Saturday, August 25, 1986
3:45PM
Hill Valley, California
A flustered Doc Brown rushed out of his garage/lab in a hurry as he made his way to his DeLorean time machine. He glanced up to find his teenage co-pilot, Marty McFly, leaning clumsily against the side of the car. The young man yawned, stretched his arms,and gazed into the California sun. "Well Doc," he said, "I guess this is it."
"Yep," the weary scientist agreed, "Are you ready, Marty?"
"Ready as I'll ever be!"
"Good." Doc jogged over to the DeLorean and opened the front door. Leaning inside, he quickly switched on the time circuits and set the date. October 21, 1801. Phoenix, Arizona. USA. 2:27 PM. "There," Doc said, sitting down.
Marty followed his friend inside the car and slammed the door shut. "Okay, Doc," Marty said. "Explain to me one last time why we have to go back to the frontier times."
Doc sighed. "Marty! You're still not thinking fourth-dimensionally!"
"Yeah, I have a real problem with that."
Doc sighed. "Never mind. Just trust me when I tell you that this trip is essential for future success with time travel. Remember the little experiment I showed you last night?"
"Uh...sort of..."
"Marty!"
"Hey, Doc! Don't get all upset! It was late! I was tired! You didn't actually expect me to hang on to your every word, did you?"
Doc shook his head at his friend and tossed his arms into the air. "All right! You win! I'll recap you on all you need to know once we arrive at our destination."
Marty rolled his eyes as he strapped himself in. "You're the doc, Doc."
Doc then turned to the young man and grinned. "Don't worry about it, Marty," he said in a comforting tone, "After all, it's only one little trip through time. What could possibly happen?"
Marty nodded solemnly, showing his approval of the situation. And with that, Doc Brown turned the key and started the DeLorean. He reached over to shift into first, when suddenly...a strange sensation came over him. A strange, disturbing feel seemed to wash over the inventor's shaken body. But not half as strange as what happened next.
Before Doc could even turn his head and tell Marty that he was feeling a bit abnormal, a brilliant wave of bluish-white electricity engulfed Doc's body, tingling with energy to the point where Doc's face could no longer be seen through the blue light. And then, in a breathtaking flash of power, Dr. Emmett Brown leaped out of his own body, and into a strange, new world.
When the electrical energy finally cleared from the strange surroundings, Dr. Sam Beckett opened his eyes and found himself sitting stooped over in some sort of strange re-wired car. What the... he thought to himself. Why this looks like some sort of DeLorean. I thought all of those died out at the end of the 80's.
Looking down, he found himself wearing a tattered labcoat and a Hawaiian print shirt. Rubbing his head in confusion, Sam glanced down at a small, electronic screen that was built into the monitor. It read: August 25, 1986. Sam blinked his eyes and stared down at the date again. August 25, 1986?!? I don't believe it! This is the date that I...
"Hey, Doc!" came a young voice off to Sam's right, "You all right?"
His thoughts jumbled, Sam glanced aside to see a young kid, around eighteen laying slumped over in the seat next to him. "What?" Sam answered, dumbfounded from his latest leap, "What did you say?"
The young man leaned closer. "I said, 'Are you all right?'. You were looking a little pale for a second."
"Uh..." Sam stuttered, trying to come up with a sensible explanation, "I'm fine, thanks. I guess I'm just a little tired." Al, where the heck are you? Sam sighed and looked back at the teenager.
"Well, c'mon Doc," the kid said, "We don't want to be here all day! Start up the DeLorean and get up to 88."
Sam was taken aback. "88 miles per hour?!?" he exclaimed, "Are you crazy?!? Why, the speed limit around here must be at most 25!"
The teenager smirked and then crossed his arms. "Very funny, Doc," he said in a low tone, "But we all know perfectly well that we got to get up to that high of speed in order to time travel!"
That hit Sam Beckett like a ton a bricks. Fighting to regain his breath, he stared over at the young teenager with a sickly look on his face. "Ti...ti...time travel?!?"
"Uh...yeah. You should know, you built this thing!"
Thoroughly shocked at the idea, wonder, and knowledge of another time machine, Sam quickly leaned over to the car's side window, and peered into the rear view mirror. As he expected, the image staring back at him was not his own, but the face of a white-haired, wild-eyed, old scientist with wrinkles to spare.
Sam gulped as he put his left hand on the steering wheel. "Oh boy!"
Whoosh!
In yet another flash of blue and white electricity, the familiar figure of Doc Brown suddenly appeared in a completely strange place. Coughing and sputtering at the amount of artificial fog, Doc rubbed his eyes and looked around. He seemed to have appeared in some sort of large white room with metal walls. "What in blazes..."
Doc turned to his right as a thin, electronic door automatically shot open, forming an open doorway to the outside of the strange room. Completely stunned and overwhelmed, a shaky Doc Brown slowly made his way to the doorway. Standing on the other side of the dark doorway, was a short man wearing a lab coat.
"Welcome, Dr. Brown," the man said.
Doc grimaced at the man's horrible breath, then cleared his throat. "How do you know who I am?"
The strange man chuckled, then lead Doc out of the small room and into a large technological laboratory. "Oh, we know quite a bit about you," he said. "Ziggy uploaded nearly half of your background history. She seems to be having a bit of trouble finding any information about you after a certain date." The short man glanced down at the clipboard in his hands. "The date is...um...November 5, 1955."
Doc's eyes became wide. "November 5, 1955?!?"
"That is correct, sir. Is there anything wrong?"
Doc grasped his chest and slumped over against a nearby computer terminal. Looking up at the computer screen next to him, he noticed a open file titled: "Project: Quantum Leap." Turning back to the man guiding him, Doc fought to keep from sweating. "Who are you?" he asked in a dark tone.
"My name," the short man answered, "is Gushie. I work here."
Doc stared into the man's eyes. "Where is 'here'?"
"New Mexico."
Doc ran his fingers through his hair. "When am I?"
Gushie was taken aback by the unknown scientist's straightforward question. "March 14."
Doc's face darkened. "What year?"
Gushie paused. "Ur...uh...2001."
Doc's jaw dropped. "Great Scott!" he mumbled, "I'm in the future."
"Um...yes sir. Does sound strange to you?"
"Surprisingly, no."
