I – I love him, and I don't want him to die…"
"Neither of us want that." Chris said soothingly.
"Then do something!"
"We're trying to!" the inventor snapped. "But looking into the future, we might logically encounter what would be a predestination paradox – we would be getting the information about a future that would lead to that future occurring in the first place, enabling us to get that information. It's rather like a closed-loop timeline, and time travel doesn't work that way, as we've all found out by now. It would be a bit like if George and Lorraine McFly had been brought together by 'Calvin Klein' before any time travel had ever taken place, and in that case, when Marty or Calvin went back in time he would have merely been setting up his own future, the only future. And since it doesn't work that way, something else would happen – and I don't want to take that risk, the risk of more future information. I am absolutely confident that the Calvin McFly Mike and Emmett saw in a future newspaper was saved from erasure by his friends' own work, not by them peeking into the future. That's just too dangerous, it's too risky, I… I won't stand for it. I can't do it and I won't do it, it goes too much against everything I stand for, and it can only be a last resort if someone's life is on the line – which it admittedly isn't, since Calvin does have an alternative, however miserable all of us would think it is."
They all remained quiet for a long time, thinking of any way out of this mess but, at least in Visiting Marty's case, not being able to come up with anything at all. Finally, Calvin gave a vague, wry smile.
"Well, you're the Doc, Chris."
"Is that a 'yes'?" Doc asked tentatively.
Calvin nodded. "For the moment, it is" he said. "There is no other option." He pulled Ann, who started shaking, close to him. "Travelling to another dimension must be better than dying – not in the least because there would still be the chance of seeing you guys again, the chance of a permanent solution – even if it would take years and probably still ruin a fair bit of my life anyway."
"You're right, Cal" Local Marty muttered. "It's just – we've all gotten used to you being here, you're my twin brother, and as much as I'd hate you dying a thousand times more, I would also hate to lose you."
"I know" Calvin said grimly. "But there appears to be no other option than to start over again, and if that's what I have to do, I guess I'll do it. And hey." He smiled. "Maybe any of us will think of something, and all of this will be unnecessary."
"Here's hoping" Doc said, holding up his coffee mug in salute, a gesture whose drama was decreased by it being a mug and containing cold coffee. "I don't know everything you've been through, but we've certainly been through horrible situations, and we always came out well in the end. If you have confidence that everything will turn out fine, then that might just turn out to be justified."
Those words were very true, Visiting Marty thought. Unfortunately, they were also very empty and he could see they weren't helping Calvin very much. But in the end, there was nothing they could do about it for the moment except think, think hard, and think some more – and hope for a miracle.