End of the Future, Part 4
Paradoxical Planning

Did you see that?" Marty was turning around wildly, looking for the girl. "Where did she go? She was standing there and poof! Gone!"

Doc squinted, looking around suspiciously. "...Yes, I did see something."

Jennifer was picking up her books, "it was a..."

Doc waved his arms, "Don't say a word, nor you, Marty!"

Marty stopped on his tracks, "But, Doc, that was..."

"No, no, no, Marty, not a word, not a word!" He dug in his pockets, taking out his notebook and a mechanical pencil. He flipped the notebook open. "I want you two to write a description of what you saw. I will do the same. In case it was a hallucination, I don't want we influence each other's perception."

He began to write, Marty and Jennifer exchanged a look, shrugged, and did as the Doctor had ordered.

Marty's notes read, "strange girl, short blue hair, very pale, red eyes. Kinda pretty, but sad too. Had a blue dress, white blouse, black socks, didn't see her shoes."

Jennifer had drawn a sketch, despite having seen the girl for only a few seconds, the sketch was quite recognizable. Her notes were just as brief as Marty's. Noting the pale skin, blue hair and red eyes, something that Marty had missed.

Doc's read, "Subject seems to be of Asian descent, corresponding to Japanese genotype, possible case of albinism, presenting pale skin and red irises. Blue hair, certainly dyed. Clothes similar to Japanese school uniforms, blue skirt with two suspender-like... unknown word for description, check encyclopedia; white blouse, short sleeves. No rings, bracelets, earrings or other accessories visible. Subject stood on the other side of the street, standing on the garden in front of the school. Subject seemed to vanish after approximately four seconds."

They compared notes after picking up the books.

"Kinda pretty, Marty?" Playfully, Jennifer elbowed Marty on the ribs.

"You know I only have eyes for you, Jennifer."

Doc compared their respective descriptions. "Well.." he lowered the notes, raising his eyes, looking to the point the girl had been. "We did see the same thing."

He walked slowly towards the other side of the street, mumbling, "Let's see..." the grass had grown, but it was sickly and yellow. "She was right over here, I believe..."

His companions were a couple of steps behind him. Using the pencil, Doc pushed the leaves of grass to a side, taking care not to break them. "Hum... this is unusual."

"What do you mean?"

"Look for yourselves." He stepped back, and looked around; while Marty and Jennifer examined the grass.

"Um... what are we looking at, Doc?"

"There's nothing there, Doctor Brown."

"Precisely!" He waver a hand over the area. "Nothing! Not a trace of her presence. Not a track, not a fiber, not even a single broken or bent leaf of grass!"

He stepped into the grass, and counted, "One hippopotamus, two hippopotamus, three hippopotamus, four hippopotamus." And returned to the curb.

"Look! The dirt is dry and hard, my footsteps are barely visible. Yet detectable. But look at the grass!"

The dry grass was very fragile, multiple leaves had broken where Doc's weight had bent them.

Marty gulped, "do you think it was a... a..." he gulped, "a ghost?"

"Oh, Marty, don't you tell me you're afraid of ghosts!"

"No! No, of course not. I'm afraid of no ghost! It's just that... well... this place is really creepy!"

In the meanwhile, Doc had been studying the area. Finally, he stood up, and clapped his hands together to get rid of dirt and grass. The noise echoed all around them.

"Let's see if we can find a bookstore. I'd like to get reference books, popular science, technology," he paused, "astronomy."

"A phone book."

"What for? There's no one to call."

"No, no, Doc. To check for addresses. I mean, the library might be in the same place after thirty years, but the bookstores?"

"Ooh, right, right."

Eventually, the trio had gathered all the books that could fit in the DeLorean's small trunk. Along with a few examples of future tech to study.

"So, Doctor Brown, do you think my idea is feasible?" Jennifer asked.

"It is. Strangely, and paradoxically, I think it is, but we will need to take some precautions."

"Won't that cause paradoxes, Doc? Back in 1955 you were very much against the idea of messing with the space-time continuum!"

"Paradoxes? What do I care for paradoxes now, Marty? Look around! The future of the whole of the world is in danger! Paradoxes…" He grumbled, "Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Paradox precautions. We will need a pack of adhesive labels, for starters, a safe place far from Hill Valley, and to make a recording." He tapped his chin several times. "And a good assortment of sandpaper."

Marty raised a hand, "More Devo suits, Doc." The scientist nodded, and wrote everything in his notebook.

Jennifer sat down on a stone bench. "The old Delgado mine might be a good hiding place. It's been on sale for years. My aunt and her husband wanted to get a safe house in case of a nuclear war, but adapting the mine to be a bunker would be too expensive, the ground is too hard and too brittle at the same time. They would have to hire a lot of workers, so they went to Nevada instead (2). Everything else we can simply buy." Jennifer offered.

"Hum... Doc... I just had an idea. We should check the mine right now, while there's still light."