"Really?" Gushie asked, with a bewildered look, "I don't recall having you here before as a leapee."
Doc raised a eyebrow. "Leapee?"
Gushie sighed. "Why, don't you come with me to the waiting room, Dr. Brown. I suspect we have a lot of explaining to do..."
"Doc?" Marty asked slowly, "Are you sure you're okay? You seem...different."
"You got that right, buddy!" Sam mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all. I...I...just need a breath of fresh air."
Marty shrugged. "Ok, whatever you say, Doc."
The man next to him quickly hopped out the DeLorean, and looked around. Something's not right here, Marty thought to himself. The Doc's been acting a little stranger than usual. I'd better get to the bottom of this!
Sam paced up and down the street as he searched for answers in this crazy mess. Sure, he had leaped into some pretty strange situations before, but another form of time travel that exists in the form of a DeLorean? Things were becoming more confusing every minute, especially considering the fact that he had leaped back into August 25,1986. He hadn't been to this time period in a long while, but the coincidence was too big to ignore.
Sam breathed deeply and looked at the sky. "Could someone please tell me what I'm doing here?"
"Sure, Sam. I'll tell ya."
Sam spun around to find his lifetime friend, Admiral Al Calavicci, standing to his left in the form of a hologram. "Al!" Sam exclaimed, "Boy, am I ever glad to see you!"
Al slowly took the cigar he was smoking out of his mouth and smirked. "What trouble did ya get yourself into this time, pal?"
"Nothing!" Sam exclaimed. "Nothing at all! It's just, you won't believe what's going on here!" Sam looked around and then lowered his voice. "I have the ability to time travel."
Al rolled his eyes. "Gee," he said sarcastically, "No kidding!"
Sam shook his hands in the air in frustration. "No! No, Al! I'm not talking about Quantum Leap! What I'm saying is that there is another time machine that exists on this planet!"
The stun that took over Al's system was so powerful, the cigar nearly fell from mouth. "Wait a minute, Sam!" he exclaimed, "Are you telling me there's some other guy with the same theory that you came up wi..."
"No! That's the whole point! Al, whoever this guy is, he is able to travel through time under his own will, and can control the time he arrives down to the minute!"
Sam paused, and his face brightened as he came upon an obvious realization. Al took a deep breath and frowned. "Sam!" he grumbled, "I know that look! And if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then forget it! The rules of time travel, that you set up, clearly state that you can't use time travel for personal gain! You know that, Sam!"
"Yeah, but Al! This is different! Why, this means that I finally have a way of getting home! I..."
"Yeah, but you wouldn't be yourself! You'd be traveling home as the man you leaped into!"
Sam frowned and sighed, staring at the ground. "You're right all. You're absolutely right," he mumbled, "I guess I'll just have to find some other way to..."
He paused, then looked back up at his friend. "So, anyway, where exactly did leap?" he said, changing the painful subject.
Al glanced down at the electronic gadget in his hand. "Uh...Ziggy says you've leaped into a small town called Hill Valley on the west coast of California. The..." Al stopped his words as he stared down at the technical readout. "Hill Valley, California..." he repeated, "Why does it sound so familiar?"
"It sounds familiar because..." Sam said impatiently, "I've leaped here before! Remember? The big Rolls Royce incident?"
"Rolls Royce..." Al mumbled, racking his brain, "Oh yeah! The time you had to stop that kid from ruining his left wrist."
"Right! I leaped into a chauffeur, remember. I ended missing the kid and nearly hitting some other vehicle. I believe it was some gang of misfit teenagers. What was that guy's name? Noodles?"
"Never mind, Sam! We have more important matters now. If what you said about this other time machine is true, we've got to get you out of here."
"Right, right. So, what's the situation?"
"Well," Al said, staring down at the handheld gadget, "According to Ziggy, the date is August 26, 1986. You've leaped into a..."
"August 26?!? 1986?!? Al! Anything about this date seem familiar to you?"
"Uh...nothing in particular. Why?"
"Why?!? Al! I've leaped here before! It was a major turnover for the project! That's when I..."
"Sam," Al interrupted, "We don't have time for this."
"Time...time...time..." Sam muttered, "Fine! Just tell me why I'm here. Who am I?"
"Well," Al said, "You're an older scientist with a doctor's degree and a time machine."
This time it was Sam's turn to bring out the sarcasm. "No kidding," he snickered.
"Very funny," Al retorted, "You want my help or not?"
"Fine, go ahead."
"Thank you. Now...you're name is Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown. You're a local inventor, currently working on mini, harebrained gadgets to make the world a better place.
"Okay...so, why am I here?"
"Well, Ziggy's having some problems with that. All we really know is the kid you saved from the car crash?"
"Yeah."
"Well, turns out you're here to help him again."
"What?!? You're kidding!"
"Nope, seems that this time you're here to keep the kid alive."
"Alive?!? Al, how can I keep someone from dying when I don't even know what he looks like?"
"Oh yes, you do. You met him nearly five seconds after you leaped."
Sam's jaw dropped. "You mean the kid in the DeLorean is..."
"Martin McFly. 18 years old. Died...uh...well, we're having a little problem finding that out."
"Great! So, what do I do?"
"Just keep your eye on the kid until we can come up with some information on his death."
"Perfect," Sam mumbled, heading back to the strange car, "Well, wish me luck, Al..."
Slowly and unsurely, the confused scientist opened the front door and hopped inside. Al shook his head dully. "Another time machine," he grumbled in an unbelieving tone, "Yeah, right." Al watched quietly as the DeLorean started up and took off down the road. Then, suddenly, as the car began picking up high speeds, somewhere around 90, a giant array of sparks exploded all around of Al, followed by a violent flash of light.
Flash!
In a split second, Al found himself standing once again inside the sealed imaging chamber of Project: Quantum Leap. He looked around dizzily and scratched his head. Hey! How the heck did I get back here?
Al looked down and punched frantically at the pocket-sized electronic device in his hand. "C'mon," he ordered, "Get me back to Sam now!"
Silently, a digitized message rolled across the small gadget's screen. Al stared at it in disbelief. It read: "Subject Lost. Unable to locate Dr. Beckett. Does not appear to be inhabiting current point in time. Repeat, unable to locate Dr. Sam Beckett."
"And so..." Gushie said, finishing up his explanation to the latest leapee, "Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life-to-life, thriving to put right where once was wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap...will be the leap home!"
