Pair-a-docs Planning (1)
McFly house
October the 27th, 1985, 20 minutes after Dr. Brown's return
George McFly went to close the door of the garage. His son had asked for a favor for his eccentric friend, Doctor Brown. Apparently, the man had received some very bad news, and was in no state for driving. Marty had offered to take Dr. Brown home. George smiled at his son's generosity and also at the oh, so very transparent impulse to take his new truck for a ride.
George had known about the man for far longer than Marty had even been alive. Since the 1950s, in fact. The man had always been eccentric, but harmless. Marty had learned a lot from him, science, history, work ethic even. George had already decided to gift one of his courtesy books to the scientist. He had it ready for delivery, dedicatory and everything.
But as George went to lock the door, a casual glance at the car piqued his curiosity.
He stopped in his tracks, a strange expression on his face. He walked back, and looked at the car. Really looked at it.
"It's... oh, god... it's full of cables!(2) This is not a car, it's a scientific experiment!" He followed the bunches of wire, and eventually, he glanced into the passenger compartment. At the right side of the steering wheel, he saw several rows of numeric leds, each one under a set of demo labels, the words in them shook him to the core.
Departure time.
Present time
Destination time.
George stumbled, memories he had not paid attention to began to rush back into his mind. He had to sit down, his hands trembling. He wiped his mouth with a hand, and walked around the car.
"It cannot be..."
Suddenly, he remembered a guy around his age, a kid with strange mannerisms and slang, dressed with strange clothes. Who didn't know some elemental things, but knew others that were ahead of their... time...
"The rug... the fire... the clothes... what was his name... Kevin? No, Calvin... Calvin Kane?" George pulled out the notebook he used to write down ideas for his stories, he would need to ask Lorraine about him. He hadn't thought of that name for a long time…
George followed the cables, looking again into the passenger compartment, the labels still were there. "Departure Time"? "Present Time"? And... "Destination Time"? He whispered to himself. "What do they mean? What?"
He stumbled into the house, and without realizing it, he pulled the ladder to the attic, and up he went, to where his old school stuff was stored. He was a very organized man, and it took only a few minutes to find what he was looking for. The notebooks from 1955, the year his life had turned around, when he had found the love of his life, with the help of... Calvin Klein. That was the name. Calvin Klein... just like the clothes brand.
He found the stuff he had almost forgotten. Darth Vader, the planet Vulcan... the strangeness before the dance. He had never told anybody about those things, and he was surprised when they appeared in entertainment decades apart from one another. Vulcan was no biggie, it was the name of a theorized planetoid inside Mercury's orbit. It was later proved that Vulcan did not actually exist, but it was a good name anyway. (3)
Darth Vader had been a nasty shock back in 1977, there was no obvious source for it. Though he thought it was simply a strange coincidence that George Lucas had put the same name for his most recognizable villain. Though considering he had found the word Sith in the John Carter books (4)… well… maybe both had found the name in some long forgotten pulp magazine, and forgotten the source.
Slowly, George pulled at his hair. It was a tic he had had since elementary school. Not even finding his courage had cured him of it.
A strange picture began to form in his mind. Writing science-fiction prepared him to consider ideas other people might think absurd, like a strangely dressed alien meddling in the lives of two teenagers... he had played with the idea for years, until he finally got a handle on how to develop the plot for a novel length book. And… waaait a moment.
He flipped through the pages. The orders from Darth Vader, the Alien from the planet Vulcan, the nightmarish sounds assaulting his ears... he had heard something eerily close to that recently...
He thought he had dreamed all that. For years he had kept that a secret, the only one he had told was… Calvin Klein… That strange dream had been the beginning for George McFly, the first McFly in Hill Valley's history to make it. If not as big a name as Asimov or Heinlein, he was a modestly renowned writer. Short stories, two anthologies, and a novel just published.
Biff Tannen, his old bully and rival had brought the box of books into the house.
Biff... another thing that had changed. Had it not been for Calvin's encouragement... he gasped.
And to think... to think... what? That his own son had traveled back in time and for some reason be the most unlikely matchmaker in history?
Small pieces began to fit in his head.
And the last was the feeling of deja-vu he had had since last week, when he had seen Marty with his new vest. A blast from the past, indeed.
George stayed up in the attic for a long time, thinking.
He finally found the biggest piece of evidence.
Right in his school yearbook. 1955. Right there, in the section about the school dance, two pictures commemorating the event. The first one was of the whole class of 1955, except for Biff and his gang, who were who knows where when the picture was taken.
That just brought some memories.
But the second one...
Somebody had taken a picture of the band playing at the school, Marvin Berry and the Starlighters. Marvin Berry had a minor place in music history, as he was Chuck Berry's cousin. Chuck Berry himself had credited his cousin with the inspiration for one of his hits, Johnny B. Goode.
George remembered that song clearly.
For some reason, Calvin Klein had replaced Marvin Berry as the Starlighters guitarist, at the very last minute. And had played Johnny B. Goode. "An oldie where I come from." He said.
