Sunday, April 3, 1988
1:33 a.m.
Hill Valley, California
WHEN the light dissipated, Calpurnia looked down to see Jennifer’s house but all she could see was pitch black.
They must have what they would call a power failure. she said to herself. And then she recalled that when the horseless chariots were driven at night they would illuminate the road in front of them buy turning on what was called headlights. Now how would they turn them on? she asked herself.
She knew she had to be careful about pushing certain buttons like the hovering device. If that button was pushed it would be a long ways down. Just then, her eyes became accustomed to the dark. She could barely make out the street but it seemed deserted. She wanted to land the car in front of the house but there was the concern about the stringy things called electrical wires being latched over these streets by what those in this era would call power poles. To her gratification, there weren’t many wires lining over the streets and there was a big opening to land the car over which it appeared. Calpurnia looked at the house the was believed to be Jennifer’s. But it was rundown.
Doctor Brown, she asked herself, are you sure that this is where she lived?
She fumbled in the dark frisking Jennifer for what was called her driver’s license but it was no use. It was dark and not even the street lights were shining. Just then Calpurnia remembered something: In the glove compartment was that illuminating object called a flashlight. After feeling around she found a small cylindrical object with a switch on the side. She tried a switch and a huge beam of light shined from the big end of it. Once again, Calpurnia frisked the unconscious Jennifer for that license. Finally, she found it. Examining it, she read the symbols known as Arabic numbers and looked at the same symbols on the house. The symbols called numbers were the same. There were words following these numbers called street names. Now she knew that at each crossroad there would be signs called street signs. If she drove down towards the end of these streets. So she decided to drive towards these crossroads and read one of these signs.
However, she remembered one thing: I’d better turn on these headlights. she said to herself, As I understand, people in this century have to use them at night when driving these chariots.
After using the flashlight on some of the buttons and switches, she came across one she remembered that was used to turn on the lights so she tried it. The lights went on and down the street she drove.
++++++
Doc appeared over his house and looked down. The streets were dark as was the house.
Something’s wrong here. he said to himself, When I left, the lab lights were still on.
Doc looked at the destination and present indicators which read April 3, 1988 1:33 a.m. Turning on the headlights, he scanned the driveway for Jennifer’s car but it wasn’t there. Doc tried the roof opener but roof didn’t open.
Landing the car in the street, Doc got out and went to the front door taking a flashlight with him. The door opened easily, enabling Doc to look in. It was all moldy and dusty and without furniture just like it was before Doc and his family bought the place. He went back to his car and looked at the Polaroid he took of McFlius and Priscilla. Training his flashlight on it, it showed that McFlius and Priscilla was still in the picture.
Damn! he said to himself, We were too late to stop Jennifer!
++++++
Calpurnia came back to the same spot she was when she first arrived in 1988. The street and the address were the same so she pulled up into the driveway. Remembering a rule of thumb being that when the driver shuts off the car and gets out, don’t forget to turn off the headlights which she did. Taking the flashlight, she shined it in the windows. Looking in, she saw nothing but dust and worn out furniture. She also noticed that some of the windows were broken.
This is wrong. she said to herself, This isn’t the century I left. Then, she thought of something: I’d better wake Jennifer.
She went back to the car and tried to rouse her. And then she noticed something: There was that photo of McFlius and Priscilla. Picking it up, she looked at it. The two were still in the photo.
Jennifer. she said to herself. She reached over to pick up the walky-talky hoping that Doc made it back safely and talked into it. “Doctor Brown.” she said, “Come in Doctor Brown.”
Just then, Jennifer came too.
“Where am I?” she asked.
Calpurnia turned around to see her saying “Back in Hill Valley, California.”
Jennifer grabbed the flashlight from her and flashed it on her..
“Calpurnia?” she asked.
“Yes it’s me.” said Calpurnia.
Jennifer got out of the DeLorean and looked around.
“Are you sure this is Hill Valley?” she asked, “I’ve never seen it so spooky before.”
“I’m sure it is.” said Calpurnia, “But your Doctor Brown set the circuits for me.”
“Doctor Brown?” asked Jennifer as she got back in to activate the time circuits.
“Yes.” said Calpurnia, “He said you made off with one of time chariots tonight just to go back in to save McFlius.”
“McFlius?” exclaimed Jennifer, “What made you think I would go back in time to do that?”
Calpurnia picked of the Polaroid and showed it to Jennifer.
Using the flashlight Jennifer looked at it.
“So I saved him.” said Jennifer, “So what?”
“Jennifer.” said Calpurnia, “Look around you.” Jennifer did. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Then, Calpurnia said “Now look at the time indicator.”
Jennifer did. It read
APR. 3, 1988 1:33 a.m.
Destination Time
APR 3, 1988 2:50 a.m.
Present Time
OCT 10, 42 B.C. 8:45 a.m.
Last Time Departed
Hill Valley, California
Destination Location.
“April 3?” exclaimed Jennifer, “That’s the day I left for 42 B.C.”
“Correct.” said Calpurnia.
“But it can’t be.” said Jennifer, “There were a few lights on and the street lights were working when I left.”
“Well they’re not working now.”
“But how did it happen?”
“You save McFlius’s life. That’s how it happened. Apparently now, according to the looks of things now, he was supposed to die in the Battle of Philippi.”
“At the hands of Brutus? The same man who murdered your husband?”
Calpurnia was shocked at this.
“It doesn’t matter how he died.” said Calpurnia.