Doc sat there in udder amazement. The knowledge of another time machine existing baffled his mind, and he was yearning to learn more. Just imagine the possibilities! Doc mused. Why, the abilities of a time machine of this kind could have nearly endless possibilities on the space-time continuum!
"Hey!" he suddenly spurted out, "Wait a minute! If Dr. Beckett had leaped into me, then that would mean..." He stared firmly at the short man across the way. "Gushie, what wrong did Dr. Beckett need to put right through me."
"Well...you see, we're having a little trouble finding that out, but it seems to have to do with the death of your teenage friend."
"Marty!" Doc exclaimed, "You mean to tell me that Ma--"
"Gushie!" a frantic voice yelled out from behind the two. Doc turned around to see a frightened man stumbling into the room.
Gushie sprung up from his chair. "Admiral? Are you okay?"
A battered Al Calavicci stumbled his way to the short man. "Gushie!" Al exclaimed, "We've got trouble! Ziggy's lost all contact with Sam! She isn't picking up any signals from him in 1986."
"Why, that would mean that he would leap, right? After all, the probability of that happening is approximately 95 to 1. And--"
"No!" Al exclaimed, "Sam did not leap! H was barely there for ten minutes."
"But where else could he be?"
"I know where he is," Doc shot in, interrupting the two. "For one of the first times ever, Dr. Sam Beckett is not in his own lifetime."
"Then when is he?"
Doc took a deep breath. "October 21, 1801."
Thursday, March 14, 2001
3:00PM
Stallion Gates, New Mexico
"It simply doesn't make sense to me," Doc said after hearing Al's explanation of Quantum Leap. "If this Dr. Beckett discovered a way to
leap himself through time, surely he would have devised some form of
retrieval program."
"Well, that's the tricky part. You see, right when Sam first began
leaping six years ago, something within the project went a little
ca-ca," Al replied.
"Uh, yeah. You see we weren't even prepared to begin leaping when the accelerator first went off. In fact, we were months behind schedule. Our only conclusion as to how Sam was able to leap, and why we can't retrieve him, is that he's being sent through time by fate or God or time."
"Great Scott!" Doc replied. "A laboratory filled with ingenious scientists and that's the best hypothesis you can come up with?"
"Hey, give us a break. Quantum leap was Sam's baby, and he's out somewhere in time with a swiss cheese brain right now."
With three sonic booms, the Delorean coasted into the dusty terrain of the old Southwest. The land appeared to be completely deserted. Sam stared in awe at his surroundings. Travelling through time, he had seen some unbelievable things, but this was a completely different world!
"Th--is ter--rain is re--ally bu--mpy," Sam said as the Delorean rolled over the rocks. He slowly hit the brakes and skidded the car to a halt.
"You could've just used the flying circuits like you normally do before we go back in time," Marty said.
"Flying circuits? Since when do cars fly?"
"Since you got a hover conversion done in 2015. You sure your alright, Doc?"
"Twenty fifteen? Oh yes, that's right. Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little woozy from the le- uh trip." Sam said.
The two exited the car and stared out into the vast distance. The scenery was gorgeous, but something still didn't feel right.
"So Doc, why the heck did we come here? This is the middle of nowhere!" Marty asked.
"Well, uh, Marty, that's an interesting question..." Al, where are you? "In fact, I'm having a tough time remembering myself completely."
Suddenly, Sam felt something very cold and sharp presses against his back. He froze, feeling that the purpose of his leap was about to be revealed.
"Don't move, ya varmin'!" growled a rusty voice. Sam peeked behind him to find a burly, grungy man with a long beard holding a long knife to his back.
"You son of a..." Marty jumped towards the assailant, attempting to aid his friend. Before he could react, however, he felt a sharp thud on his head, causing him to fall out cold.
"Let me get this straight," Al said. "You traveled back to 1801 with Marty to stop some guy named Tannen from claiming the West?"
"Precisely," Doc said. "You see, on a previous trip to the early 19th century, I ran into a man named Max in a saloon. Forgetting my unusually low tolerance for alcohol, I agreed to having a few drinks with him. In my drunken condition, I accidentally revealed to him the secrets that some of the future cowboys used to claiming the Old West."
"So, what happened?" Al asked.
"As it turns out, this man's full name was Maxwell Tannen, an ancestor of Marty and mine's arch-nemesis. He took the information I gave him and proceeded to win the West with his own army decades before it was naturally meant to do so."
"I don't remember the West being won by anyone named Tannen," Al replied. He clicked on his handlink. "And neither does Ziggy."
"That is because of the ripple effect. These changes were made almost two hundred years ago; the effect takes a long time to catch up to our present. I was about to return to 1801 with Marty to stop Tannen when I found myself sitting in this waiting room."
"Well, one way or another, something is going to happen to that young friend of yours if we don't do something. I've gotta go talk to Sam."
Sam Beckett lay in his cell, his new time traveling partner still unconscious. The past few hours had been like nothing he'd ever dreamed. This whole new mechanism of time travel, people who understood him, and here he was stuck in this jail cell without a clue as to what he was there to do.
"Better stay cozy, Brown," said a voice from outside his cell. Sam couldn't see who it was. "You's gonna be there fo' a long time. By the time you get out, you'll be lookin' at the new West--Tannen's West!"
Who on earth is this guy? Suddenly, a whooshing sound filled the room and the oddly dressed hologram appeared.
"Hey Sam, how's it going?" Al said
"Don't 'hey Sam' me Al! What is going on? What am I doing outside my own lifetime? How come we've never heard of this Dr. Brown or any of his theories?"
"Well, we're still working on that," Al said. "But in the meantime, you've got to keep Marty away from a guy named Max Tannen. He's bad news, Sam. You've also got to make sure that no one in this time finds Dr. Brown's time machine."
"I still have the keys, and I highly doubt anyone here has the intelligence to figure out how to hotwire a car." Sam said.
"That's good. Well, I'm gonna get back and see what else this Doc guy can tell us. From the looks of this, this leap is going to have a big impact on our present, so we'd better get crackin'. Meantime, just stay with Marty and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." He hit the button to open the imaging chamber door.
"Hey Al," Sam said. "Find out what you can about Doc's time machine and his theories. If his brain's not too fuzzy, maybe he can help us in more than one way."