George gasped again. The strange way Calvin hopped sideways, just like Chuck Berry would do later on. The way he played the guitar over and behind his head, or how he pushed himself on his back, the strident notes played inhumanely fast, jumping down from the amplifiers.
And the last words he said on stage... "I guess you're not ready for this, but your kids are gonna love it."
Each one of those things set off a sense of Deja-vu in George years later. "Oh, c'mon!" He would say at a bar or a party, "I knew a guy who did that back in 1955! That's nothing new!"
No, it was nothing new. For Calvin Klein at least.
Right there, in the picture, hopping sideways in the stage, there was Calvin Klein, caught looking right at the camera. George guessed it had been taken when the band played Earth Angel. There was an awkward smile on Calvin's face.
...Marty's awkward smile...
George leaned back and exhaled.
Should he talk to Lorraine about this?
Maybe, but not before talking to Marty.
He rehearsed the scene in his mind. "Oh, hi, Son! Check this! I found an old picture with a guy who looks just like you!"
It could only go one of two ways. Either Marty went, "Oh, boy! It's true! He looks just like me!" Or would get very awkward about it.
He decided to think on it for a couple of days, but dinners would be an uncomfortable matter for a while.
Brown Manor
"We will need to find a better place than One Pine Mall for your trips to Dead Valley." Doc A observed.
"I chose it carefully! It is the perfect place!" Doc B protested.
"It is," Doc A agreed, "but for the next few days, it will be a crime scene!"
Doc B deflated. "Oh, yes, you're right… the lybians… Ahem! Let's evaluate the rest of the list, then." He put a notebook on the table. "What are our requirements?"
"Obviously, we need to keep Lone Pine Mall's qualifications. But closeness to the Delgado Mine would be a premium."
"The old Pohatchee Drive-In Theater!" Both Docs exclaimed at the same time.
"It's been abandoned since old Terrance Spencer died. His heirs haven't been able to sell the area. If only there was a water source close to it, maybe it would be a residential town, much like Hill Valley is. We could probably buy the whole lot for a pittance." Doc A grinned, "Anyway, the vacant lot is secluded, flat, and there's nothing but plains around! Funny how twenty miles make such a difference."
"And there's no one living there anyway, there's space for a whole vehicular convoy."
"Ex-actly what we need!"
"We will have to purchase some equipment."
"I'll take care of that, you draw the schedule for our arrivals."
"Very well. We are deliberately causing a paradox. We need to keep the order perfectly straight, or we risk losing… well… everything!"
Doc A patted his counterpart's shoulder. "If we fail… we will lose everything. And this wonderful planet will be a tomb."
"Just from your tape, I have an idea of what is coming." He shuddered.
"Oh, no. You don't." Doc A sighed and closed his eyes. "Not until you have been there. Then you will understand." He said, softly. "We have to prepare everything before you go."
"I still think we should see if we can find an alternate way to generate the needed 1.21 gigawatts."
"So do I, but it would need to be a portable source of energy. Able to generate that much energy! It would have to be a portable nuclear accelerator!"
"Let's focus on the task at hand, maybe once we have studied the data you brought from the future, we could try our hand at a portable source of energy for the time machine. Or machines. Eventually, we will need to travel to other parts of the world."
"Japan."
"Japan. We need to learn the language, especially in written form. We can't rely on a translator, for obvious reasons."
"One more item for the list…"
Later
"So, we are all in agreement."
"Sure, Doc. We the A-Team (4) jump a week forward at the Pohatchee Drive-In Theater, where the B-Team will jump to 2016, to preserve a close timeline for us." Marty said.
Jennifer A continued, "We take the plutonium to the Delgado mine, tag the containers with date and hour, and leave them there."
Doc A followed, "We take one bar, and jump back to five minutes before we arrived, and repeat the process."
Marty B scratched his head. "Wouldn't that cause a paradox?"
"As long as there are no events that prevent the existence of an object or person, their existence should be preserved. That's why we will use the rods in backwards order. The most recent version of each bar is the one we have to use. If we use an earlier version and drain it of energy… all future versions would be nothing but inert material… However, if we need to travel… we will have to take extraordinary measures to move radioactive material… We really need a cleaner alternative."
One week later.
Pohatchee Drive-In Theater
Saturday November the 2nd, 1985; 10:00 AM
The B-Team waited patiently inside Doc's truck, until the sound of thunder heralded the arrival of the A-Team.
As previously agreed, the B-Team kept two plutonium canisters, the rest were labeled with date and hour, and taken by the A-Team.
They departed immediately to the Delgado mine. During the week, the B-Team had set equipment to ease the transport of the plutonium.
Pohatchee Drive-In Theater
Saturday November the 2nd, 1985; 09:55 AM
The A-Team arrived.
Pohatchee Drive-In Theater
Saturday November the 2nd, 1985; 09:50 AM
The A-Team arrived.
