It's Time. . . .

[clockwork_doc]

Doc's excited. It's a very special day for him. Today, he is going to finally take a step toward realizing his lifelong dream. The car is fully wired, and everything checks out on the preliminary tests. The DeLorean is finally, FINALLY ready for time travel. Granted, Doc is still a little iffy about the time-dilation effect in place on the pocket of reality he now calls home, but he figures that he can at least try a short time trip, just to see if everything truly works. Just to achieve the dream.

Of course, a moment like this must be shared with one's closest friends. Doc promptly sends out a message over the PINpoint to Marty and Alice, asking them to come to his world, before going to the apartment next to his and knocking on Victor's door. "Hey Victor!"

Comments

[museicalmarty.livejournal.com]

"Looking good, Doc," Marty says.

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

"It's amazing," Victor agrees.

[save-us-alice.livejournal.com]

"It's beautiful," Alice says, taking Victor's arm. "And it can truly travel through time?"

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

"Only one way to find out." Doc opens up the car door and retrieves the remote he's rigged up. "Our initial test run will be with just the empty DeLorean," he says. "I don't want to risk anybody just in case something does go wrong."

[museicalmarty.livejournal.com]

"Hope this includes not making any of us stand in front of it," Marty says, half-jokingly.

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

Doc rolls his eyes. "I really don't know what my other self was thinking with that stunt," he says, switching the remote on. "Then again, different life circumstances, different points of view. . . ." He retrieves another device from the car – this one a video camera. "Though I agree with him on one point – Marty, would you please film this?"

[museicalmarty.livejournal.com]

"Sure thing, Doc," Marty says, accepting the camera.

[save-us-alice.livejournal.com]

"Where did you get that?" Alice asks, puzzled.

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

"Took it from a shop," Doc says easily. "Yes, I'm aware it's technically stealing, but as Victor and I are the only living human beings in this pocket of reality. . . ." He shrugs.

[museicalmarty.livejournal.com]

Marty fiddles with the video camera, briefly puzzled as to how to work it (it's much more modern than he's used to). After a minute, though, he figures out how to turn it on and get it to record. He aims it at Doc. "Okay, we're rolling!"

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

"Perfect." Doc stands up straight. "Good afternoon. This is Dr. Emmett Brown speaking from the north parking lot of The Gauche. It's - well, according to the normal time stream, it would be - Friday, November 12th, 2010, at 4:30 P.M., and this is Temporal Experiment Number One." He indicates to Marty to come forward and film the time circuits. "I've set our destination time as 4:32 P.M., exactly two minutes from now. We will now send the DeLorean through time." He has Marty back up, closes up the DeLorean, then moves back himself. He flips another switch on the remote, and the engine roars to life. Doc puts the DeLorean through a few paces – acceleration forward, driving around in a rough circle, acceleration backward. He nods, satisfied, and backs the car up. He sets the brake and starts increasing the speed, timing it so it'll hit 88 right in front of them. "When this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious shit," he can't resist saying.

[museicalmarty.livejournal.com]

"Let 'er rip, Doc," Marty says, camera at the ready.

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

"Let's go," Victor agrees, he and Alice leaning forward excitedly.

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

Doc grins at them, then releases the brake. The car leaps forward, zipping through the 50s and 60s, up to the 70s, then to the 80s. . . .

As it hits 88, Doc concentrates and blasts it with a bolt of lightning. There's a flash of brilliant light, the vague image of a hole opening up, a strange sense of the world twisting somehow –

And then, silence, with just a pair of fire trails left on the pavement.

[save-us-alice.livejournal.com]

There's a loud cheer from those assembled. "That was fantastic!" Alice declares.

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

"Wait, wait, it's not over yet," Doc points out, though he's grinning to beat the band. "We still have to wait for the car to come back."

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

"Oh, that's going to be hard," Victor says, lightly squeezing Alice’s hand.

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

The group waits impatiently for the arrival of the DeLorean. Doc babbles on for a moment about flux storage and wormholes to fill the airtime. However, soon enough, an alarm goes off on his watch. "There! In about two seconds. . . ." he says eagerly, everyone leaning forward. Moments later, there's a bright flash of light –

[dee-lorean81.livejournal.com]

And then, the DeLorean is back, but it's making a horrible screeching sound. And something about it seems very different.

[save-us-alice.livejournal.com]

Victor and Alice slap their hands over their ears. Marty does the same with his free hand. "What on earth is that?!" Alice demands, screwing up her face in pain. "What happened to the car?"

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

"I don't know!" Doc says frantically, fiddling with the remote. "The brake's not working on this!"

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

Victor, looking up at the car, frowns. "Wait – where are the tires?"

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

"The tires?" Doc repeats, finally looking up from his remote as the DeLorean screeches to a halt.

His expression turns to one of utter shock and horror as he gets his first real look at it. "THAT'S NOT MY CAR!"

[dee-lorean81.livejournal.com]

Indeed it isn't, as the group very quickly realizes as they run up to it. This DeLorean looks very beat-up. The tires are missing, as Victor noted before, and there's a strange coglameration of vacuum tubes strapped to the front hood. There's also a Mr. Fusion mounted on the back, just to confuse everybody further.

[museicalmarty.livejournal.com]

"Doc, what the hell happened?" Marty asks, letting the hand with the video camera drop. "I mean - this is obviously a time machine, but it's sure as hell not the one we sent off!"