"You read my mind, Sam," the hologram said as he shut the door.
Al returned to the control room of the project and, to his surprise, found Doc there talking to Gushie and Ziggy. He was glad that Donna, Sam's wife, was away for the week. The burden of seeing Sam's face, though it not being Sam, might be too much for her.
"Hey Ziggy, what's the report?" Al asked.
"No changes have been reported so far, Admiral. According to Dr. Brown's ripple effect theory, we may not notice any severe changes for several weeks," the computer said.
"By then it might be too late! The whole world could be altered. We've gotta figure something out, and we can't do anything while Sam is lying in a jail cell."
"Damn," Doc said, "If only I had my Delorean, I could get back there and rescue them."
"I'm afraid we currently do not have enough power to have a temporal acceleration now, Dr. Brown." Ziggy said.
"Acceleration? Why, with my machine that wouldn't be necessary. The components of the flux capacitor make time travel possible with the particles of the subject remaining stationary." Doc said
"Flux capa..hold on a minute!" Al exclaimed. He ran down into Sam's office. He returned a minute later with several notes. "This was one of Sam's old time travel theories that were not successful," Al said, "which he said were results of an unknown scientist's ideas from the 1950's. As you can see, though, they're incomplete"
Doc examined the notes, only to find that they were his own! He was holding half of the original draft of his schematic diagram of the flux capacitor!
"Great Scott!" Doc yelled.
Thursday, March 14, 2001
8:35PM
Stallion Gates, New Mexico
Dr. Emmett L. Brown couldn't believe the day he was having. First, he had lost control of his body and was sent to some odd laboratory in New Mexico. Then he learned that there was another form of time travel in existence, after which he had found out that Marty was going to die. And finally, he was told that Sam Beckett had originally taken some of his ideas and had failed when utilizing them.
Doc shook his head. "I don't believe this...." he said sadly. "Where did you say Marty and Sam were at this moment?" He was talking to an oddly dressed man named Al. Doc couldn't say that he was too surprised with what Al was wearing, however, as he had all ready seen what the people in 2015 had on.
"In a prison cell in Arizona, sometime in the year 1801.... You know, Dr. Brown, that Sam had no idea what was happening or how to prevent it.... I'm sorry to say this, but when I visited Sam in jail, I saw Marty, and he was sprawled out on the floor. He wasn't moving at all. He may have already been--"
"NO! It can't be possible!" Doc wailed, holding the sides of his head while displaying his obvious anguish.
"Well," Al continued, "it seems that you did continue to work on your flux thingy and were successful. Do you believe that you can recreate it? Then perhaps we could have someone go back in time and...."
"I understand," Doc answered. "However, the time machine I built took almost thirty years to complete, nearly half of which was spent attempting to perfect the flux capacitor. Building a new one, even if I did have the materials, would take me almost as long. I'm sorry."
"Ah, but we might be able to help with that problem," Al said with a half smile. "You see, Sam's original attempt failed, as you already know. But we decided to keep it anyway, figuring that it may be important one day. And it turns out it is. If you can investigate the machine and find what went wrong, and then fix this problem, we just might be able to help both Sam and your friend out!"
Doc nodded. "Well, I suppose that it's worth a try. Let's see what Dr. Beckett came up with."
Marty awoke as he felt some hands stroking his cheeks. "Mom? Mom, is that you?"
"Uh, no... I'm afraid that you have just been out cold for a while," the owner of the hands replied. Marty looked up.
"Doc? Doc, where are we?"
"Uh, well, we seem to be in the prison of some guy named Tannen.... Like, Max Tannen, or something like that....?''
"Tannen!" Marty exclaimed sitting up, a cold sweat appearing on his forehead. "Now I remember. Well sort of. Last night you said that you had done something, like talked about secrets to claiming the West, to a guy named Max Tannen. You also said we hadn't noticed the changes because of the ripple effect. Now, I think you should explain that... I mean, the ripple effect never takes that long. Remember the papers during our problems with the almanac? They proved the change was instantaneous!"
"Uh..." Doc said. "Yeah, well..."
What was this? Why was the Doc acting so weird?
"Hey, Doc, don't you remember? I asked you that last night. You telling me that you don't remember either?"
The Doc got a blank look on his face and said, "Well, uh, Marty... Sure I remember. We need to uh... stop this Tannen guy, but we uh... time traveled to a period of time later than we were supposed to, I guess... Yeah, that's it. We need to stop Max Tannen, but we time traveled to a point of time in which anything we tried would be ineffective. Yeah."
Marty gave his friend a strange look. "You sure you feeling okay, Doc?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine. Now about your question about..."
"The ripple effect?"
"Yeah, yeah, that's it, the ripple effect. Anyway, there was a reason for it not occurring right away, and that is because.... Uh... it extended past.. uh... Well, it's like this... The ripple effect will eventually occur, should we fail, but... uh... it doesn't happen right away because, uh.... It takes longer to affect things more than a hundred years away... Yeah."
Marty again gave the Doc a strange look. Something had to be wrong. While that was a plausible explanation, Marty supposed, and he couldn't remember what exactly he was told last night, he still had the feeling something wasn't quite right.
"Uh, Doc, after this I think you should take a vacation... I think you've been working too hard lately..."
The Doc nodded. "Yes, uh, I think that's right, that is probably why I'm acting this way..." Marty nodded in return.
Oh no, thought Sam Beckett as he looked at the teen facing him. Those questions he's asked me.... I'm sure I answered them incorrectly. I could just tell him the truth and what is happening, but if I let him know that he will die, that could change the future by preventing his death yet inadvertently causing some other problem, and I might be stuck in this man's body forever.
Sam shook his head. No, best to let him continue thinking that I am really the Doc, at least until Al returns and informs me as to when and where the kid will die. Then I can leave and the real 'Doc' can tell Marty whatever he wants.
As Sam thought about what was going on, the door to the room featuring their cell opened and out stepped Max Tannen. Smiling, he looked at his prisoners with a formidable grin.
"Doctor Brown, you shouldn't have come to my territory. However, since you taught me how to effectively take over this land, I'll let you go." He turned his look over to Marty. "Your friend, however must stay."
"I'll never agree to that," Sam declared. He had to stay by Marty, lest he not be there when Marty needed him the most.
