Chapter 6: Special Package

Dan was trying to read the letter when Egon came down the stairs with the cats and Roland. Janine, Eduardo, and Amy were still in Venkman's office with him as he tried to read more but became distracted. After what looked like a very specific statement in the letter Doc had sent, Dan folded the paper over and put it in his pocket before going back into the large envelope to retrieve the documents Doc sent. Egon reached the office and started questioning, "I heard shouting. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Dan tried to downplay the situation, "We just got a good look at something that gave me and Eddie a start." Egon walked beside the two of them and looked into the crate. He adjusted his glasses as Janine also walked beside him, "What is it?" Egon's brow fluttered a bit before looking to Janine and Amy, "Is it possible you could leave us for now? There's something of a sensitive nature we need to discuss." Janine and Amy looked at each other. There seemed to be a stress that suddenly emanated over the three men standing before the device in the crate. Nevertheless, Janine and Amy adjourned upstairs, the cats staying behind as well, "Luna, Artemis, I'm sure you heard of this by now?"

Jumping onto the desk, the talking animals looked into the crate and saw the device, Luna being the most unsure, "It just looks like another piece of equipment. One of your pieces?"

"No," the scientist began, "Back two years ago, Dan, Eduardo, and Roland here took a government project sent here to the firehouse to run tests on. They thought it was possessed. They briefed me on it after I got back from Salt Lake City, Utah."

Artemis exclaimed, "Oh, yeah! Mina and Lita were telling us," he pointed his paw into the crate, "This was in the DeLorean, wasn't it?" Dan was tense, "Look, don't go around talking about this thing. It was technically highly classified, so the less you tell the others…" he just realized what Artemis said, "Did you say Lita and Mina told you?" Artemis nodded his head. Dan and Eduardo looked at each other, Eduardo giving himself a facepalm as Dan spoke frankly, "If we were FBI agents, we'd have been in serious trouble by now." Roland also got a look at the device before looking at the men that were more involved in the device, "I thought you…"

"Apparently," Dan took the letter from his pocket, "Doc sent us a new one."

"This 'Doc' you speak of," Egon started brushing the rest of the straw packing away from the device, "was he the one that helped you repair the time machine enough to come back here?" "Yep," Dan responded, "Dr. Emmett L. Brown. Doc was what his friend Marty called him." Eduardo finally removed his hand from his face and asked, "Did you know him, Egon?" Egon began a description, "Tall man, white hair, has a tendency to yell, 'Great Scott!' becoming upset or annoyed?" Eduardo was at first surprised, but quipped, "What, do you guys go to mad scientist conventions or something?"

"I met Dr. Brown at MIT while I was studying Nuclear Physics in the early 70's," Egon began, "He was filling in for my normal Professor who had taken leave to handle family affairs. For that week I got to know him. He spoke of a dream he had where he was going to be able to travel in time. Apparently, he achieved that and sent you two on a wild affair." "Among other people," Dan stated with some annoyance.

"Then," Luna broke in, "if this device can help with time travel, that may be our good fortune!"

"I agree," Dan said as he unfolded the other papers that were in the envelope, "It looks like Doc sent us a set of plans for what to do with it," he handed the papers to Roland for him to look over. After a moment of study, he handed them to Egon while stating, "These look like a schematic for some kind of data packet transmitter." After a moment of looking at the documents, Egon became rather perplexed, "That does look like a data routing system, but why would he send this to us?"

Luna looked to the bi-speckled scientist, "Last night, the Scouts agreed that if you were to call in help, that we should do the same. The Outer Scouts had gone into the future to look over things in what we call…"

"Crystal Tokyo?" Egon interrupted.

Luna was stunned, "Yes! How did you know?"

"Raye explained it to me after letting it slip. I am aware that you yourselves traveled time."

Roland again took back the electronic plans, "So, we take this and build it, hook it to a computer with a network card, and send a message. Doesn't look too hard." "So, what do we send?" Eduardo asked as he looked at the device again, "Do we send them cookie recipes? How do we even send something if we don't know where to send it?" "Correct," Egon confirmed, "Date and location would be valuable vectors to send something. We'd also need to know if their system would be listening on the other side." Artemis looked into the crate again, "Maybe there's another set of instructions in here somewhere."

Taking the lid completely off Roland and Dan pulled the Flux Capacitor out, setting it on the back counter of the office allowing Eduardo and Egon to dig through the straw. Eduardo hit something with his fingers. It felt hard and covered in paper, "Hey, I got something!" He grabbed the object and pulled it out. It looked like a round object wrapped in brown packaging paper tied off with twine. He unwrapped it and saw a crystal inside, "Huh?" Egon took the crystal and examined it, "I see some kind of traces inside the crystal. It looks like a kind of technology way more advanced than anything I've ever seen."

Dan was brushing the straw off him as he turned and looked at the object in Egon's hand. It was round-ish, having small flat spots all round the sphere. It had a pink tinge to its color. He reached out and grabbed the object…

It glowed briefly.

It flashed.

Dan was now on the ground.

Luna and Artemis hopped down from the desk and checked on him as Egon and Eduardo knelt down as well. Roland started shouting for help.