Pohatchee Drive-In Theater
Saturday November the 2nd, 1985; 09:45 AM
The A-Team arrived.
Pohatchee Drive-In Theater
Saturday November the 2nd, 1985; 09:40 AM
The A-Team arrived.
Eventually, there were several boxes of plutonium in the side tunnel of the Delgado mine. Safely stored.
The A-Team returned to their own time, ready to continue, while their counterparts of the B-Team preserved a close facsimile of their own past.
Brown Manor
Saturday November the 9th, 1985
The next few days passed quickly. The preliminary steps for investigating the future were well on their way. The trio had already ordered a set of self-study books for each one. Doc had checked the phone book, looking for anybody from Japan who could mentor them, but couldn't find any Japanese surnames. The closest was a Chinese family that had been living in Hell Valley for so long they were completely assimilated into American culture.
"I don't get it, Doctor Brown. You could have been a hero, recovering the stolen plutonium would have put you in the government good books." Jennifer asked, while checking the list of the components that had just arrived, against their copy of the order.
"It would have also put me under scrutiny. We need freedom to act, and that kind of attention… brr… I have seen what it does; believe, I don't want it." Doc examined a circuit under a magnifying glass, satisfied, he put it back in its box and took another. "That's why I insisted on erasing every vestige of evidence Marty or myself could have left in the box. Down to using sandpaper to erase every trace. of course, those plutonium pellets will probably end up in bombs or nuclear reactors. But with the half-life of plutonium, no one will know the pellets are repeated, except for us."
"Well… at least Mr. McFly didn't put any objections to our modifying Marty's truck." Jennifer changed subject.
Marty entered Doc's workshop right on time to listen that last bit.
"Hey, guys! It's very weird, Jennifer. Dad has been acting strangely since the day you returned from 2016, Doc. I think he suspects something is going on."
"What do you mean?"
"He has been leaving his 1955 school yearbook around. There's a slip of paper in the school dance pages."
"Maybe he's nostalgic."
"Mom is the nostalgic one, and just for a few minutes at a time. Dad is the one who lives in the moment. He is also listening to Van Halen."
"So? He is at least willing to get up to date." Jennifer crossed an item in her list, and picked up the next.
Marty sat down, and opened his Walkman, putting the tape on the table. "I… well… .. Doc, remember we had to get Dad to go to the school dance?" He scratched the back of his head.
Doc looked at him through half-closed eyes, "What did you do, Marty? In detail, please."
Marty deflated, looked down, and said, "I used the rad suit, a hair drier and this tape to convince him I was an alien and ordered him to go to the dance. Or else, I would melt his brain."
Jennifer snickered, "And he bought it?" Meanwhile, Doc pinched the bridge of his nose.
Marty smiled sheepishly, "He thought it had been a dream…"
Doc sighed, "At least it put him in the right route."
"And he got the idea for his first novel!" Marty exclaimed happily.
Both Jennifer and Doc stared at Marty.
"I mean, have you seen the cover?"
Doc scrambled to get his courtesy copy, dedicated to "Doctor Brown, thank you for showing the future to my son."
"Great Scott! The alien does remind me of the radiation suit. Marty, your father writes science fiction for a living. If there is a kind of mind willing to consider and maybe understand the implications of time-travel… it is exactly his."
"You mean… we can tell him?"
"No. Not unless he asks directly. If he does, tell him we need to discuss the…"
The phone rang then, Doc picked it up. "Doctor Brown Enterprises, what can science do for you? Ah, yes, Mrs. McFly, he is here." He covered the speaker with a hand, and whispered quickly, "Marty, it's your mother, she sounds very agitated." He passed the receiver to Marty.
"Mom? Is everything okay?" he paused, both Jennifer and Doc watched as his face paled. "I'm on my way; yeah, I'll be careful. Bye!" He hung the receiver, "it's Dad, something happened, mom is almost hysterical with worry, the ambulance she called is on the way. Sorry, guys, I need to go." He was jumpin up and down with barely contained worry.
"Marty! I'll drive you, it's my turn and fair is fair." Doc stood up, and took the keys of his car. "Miss Parker, we can leave this for later."
Jennifer grabbed her jacket, "I'll go with you two, if it's not too much problem. You two get the car, I'll close the door."
"Right, let's go."
Author Notes:
(1) This title was suggested by Author0fntent, a fellow writer in FFN. Thank you, buddy! Go check his work, people!
(2) Small reference to 2001, however, I must say that I really dislike the movie version. I prefer the book.
(3) True. The possible existence of the planet Vulcan was proposed to explain some irregularities in Mercury's orbit, in 1859. However, the irregularities were explained with Einstein's theory of relativity in 1915, In 1919, observations made during an eclipse, proved that Vulcan did not, in fact, exist.
(4) Yup, believe it or not, the word Sith really does appear in the John Carter of Mars novels. However, it is a species of carnivorous insects, dangerous due to their size and voracity.
(5) Almost a reference to the TV show. However, no one in Hill Valley knows about the A-Team, much less how to contact them.