Tannen smile grew. "Well, then I suppose it's a good thing that I'm not giving you an option!" He opened the cell, grabbed Sam, and held him at gunpoint. "One wrong move, Doc, and you'll wind up with a bullet through your heart... That goes for you too, kid. Try and stop me, and your friend here gets it."
Marty looked at Sam. "You better do it, Doc."
Sam nodded his agreement as Tannen led him away. After they had climbed up a flight of steps, Tannen grabbed his gun at the nozzle and before Sam could react, Max hit Sam over the head and knocked him out. Tannen smiled at the wounded body. "You really think I'm just going to leave you here where you can form some plan to get the kid out? I don't think so. THe kid is now my slave. And one wrong move on his part.... HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
Sam woke up with a splitting headache. He was a few feet away from the DeLorean, he noticed, although had no clue how he had gotten there.
I know, Sam thought as he rose to his feet. I can take the DeLorean to the present and find the real Doc, as well as some back up, and return back to this second and get Marty out! Yeah, that's what I'll do!
But upon his arrival to the Delorean, Sam made a terrible discovery.... The keys were gone and the little Y-shaped thing that Sam had noticed was glowing when he first time travelled was broken. He had no way of leaving this year.
Thursday, March 14, 2001
3:18PM
Stallion Gates, New Mexico
Doc worked diligently over the crude prototype Admiral Calavicci had fished out of Dr. Beckett's office. "C'mon!" he muttered to himself. "Why won't you work?" He picked up a small pair of tweezers and rotated mess of unnecessary wires he found in the prototype. Doc gestured over to Gushie who was kneeled down next to him. "What kind of fuel did Dr. Beckett say he used on this invention?"
The short man paused. "I'm not quite sure, Dr. Brown. I believe that it was based somewhat on a nuclear substance like..."
"Plutonium?" Gushie was taken aback. "Why yes. How did you know?"
Doc smiled. "Let's just say I've had a little experience in the field."
"Oh."
Hmmm, Doc thought. Dr. Beckett used a plutonium-based substance to power his flux capacitor. Interesting. Doc's eyes suddenly shot open. "Of course!" he exclaimed. "Gushie I think I've got it!"
"Wonderful, Dr. Brown! What was the problem?"
Doc pointed to the prototype. "Look," he said. "When I first invented the DeLorean time machine, I used a liquefied form of plutonium to run the flux capacitor and the time circuits."
"Really? How did ever manage to find that type of substance in the 1980's?"
Doc bit his lower lip. "It took a little....well....searching," he said. "But that's besides the point. You see, one of the main reasons that I used a DeLorean to create my time machine because the stainless steel exterior made the flux dispersal controllable throughout the trip. If it wasn't controlled correctly, it would just the send the time travelers to a random point in time, very similar to Dr. Beckett's string theory. But thanks to a later trip to the year 2015, I found out that the machine could also run under the power of previously-recycled natural resources."
"You mean garbage?"
"Exactly! You see, I switched the plutonium chamber with fusion-powered device that, in theory, should work with cars or any other machines without a stainless steel framework."
"In theory?"
"Well, I never tried it out before, but I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work now."
Whoosh!
The door to the imaging chamber slid closed as Al made his way back to the waiting room. "Gushie!" he exclaimed. "We've got trouble!" He began to wheeze as he reached to two people kneeled down in the lab.
The short man stepped up to his feet. "What's the problem, Admiral?"
"Tannen's knocked Sam out and thrown him out in the woods. According to Ziggy, the kid doesn't have much time left."
Gushie frowned. "Oh my! That is an interesting dilemma."
"All right," Doc said, standing up, "then we have no time to lose. Gushie, do you think you could hook up Dr. Beckett's prototype to Ziggy's main database."
"Why, that would connect the flux capacitor with the acceleration chamber!"
"Exactly! By combining both versions of time travel, we would create a new, more powerful way to travel across the space-time continuum."
"Yeah," Al smirked. "Quantum Flux."
"No!" Sam yelped, yanking at the car door. "C'mon! This isn't fair!" He struggled to open the DeLorean, but to no avail. Finally, he gave up and leaned against the smooth steel exterior.
Suddenly, the imaging chamber door popped open beside him, and a frantic Al re-appeared before the exhausted leaper. "Sam!" he exclaimed. "Good news!"
"What?"
"Dr. Brown's on his way over here!"
"What?!? Al, are you saying that he fixed my old prototype of his flux-whatever?"
"Yes!" Al yelled gleefully. "And as soon as we settle the problem with the kid, we're going to began a retrieval attempt and try to bring you back to the future!"
Sam paused. "Back to the future..."
"What? What is it?"
"Nothing, Al," he said. "I've just had kind of a strange feeling in my gut..."
Al rolled his eyes. "Look, Sam. We don't have time for this. According to Ziggy, there's approximately a 77.9 percent chance that Marty's gonna die if you don't catch up to that nozzle, Max Tannen, before he reaches the local jail."
Sam ran his fingers through his hair--or Doc's hair--or whatever. "Okay Al," he said calmly. "I want you to go to Marty and keep an eye on him until I get there. And make sure to keep me posted on anything that happens on the way. Got it?"
"Got it!" Al answered, glancing down at his control link with the project. "Gushie, center me on Marty!" And in the blink of an eye, Al disappeared and Sam took off back through the woods after the young teenager.
Poof!
A fraction of a second later, Al reappeared in the small jail cell tucked away in the middle of nowhere. Al looked over to Marty, who sat on a nearby cot with a frustrated look on his face.
"Don't worry, kid," Al assured. "Help will be here in no time!"
Marty gave no reply to the hologram he couldn't hear. Suddenly, the captive from the future lifted up his head as the old rusty jail door creaked open and Maxwell Tannen appeared in the doorway with a smug look on his dirty face. "Well, lookie what we have here...."
Marty exploded off the bed and clenched his hands into fists. "All right, Tannen!" he exclaimed, "What did you do with the Doc?"
The big thug snickered. "What's it to you, slave?"
Marty's expression didn't change. "You never answered my question."
Tannen rolled his eyes. "A little hot-headed, McFly?" he growled. "I swear, you're more excited than a turkey with it's leg cut off!"
"That's chicken," Al retorted. "You big moron!"