Dear Dan,

If my calculations are correct, you should be receiving this package at the precise moment you need to call for help. Included will be a special-built version of my Flux Capacitor. Alongside this letter is a set of instructions and schematics to help you link a TCP/IP based computer to transmit a signal to a specific point in the 31st century. There are objects in the package for which a certain person should be there to help explain. Yes, Dan, I knew who you were speaking of when we were erasing Biff's memory, but the reason for that is because… I didn't invent the memory nullifier that we had used. Trespassing on anyone's memory is something an ethical scientist wouldn't perform working with the quandary of if it were done to me. Even though I am a scientist, I have no will nor want to be anyone who could control someone's memories.

I believe you're in no doubt confused. You see, after Marty, Jennifer, and Eduardo were abducted by Biff in my time train in my home time of 1895, we proceeded to go after them by returning to 1985 first and repairing the DeLorean. Our first destination was unfortunately not our intended one. Upon breaching temporal displacement, the time machine's controls were hijacked and we ended up so far into the future the world was unrecognizable. We had an interaction with a group of people you should be familiar with if not have in your headquarters at this moment. I know of your memories being questionable and unable to retrieve. Due to your crossing the temporal barrier it had unfortunately kept certain memories of yours under limitation if not outright manipulation. It had nothing to do with me; I refused to meddle in your mind. However there is someone in your presence that can and should be able to unlock and restore your memories from a time with the help of the additional device that had been included.

I was told this was a very dire situation. Sometimes due to subtle changes in the timeline and even larger changes, history is always in flux, and sometimes due to human ignorance some things go unnoticed enough to never make it into the history books. Chances are, this letter will make more sense once your mind is unlocked, but understand that when it does, I had no ill will toward you. I was asked for the sake of the future not to outright tell you. The instructions will contain more information of the what and how of the operation of this new Flux Capacitor, and as before, please dismantle or destroy the device when your tasks are complete.

I thank you again for doing as I asked. From a fellow scientist to another, I hope you have the means and the will to do what's right and continue to do so. I will always respect the risk you took to help me get my time machines back and to secure their technologies so that others couldn't abuse them. I also respect your help in saving my young friends from a horrible fate. If I had never invented these damn machines you and Eduardo would never have risked your lives, and for that, I'm sorry. I wish you the best of luck and a safe journey.

My best to Lita.

Signed,

"Doc" Emmett L. Brown

Dan's eyes opened as he heard rasps and clangs of swords before him. He looked around and saw a massive war taking place in front of him. It wasn't any war; it was the Negaverse/Moon Kingdom War on Jupiter. His heart started pounding hard as he recognized what was happening in front of him, "Oh, shit! Not again!" He went to grip his throat like he did before, but this time it was different, "Wait, why am I still talking in my normal voice? I thought I spoke with a Scottish accent."

"You did." Dan turned to the voice. Behind him was a man wearing what looked like a tuxedo and a mask, but the suit was more white in color. He knew who it was immediately, "Darien?" "To a point," the man stated as he approached. He walked beside the man and overlooked the battle on Jupiter unfolding before them. It was a bloodbath with one of Beryl's Shadow Warriors cutting through the men in the battlefield. Dan also watched as the men were being slaughtered, "Jesus Christ. I had a hard enough time with the nightmares."

"I remember you saying that," the man stated, "There was a part that I know you had issues remembering. It took time, but I learned it was repressed so hard even your current life's version of yourself didn't want to remember it." He turned back behind him and looked intently. Dan followed his lead and looked behind him to see that there was another version of himself standing in his battle armor. The look on his face was one of absolute horror. Dan looked to himself and saw he was still in his Ghostbuster uniform. He was confused as all get out, "What the hell's happening?!"

"You're seeing your memories through a new lens. I couldn't separate and force the viewpoint onto you, so I could only show you in a type of flashback. We're not truly here. You're still in your headquarters in what was New York." "What was…" that alarmed Dan, "What do you mean…" "It'll all make sense soon." Dan watched as the Jupiter Knight of the past stood on the edge of Mount Veronti on the surface of Jupiter. The flash of light above drew his attention toward Europa hanging over the battlefield. That was when Dan saw it on the Knight's face. Dan remembered this part well, but it was what was next that he couldn't recall. He saw the Knight become enraged.

Electricity enveloped the man's body as he screamed out, "Solar… Knight… FLARE!" He jumped high into the sky. Dan and the man with him looked up and watched as the light intensified around the Knight. Dan couldn't tell what was happening as the man rose higher and higher into the orange sky of Jupiter. He squinted his eyes, "What the fuck is he doing?" The man in the white tuxedo sighed, "You'll see. You are not going to like it, but you have to see it." Dan had dread in his heart, "Why do I get the feeling I know what it is?" The Knight was nothing more than a small speck in the sky. The light suddenly peaked as a blast of energy launched down toward the mountain and burrowed into the side of it. The ground started to rumble like an earthquake was happening. The shaking stopped the men fighting as they looked toward the energy beam ripping the mountain apart. The energy pulse was sustained and continued to dig into the ground, before…

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Gas and flames ruptured from the side of the mountain and started to expand rapidly. In a final large pulse of lightning Mount Veronti cracked…

The mountain exploded.