Doc checked his right wristwatch, "um… no. Night will fall while we arrive there, we need to drive slowly on uneven ground." He looked at his young friend, "What do you expect to find there, Marty?"

"Make a guess."

Jennifer laughed.

Delgado Mine
After clearing the entrance, traveling down the tunnels.
And opening a side passage marked "ELB", "MMF", and "JP"

"Great Scott! This has freed our future movements in a major way! Marty, record this, we will need proof of this finding!"

Lone Pine Mall
October the 26th, 1985
1:36 A.M.

"What about that talk about screwing up future events?" Marty asked, disbelieving what had just happened. "The space-time continuum?"

"Well," Doc smiled, "I figured, what the hell?"

"And a good thing you did, Doctor Brown."

"Je-Jennifer?"

"What are you doing here at this ungodly hour, Miss Parker?" Doc hurried to use the wooden tablet with his notes, to cover the bullet holes in his radiation suit and the reassembled, yellowed letter Marty had wrote in 1955.

"You got the words out of my mouth, Doc. Jennifer, what's going on?"

"Well, for starters, I'm right at this minute, sleeping on my bed, and I'm here to..."

An explosion shook the whole place, it came from the photo booth where the lybians vehicle had crashed.

"What was that?"

"They had an RPG launcher…" Marty wheezed.

"Do you think..."

"Must have detonated in the fire (1)." Doc grabbed their arms, "C'mon, let's make tracks. This place is very empty at this late hour, but the noise and the fire will certainly be noticed. Marty, you and Miss Parker take the DeLorean, and take that exit. I'll meet you at my home in..." he checked his left wristwatch, "twenty minutes. Oh, Wait, Marty, help me load the... um... yellow trunk in my truck." He threw a very heavy fabric over the trunk.

"I know what's in there, Doctor Brown. Marty, help the doctor, I'll drive the Delorean. Hurry!"

"Uh.. yes, Okay." Marty grunted when he and the doc lifted the box. Guessing the reason, Doc commented, "Lead fiber cloth, will keep our exposure to radiation low. Now, be careful not to drop this baby."

Manor Brown
2:06 A.M.

"So, young lady, time to talk. What's going on?" Doc asked, as he pulled his key ring. Only to find the door was open.

"Good, they are already here!"

"Who?" Doc demanded, opening the door.

"Us. Enter and close the door." Doc grumbled, sitting on a couch.

"Great Scott!" Doc exclaimed, screamed his head off, and promptly fainted, only for Marty and Jennifer to catch him.

"I told you this would happen, Doc." Marty commented. Sitting on a chair. Doc simply grunted.

Jennifer grunted, "Marty, honey, you better help us, the Doctor is not exactly light."

Marty looked at the two Docs, at the other him, and his voice cracked, "ah… um… Back from the future?"

"Yes." The trio chorused.

"Oookay… this is getting heavy duty…" Marty shook his head.

Later on

"I must say… this is the strangest experience in my life…" Doc wiped his forehead with a cloth, staring at his counterpart.

The trio had agreed to call the versions from the future "A"s, and the ones from the present "B"s, to manage the complications time travel added to the tenses. They also had sticky notes denoting their letters.

Doc A inserted the tape into the VCR, "Normally, I wouldn't mess with history. But there is no future for anybody unless we do something."

Marty B and Doc B watched Doc A's recording in the dead world of 2016, paling more and more by the minute. Until Doc A paused the VCR.

"But what can we do?" Marty B asked.

Doc A snorted, "Investigate, of course. Our visits to Dead Valley were limited. Due to our limited plutonium. We need much more. And that's were you enter."

"I doubt there will be more Libyans with stolen plutonium around here." Doc B said.

"Yeah, they got very crispy…" Jennifer slapped Marty B's arm.

"We need you to replicate the trip, but only take four plutonium bars. One round trip for me, one for the three of us. We will take the rest and store them safely. We will get the container at some point before your trip."

Doc scratched his head, "How do you know this is going to work? My mind boggles at the implications of this plan!"

"We have proof." Doc A pressed Play, "Look at this. This scene is proof that Jennifer's idea is solid. It will mean a lot of work for us three, but it is doable". Doc B's eyes almost popped out from his face.

"Plus, this will get you in the good graces of the government." Jennifer tapped a finger on the arm of her chair.

Doc B raised his eyes from the images in the TV. "Really?"

"You will be a hero, Doc!"

Both Docs glared back at him.

Author Notes:

First of all, an apology, this last week has been very stressful, due to job related stuff, and taxes related stuff... I've had no time to write and polish the text.

(1) It has always irked me that there's no follow up to the lybians subplot. I doubt those two were the only ones involved with Doc Brown, and the crash on the photo booth wouldn't have killed them... so...

(2) Specifically, to Perfection Valley, Nevada. Again, nothing to do with the plot, but I love those movies!