Finally, Tannen seemed to give up. "Fine," he said. "Since you've got no sense of humor, I'll tell you straight out....I dumped your crazy scientist friend out by that demented horseless carriage of yours. And just in case he was planning on returning to the future to correct the present I've created....." He held up a pair of keys and an oh-so-familiar piece of the time machine.
Martyıs eyes shot open. "The flux capacitor?!? You sabotaged our time machine?!?"
Al smacked his forehead. "So that's what happened to the DeLorean. Sam, where are you?!?"
At that second, Tannen brought out what appeared to Marty to be some sort of homemade gun. "Whoa!" Marty yelled. "What are you doing with that?!?"
Tannen grinned, showing off his dark yellow teeth. "I'm making sure you don't cause any more trouble for my future!"
"But you said that I could live if...."
"I lied."
"Why that sneaky, no-good, two-timing...." Al muttered as he threw a fist at Maxwell Tannen, only to have it melt right through him. "Sometimes I hate being a hologram!"
And as the words came out of his mouth, Tannen raised the gun and aimed it at Marty. "Goodbye, McFly!"
At the split second Tannen pulled back on the trigger, a tall figure flew through a nearby window and crashed into Tannen, yanked the gun point up, sending the bullet careening off the side off the wall inches away from Marty. "Doc!" Marty yelled.
"Sam!" Al yelled.
The tired scientist began to get up when Tannen got his second wind and threw him across the room. Marty sprung into action, leaping after the two and wrestling the giant lug for his gun.
Then, when it seemed like nothing else could happen, something did. The sound of three sonic booms rung through the sky at in a flash the real Doc Brown appeared in the jail, gun in hand. Pointing the pistol at the villain's head, he yelled, "Just try it, Tannen!"
Al let out a sigh of relief as he looked over to Sam. "Thank goodness, Sam! Doc Brown's arrived! It looks like Marty will be safe now!"
Sam frowned. "Then why haven't I leaped?"
Al frowned and scratched his head. "Uh-oh."
There Doc stood, still dazed from his trip from the future, holding gunpoint at Maxwell Tannen. The big lug froze, dropped the gun, and raised his hands. "Back away, stranger," he muttered. "This doesn't concern you!"
Stranger? Doc thought. How come Tannen doesn't recognize my face? Must be some strange effect caused by the Quantum Flux trip.
"Now," he continued, "I want the keys to the DeLor--er--carriage you stole, and the flux capacitor."
"Flux what?"
"The glowing thing," Sam replied.
"Oh," Tannen said, reaching into his overcoat. "Of course. Let me just...."
Wham!
In one smooth kick, Tannen knocked the gun out of Doc's hand and whipped out a switchblade knife from his jacket pocket. Pushing the blade to Doc's throat, he yelled out to Marty and Sam: "Stand back!" he yelled, "or the stranger gets it!"
Sam turned to Marty and said, "Quick. Make a wild dash for the door. I'll hold off Tannen as long as I can and see if I can help Do....I mean the stranger....to safety while retrieving the parts for the time machine."
"I don't know, Doc"
"Listen, Marty. I don't have time to argue. If you want to save your life, you have to get as far from here as you possibly can!"
Marty paused, then nodded. "Okay. Good luck, Doc."
"You too."
Marty braced himself as he prepared to leap for the door, when he turned back to Sam and smiled nervously. "Don't worry, Doc. I won't leave without you."
"I appreciate that."
"Hey, what are friends for? After all, things just wouldn't be the same if I couldn't get you home."
Sam hung onto that last word. Home.
"Now," Tannen said, reaching for his gun, "if you want to....hey!"
The dirty outlaw sprang to his feet the split second he saw the McFly kid take off out the door. "No you don't!" Tannen bolted outside and began racing through the woods after the escapee.
Finally, as the kid grew tired, Tannen lunged towards the ground and grabbed the kid's legs, sending the teenager down with him. "Okay, McFly," he snarled, whipping his pocket knife out. "You've been asking for it, and now your gonna get it!"
"No!" Sam and Doc yelled in unison as they jumped Tannen from behind, bracing the villain's arms behind his back.
"Hey!" Tannen yelled. "What are you doing? Get your claws offa me!"
"Fat chance, chump!" Al snickered from the side.
"Doc," Sam commanded, "quick! Get that knife out of his hands!"
"Right!" Doc spun into action, using all of his strength to pry the weapon out of Tannen's fist.
"Oh no you don't!" Tannen retorted. Thud! Max Tannen freed his left arm and sent Doc and Sam colliding into a nearby stone orifice in the muddy ground.
"Sam!" Al exclaimed. "Get back over there fast! Marty's a goner if you don't...."
"I know, Al!" Stumbling to his feet, Dr. Sam Beckett launched his sore body straight towards Max Tannen, who was making a deadly charge to Marty McFly, knife in hand.
Thud! Sam flew forward between the two, seconds before the sharp dagger made contact with the young man's skin. Shoving Marty away from the blade and into a nearby mud puddle, Sam Beckett skidded headfirst into the soft ground inches away from the deranged killer....and leaped.
"Urrr...."
As the blue-white electricity cleared around him, Sam opened a pair of sore eyes and found himself lying limp on soggy ground. He turned his neck and looked around. He seemed to be lying in some sort of natural clearing. Something inside of him told him he had seen this place before, but thanks to his swiss-cheesed memory, he couldn't quite place it.
Sam moaned quietly as he sat up and rubbed his back. Glancing down, he noticed that he was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a light jacket. He then looked over into the giant mudhole sitting offcenter from him. He looked at the reflection in the sludgy water and suddenly, everything came back to him.
Oh no! His eyes got big as he looked down at the young teenage face looking back at him. "Marty....." he mumbled. "I'm....in....Marty!" Sam gulped as he wiped the dirt off his forehead. "Oh boy!"
Monday, October 21, 1801
10:44PM
Phoenix, Arizona
MARTY? I'm in MARTY???
Those words had raced through Sam's head at least a hundred times during the past half hour. He had walked around the clearing, but couldn't find any identifiable marks that would tell him where he was. He still had the feeling that he had been here, or had at least seen this place some time before. But exactly where he was, or when he had last been here, Sam had no idea.