“It isn’t?” demanded Jennifer, “Calpurnia, can you hear yourself talk? I’ve just told you how McFlius died and who did it and you’re acting like you don’t give a damn. What kind of grieving widow are you?”
“The bottom line is, Jennifer, that you changed history for the worse by saving McFlius.”
“The same McFlius whose descendent is in the hospital, the same descendent whom I love , the same descendant who couldn’t save your husband from being murdered because you stopped him?”
Calpurnia didn’t like that at all. Not one bit. Immediately she slapped her across the face.
Jennifer reeled back from the blow as Calpurnia who was now near tears said “Did you I stopped Marty because I wanted Julius to die anyway? Do you think I enjoy waking up to an empty be every night? Well, you’re wrong. I miss my husband. I regretted the lost opportunity to bear him an heir. I know that if I let Marty save my husband he would’ve still been alive and I would’ve born him and heir or so. But I had to think of the future from whence your beloved and his friend came from. I owed to them to return to that same future even if it cost my husband his life.”
Jennifer suffering from the slap that Calpurnia inflicted on her and having to hear what she said started to cry so Calpurnia threw her arms around her and comforted her. Just then, a pair of headlights appeared and got bigger with every approach until they were shining on the two time travelers. The headlights were attached to a limousine. It was the same limousine that took Doc back in time and when it stopped, it was Doc who got out..
“Doctor Brown!” said Calpurnia.
“Calpurnia.” said Doc, “Jennifer. Thank God I found you two.”
“Doctor Brown.” said Calpurnia, “We were too late. Jennifer saved McFlius.”
Doc looked at Jennifer and frowned as he told Calpurnia “I know. Jennifer,
why did you do it?” Jennifer said nothing even though she tried to get some
words out only to start crying again. So Doc said “Alright. Let’s see how much
of an impact her actions in the past had on the future.”
“Well, judging by the looks of your own city, I should say very.” said Calpurnia.
“Well, before we go back in time to stop Jennifer,” said Doc, “I’ve got to be sure that it was Jennifer’s rescuing of McFlius that created this reality.”
“How are we going to do that?” asked Calpurnia, “Go back in time?”
“No.” said Doc, “Too time consuming. We’ll go to the library.”
“The library?” asked Calpurnia, “If I understand correctly, the library isn’t opened this time of night.”
“Don’t worry.” said Doc, “I know a security guard there who could pull some strings for us.”
After a mutual agreement, Doc and Calpurnia both got back in their respective time machines. This time, at Doc’s request, Jennifer went with him.
++++++
The rest of the city was just as bad as Jennifer’s neighborhood. It was dark and rundown with no street lights working. When they arrived at the library, there was no security guard there. The library itself was rundown and dilapidated. After pulling into the parking lot, the three time travelers got out and went to the door. To their surprise the door was unlock. But once inside, what they saw was more eerie than it was out side. It was dark and when Doc tried to turn on the lights, the switch didn’t work so Doc used a flashlight he took with him. What they saw were the shelves and books being covered with cobwebs as if the place was deserted for years.
“Wait here, both of you.” said Doc, “I’ll go get some things out of the DeLorean.”
Giving Calpurnia the flashlight, Doc went back out. Moments later he came back with a machine and some candles.
“What is that?” asked Calpurnia.
“It’s a battery powered vacuum cleaner.” said Doc, “If you want to vacuum your room and the power goes out this kind of cleaner comes in handy.”
Activating the device, Doc used it on the one of the tables, chairs and the surrounding floor. With that done, Doc put the candles on the table and lit them. After vacuuming a few select shelves, Doc extracted some books and put them on the table. Then he took his flashlight and went to the storage room where all the old newspapers were stored. Meanwhile, Calpurnia went to the newspaper rack and took out what was supposed to be the day’s newspaper. However, the newspaper she picked up seemed old. Using the candles, she read the articles and realized that the country as well as the world had somehow made a turn for the worse. She was trying to gauge at the date but her still unfamiliarity with Arabic numbers made it possible so she showed it to Jennifer.
“Jennifer.” she said, “Can you tell me what the date of this newspaper is?” Jennifer said nothing. “Jennifer.” said Calpurnia, “I’m sorry I hit you. I was so mad at what you said that I lost control.” Jennifer started to cry. “Jennifer.” said Calpurnia, “Please don’t cry.”
Calpurnia wanted to say something more but something had caught her eye: It was an opened book. She picked it up and read the heading of the page. It said “McFLIUS”.
McFlius. said Calpurnia to herself, Oh the gods! A McFlius has a story about himself in this book.
Calpurnia thumbed through the story. It mentioned that he was the servant of Julius Caesar and married Priscilla who bore him many sons.
But they only had one. said Calpurnia to herself.
Just then, Doc came back with some newspapers.
“Doctor Brown.” said Calpurnia showing him the book, “You’d better look at this.”
Doc did. “Great Scott!” he said. He looked at the side of the book. It was Plutarch’s Lives. “That’s not supposed to be in there.” he said.
“There’s another thing.” said Calpurnia showing him the newspaper she took from the rack, “I got this from over there.”
Doc studied it. “It’s from 1958.” he said, “Oh, Great Scott! Jennifer did you see what you did?”
Both pair of eyes looked at Jennifer but she had cried herself to sleep.
“Jennifer!” said Calpurnia.
“Leave her alone.” said Doc, “She’s suffered too much already. And besides, if she’s to patch up the damage she did to the timeline, it would be better that she would do without fighting sleep.” Calpurnia looked at Jennifer as Doc put his hand on her shoulder saying “Come on. We’ve got work to do.”
Immediately, the two went to work.