The gasses raged and spread fast as the energy wave stopped. The speck disappeared. Dan turned and watched as the forces on the ground were overtaken by the gasses as were quickly consumed by whatever corrosive properties it had. Being memories themselves Dan and the tuxedoed man were also taken over by the cloud and fire, but nothing happened to them. Dan was horrified by what he was watching. Jupiter Knight caused the mountain to erupt…

Dan was responsible for the death of his army.

Dan snapped awake on the couch in the lounge. Egon was hanging over him as he tried to sit up, both him and Eduardo forcing him back down. Luna and Artemis sat on the back of the couch and witnessed as almost immediately Dan started to hyperventilate and became hysterical. Egon started calling over on him, "Dan. Dan! Dan, what's wrong?" "I killed them! I killed all of them!" he put his hands over his eyes, "I killed my army! I destroyed it all!"

Lita was also in the lounge with him. She saw how he was acting after being knocked out again - the seventh time in four days. Eduardo was confused at his reaction after waking up, "His army? What army?" Lita knew because of the flood of the memories that barreled through her mind from him. The sight was horrifying to say the least. She looked at Eduardo and said it softly, "The Army of Jupiter. On the day of the attack on the Moon Kingdom, Jupiter Knight saw his men being slaughtered," tears formed in her eyes as she knelt down beside Dan who was very distraught, "He blew up a mountain on the planet's surface; a volcano," she looked to Egon with her tears streaking down her face, "He didn't remember. He was so angry he blacked out."

"Egon," Roland was standing behind Eduardo behind the couch, him still holding the crystal, "is it possible this device was meant to unlock something?" Egon stood up and began to round the couch, "Perhaps. Seeing it immediately triggered Dan's memories, it may have been meant for him. This may have been the first of such incursions." "In the letter Doc sent Dan," Eduardo took the folded paper from his vest pocket and unfolded it, "it said one person here should be able to help him use it."

Roland grabbed the paper out of Eduardo's hand and scolded him, "Eduardo, you're not supposed to read other people's mail. That was the exact thing Dan was getting upset over this whole time!" "Hey, it wasn't without reason, Roland," the latino stated briskly, "I'm just as much a part of what happened with the time car thing. Bust my balls another time." Egon took the paper from Roland and looked it over, "I agree with Eduardo; seeing this was done to reactivate a memory - if not more than one - it's possible more than one of you were meant to read it."

"But," Luna was stumped by that explanation, "why is it not affecting you like it is Dan? Who is this other person?"

"It was Darien." Dan finally sat up and cleared his eyes, "Darien was in his Tuxedo Mask attire, but it was white. The crystal put information in my head to ask you and Darien to help me more." Luna turned from the three men behind the couch to Dan. She proceeded to ask, "Darien? White tuxedo? What would I have to do with this?" Egon had taken the crystal from Roland and presented it to the black cat with the crescent moon symbol on her head, "This crystal clearly has information on it that can be transmitted," he again examined the crystal, "It might need some people in the middle of the circuit to help process the information contained within. The initial jolt as you saw caused a violent input spike that overloaded Dan. It may have been necessary to do it at first to get the instructions to him and illustrate the purpose of the crystal, but it was unsustainable."

Lita was still kneeling beside Dan on the couch when she heard that. She threw out a wild idea, "Luna, you can still use that Luna Mind Meld, right?"

Luna was now starting to understand, "Yes! If I were to assume anything from what you're saying, then the crystal, Dan, and Darien would have to be linked with the meld. But…" "Why Darien," Dan concluded. It was itching in the back of his mind but he still didn't know the answer. He knew who did though, "Eddie, you kept saying we were recruited. Was it Darien?" Eduardo's rage was starting to build again before he answered, "Yeah. We were recruited by him to be the Knights." Artemis and Luna were taken off guard by that, Artemis stating the obvious, "But, the planets didn't trust the people of Earth. How could the Prince of the Earth Kingdom be able to recruit Knights for the Inner planets?"

"We were an Olive Branch," the hispanic man said with a more even tone of voice as he crossed his arms, "to show that the men of Earth were just as noble. Queen Serenity talked to the other kingdoms and had us accepted to have a bunch of their powers."

Roland was taken aback at that, "You mean, we're just regular humans? We weren't born on the planet we serve?" Eduardo shook his head, stating after, "We served in armies, clans, and tribes of the past. Because of our war experience he told the Queen to place us in charge of the planets' armies, too. You start remembering, you're gonna hate yourself, too."

Dan heard what Eduardo had said. He knew deep down he was right, but he needed to see it anyway. He looked back to Lita, "Get Darien," looking at Egon and Luna he made his demand, "Get whatever you need to do this. We need to do this fast before I lose my nerve." Egon was skeptical, "Are you sure this is what you want? It may be trauma inducing." "Don't talk me out of it," the blonde engineer stated flatly, "That crystal was sent for a reason, and dammit, we're going through with it," Dan turned on the couch and sat properly on the couch looking to Lita, "Get prepped."