"Okay," announced Admiral Calvicci as he entered the room Doc had been lying in. "I think we know what happened. Whatever Sam had to do, he did. He successfully saved Marty, so he 'jumped' once again. Apparently, though, he didn't need your body anymore. So you regained control of it. But Marty somehow left. He is resting in another room, possibly unaware that he is in Sam's body. The point is, Sam is in Marty, and he has to save someone else. As Marty. I still don't have all the details, yet, but they will made known to you as soon as possible."
Doc nodded. He recalled the sudden disappearance of Marty. After that event occurred, he attached the two time machines together and had returned here. "You do realize," Doc replied, "that when I repair the DeLorean, I will need the flux capacitor we made."
"Yeah, we saw that the one in your vehicle had been damaged by something. Sam won't like it but since it was your invention to begin with, I guess it's only fair you keep it. However, before you make repairs on the vehicle, I suggest we wait and find out what exactly is going on. You might as well just stick around and do something. I dunno. There are some movies in that box over there, I trust you can watch one on our DVD system. I must be going now. Good day." With that, Calvicci promptly turned around and exited the room.
"Hmm....a movie would be nice. I wonder what they have...." Doc opened the box the Admiral had pointed to and looked at the selections. There were many interesting titles, some dating back to 1977. Doc picked out one entitled Titanic. "Hmmm..." Doc thought out loud. "I wonder if that has anything to do with the boat? Oh well, it says here it was a big hit in 1998. Now, if only he would have told me what DVD is...?"
Marty woke up in a daze. Thoughts of 'where am I?' and 'what happened?' rang in his ears. He looked around. He was in a room like no other room, a place like none he had ever seen. He took his arm back to scratch his head to further awaken himself. Wait a minute...
Something was wrong here.... His hair didn't feel...well....normal. He looked around the room, investigating its contents. At one point, light from a nearby window was casting a reflection on the ground. Marty stood up, walked towards it, and looked down. Performing a double-take, he looked down again.
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Hill Valley? What am I doing here?" Sam asked aloud.
No one in particular paid him any attention. He had finally figured out that he was in a field near the Hilldale development zone, a locale he had previously seen on a past trip to Hill Valley. As he walked into the town, semi-familiar sights popped up and other interesting nostalgia appeared. But no sign of Admiral Calvicci. Shaking his head, Sam continued in to town. All Sam knew was that someone, other than Marty, was going to be in danger. Unfortunately, without Admiral Calvicci, Sam would never know who.
The only thing that really kept him going was hopes that after this mission, one of Doc Brown's inventions would be able to transport him home. To his home.
As Sam delved further into his thoughts, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. It wasn't until he heard the female's voice stating, "Hi stranger!" in a rather romantic wa that he spun around. There, standing in front of him, was a gorgeous auburn-haired girl.
"So, Marty, we still on for tonight?" the girl asked.
"Er...uh...yeah, uh...." Shoot, Al, where are ya? I need you around now!
"Is something wrong, Marty?"
"Yes! I mean, no, I mean...I don't know what I mean! I don't know why I am even here--I have no idea whatsoever!"
"Marty! What's gotten into you?"
"Huh? Oh, uh, sorry...um...."
"My name is Jennifer! Are you sure you're okay?''
"Huh? Jennifer? Oh yeah, Jennifer! How could I have forgotten? Sorry, I'm just, uh, tired."
The girl looked at him incredulously. "Tired? At four in the afternoon?"
"Um....well, it is Saturday, you know. I, uh, occasionally nap on Saturdays...."
The girl laughed. "Ha! I've seen you asleep on Monday through Friday occasionally, too! Like during math!"
"Um....ha ha, yeah." Sam tried to fake a smile. This was terrible. Completely terrible.
"Well, Marty, I have to go. I'll see you tonight.. If you aren't too tired to pick me up, that is! Good-bye." With that said, the girl kissed Sam on the cheek and walked away. Rubbing his cheek, Sam, still perplexed over what had just happened, didn't even hear Al's voice calling him over.
Doc had just ended the film as Al Calvicci reentered the room. Smiling, Al piped, "So, Titanic eh? That's going to be a big hit in your future!"
Doc nodded. Smiling, he replied, "Yeah, it was a pretty good movie. You know that guy who was going to marry Rose and gave her that diamond?" Al nodded. "Well, it's probably just me, but he really looks like one of Biff's old gang members! He acts like one, too!"
Al nodded. "Yeah, that's Billy Zane. So...I must have missed something. Who--or what--is a Biff?"
Doc shook his head. "Never mind. Well, that took a long time. What happened?"
"Well, it took me a while for the info to reach us, but it seems that on the night of August 25, 1986, a girl by the name of Jennifer Jane Parker is going to die in an oil fire started in a restaurant she will be dining at."
"WHAT?! Great Scott!"
Al looked Doctor Brown straight in the eyes. "I take it you know this girl."
"Yes," Doc said, his voice softening. "She's....she's Marty's girlfriend."
"I see.... Speaking of Marty, he finally woke up. He went into shock upon seeing himself in Sam's persona, but he quickly recovered. We have already filled him in on what's going on, yet that was before I received the information about Sam. I have just come back from telling HIM what's been going on. As expected, he's in Hill Valley."
"Hill Valley.. Great Scott! What does it look like? How has it changed?"
"Relax, relax. I presume that you are talking about that thing with the Tannen man. Well, after seeing Marty disappear like that, the man went into shock. Once he recovered, he assumed that he had imagined meeting either him or you, and went back to whatever he had been doing before the crisis."
"I see.... Ah. Very well, I should probably get to work with repairs on the DeLorean."
Al nodded. "Right. Well, if it's okay with you, I'm gonna send Marty in here with you."
The Doc smiled at Al. "Thanks. Marty should be a great help with the repairing."
Al smiled back.
Sam shook his head. Al had returned a few minutes ago to find out what Sam had learned. So far, nothing. Al had then told him about Marty's relationship with the girl Sam was to save. He figured that the girl he'd met earlier was the young lady in question. However, Sam had no idea what to do next. He figured he could just not pick up Jennifer, but that might cause problems for Marty that weren't even Marty's fault.
However, Sam had just realized that he had no idea what time he was to pick up Jennifer. Or even where she lived. So he figured he'd walk to Marty's house and pray that Marty had written anything about this date down. But that posed another problem--he had no idea where Marty lived.
For the first time in his life, Sam, scientist, time traveler, genius, hero, whatever, had no idea what to do.
Saturday, August 25, 1986
6:01PM
Hill Valley, California
Sam had just heard from Al again. Apparently, the kid remembered all the details about the date, and that he was to arrive at Jennifer Parker's house at 7:00PM sharp, in Marty's truck, and take her to a local restaraunt. Marty had given Sam directions to his and Jennifer's house, and had explained where Sam would find the truck keys. (He had left them in his room, next to his alarm clock.) Sam was currently on his way to Marty's house.
He stopped as soon as he arrived to the conclusions of the instructions. Looking up, he saw what he presumed was Marty's house. He walked up to the door and was about to knock when he remembered something.
I'm supposed to live here.... A person who lives somewhere doesn't knock before entering their own house!
Shaking his head, he moved his hand and grasped the doorknob and twisted it. No success. He tried again. Still no good. He tried once more. Nope. The door was locked.
"Okay, here's where I knock," he said to himself. So he knocked. No answer. He knocked again. And again. Again.
"Damn, there not home!" Sam groaned. This was perfect. He had to take this Jennifer out; it would raise too many questions if he cancelled. Maybe there's another way in....
Sam looked around. The garage wasn't connected to the house, so opening the garage door would be pointless for now. A large red fence was next to the garage. There were some garbage cans nearby. Maybe I can climb on to the trash cans and jump over the fence. However, more thoughts entered his head. What if there isn't anything back there and I get trapped? What if I break something? No... This is the only chance I have.
Sam walked over to the trash cans, climbed on one, and grabbed the fence. Pulling himself up, he accidentally lost his footing and slid off the trash can. Crap. He attempted to maneuver his foot back toward the can; however all he succeeded in was knocking the can over. Double crap.
Seeing the other can, Sam began to climb sideways and get his feet on the can....and knocked the lid over. Crud...now what? He began to think. Unless he got enough of a footing on the rim of the garbage can, there was absolutely know way he'd be able to get over the fence without rearranging the cans... That would take too much time, and the risk of someone seeing him and reporting this as a prowler or burglar was too great.
He figured that it was worth a shot. He moved his foot to the rim, balanced it, and then moved his other foot onto the can. So far, so good. He then placed his first foot in between two pickets and began to hoist himself up...and in doing so, knocked over the can and spilled its contents. Crap! Looking around, he quickly continued pulling himself up and jumped to the other side.
"Now what? Hmmm...." Then he spied it--part of a window was slightly cracked open. Walking over to it, he looked inside. It appeared that the room he was looking in belonged to a teenager--the bed was unmade, clothes were strewn everywhere, and a guitar case rested near what looked like either high school or college text books. Could this be Marty's room? Only one way to find out....
Sam placed his hands under the window and quickly opened it. Climbing in, he noticed a st of keys next to an alarm clock and partially-full Diet Pepsi can.
"Diet Pepsi... huh." Sam remarked. "Looks like a really old design....Diet Pepsi must be relatively new." Continuing his search, he found few notes, each addressed to Marty McFly.
"Yep, this is definitely his room." Sam grabbed the keys and exited the room. Walking through the living room, he unlocked a side entrance and exited the house.
Doc Brown smiled as he looked around the premises. Finally, he was back home. However, there was still one more thing to do--locate Sam and make sure he saved Jennifer. Walking around, Marty (looking like Sam) commented, "Man! Why did you set it for this late? The fire could have occurred all ready, at like 7:15, or something!"
"Marty, would you relax? I'm sure your friend knows what he's doing," replied Al. He had come to make sure nothing happened to Sam. "Well, it looks like all is okay. There's the restaurant, and it appears that all is fine.
And that's when they began to hear the screams...
"Hey, do you smell something?" asked Marty.
"Yeah, that smells like...smoke!" Doc answered. "Crap! And where there's smoke, there's...."
"FIRE!!!!" screamed a waiter. "The gas line's off! A fire's started near a few ovens, and with all the grease on those ovens, this place will be an inferno in less than five minutes. EVERYONE OUT!!!!!"
"WHAT?!!?" exclaimed Sam. What timing! Jennifer had just excused herself to go to the bathroom, and had most likely missed the announcement. He had to do something...but what?
Then he got an idea...
"Look," stated Al, pointing. "It's Sam! He's heading towards...the women's bathroom?"
"Jeez, Jennifer must be in there!" Marty cried. He began racing towards Sam. "JENNIFER!!!!"
"Jennifer! Oh, Jennifer!"
No answer. Sam swore under his breath. There was now but no choice other than to head in.
Marty continued his mad dash towards the restroom. Then he saw it. Sam was also heading in! And the timing for this was also poor, as Marty unsuccessfully attempted to dodge Sam and instead bumped in to him.
And that was the last thing Marty remembered before he lost consciousness....
"Mom...? Mom, is that you?"
"Mom? No, no, I'm not even female! It's me, it's Doc!"
"Huh? Doc?" Marty opened his eyes. "Doc! It is you! Then...then I'm not...I'm not dead!"
"What? Dead? No, of course not!"
"What happened? Didn't the fire kill me?"
"Fire? What fire?"
"At the restaraunt. Hey! I'm in my own body! Far out!"
"Own body...? Marty, what are you talking about?"
"Hey, Doc, don't you...." Marty then realized his bearings. "Doc? Where am I?"
"Marty, what's the matter? You're in my lab! We are about to head through time to visit the time when the West was won!"
"Yeah, and stop Tannen, right?"
"What? No! We're just gonna visit!"
''Huh?"
"Marty, don't you remember? You came over today so that we could begin the trip, and for some reason didn't get enough sleep, as you were very tired when you arrived. Then you fell asleep while I was making final preparations.... Are you okay?"
And then he remembered. "Yeah, that's right. Whoa, I just had this strange dream! There was this new form of time travel, called leaping! It was, like, totally random! And this guy named Sam Beckett leaped into you and me, and he tried to stop bad things from happening!"
"What? That's preposterous! Didn't he realize how much of a danger that is to the space-time continuum? Bad things have to happen sometimes!"
"Yeah, I know. But still....wouldn't that kind of thing be neat? Totally randomness in time travel!"
"And no sure way to return home." Doc replied, cutting Marty off. "No, I think our form is better--at least for the time being."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Oh well, ready to leave?"
"Yes. Let's go."