for 88miles

[timecircuiton]

The street was relatively quiet for that time of night. No one around to see the three flashes of light before a silver car streaked out of a hole in time and space at 88 mph onto the plastic road. Doc slowed down the Dolorean quickly, just barely keeping it on the road that took a turn that wasn't there in 1985. Good thing he had good reflexes.

The Dolorean skids to a halt in front of a billboard that's advertising prefabricated houses "coming soon" to this spot and encouraging passersby to reserve theirs today. The gullwing door hisses open as Doc opens it. Looking around as if he expected the future to blow up in their faces at any moment. He had good reason for such suspicions.

Had they indeed made it to the future?

Comments

[88miles]

For all the times Marty has traveled in the Delorean to and from the future and past and alternate timelines, he's still not really sure he can say he's used to it. That sudden change once the car succeeds in traveling through time. He's about to call out about the corner when Doc manages to maneuver around it and compensate for the difference in the road.

He notes the billboard, remembering the past when Hill Valley, his specific neighbourhood was still under construction. But surely this is different, right? Though it can be hard to tell, houses, at least on the outside, don't often tend to change all that much, really. Some purposely like that older, antique look even. His head tilts a little as he studies the sign, looks around.

"Doesn't seem to be anyone here to freak out at us suddenly showing up at least. Now what?"

Continue in either direction and see where that takes them? Surely, they can't be too far out. Or so he figures, as he runs a hand through his hair, the back of his neck before looking back to Doc, a lopsided grin at his lips in spite of himself.

[timecircuiton]

Doc looks perplexed and thoughtful, but his face usually looks like that all the time. He looks about before crouching down to knock a knuckle against the strange road.

"Synthetic alloy? Paving with a mixture of rock, sand, and water seems to have gone out of style." Indeed, the road was a plastic substitute that was hard, smooth, and long wearing to drive on.

He climbs back into the driver's seat, making sure the dashboard was correct. The numbers had changed around, their present date reading November 12, 2045, 09:02 pm. "We'll have to blend into society as it exists in this timeline. Acquiring clothes will be the first goal to accomplish." He shuts the car door, the Dolorean having warmed up since it's chilly re-entry in the meantime, and once Marty was back in the car they began to drive slowly towards Hill Valley.

[88miles]

"Probably not so much a style as they found something more efficient. Does that really tell us much though? I mean. It's a road."

It's a road. Regardless of what it is made of. For cars to go from a to b. But then, Doc was always more the one of the two to really pay attention to the details like that, where Marty takes things for granted and doesn't tend to really note or question things unless they are more blatantly different. He simply returns to the car and eyes the date and time.

"Shouldn't be too hard. Just find the shops. Or....wait, would anything still be open at 9pm for clothing stores? I guess we'll find out."

This probably won't be as simple as putting on a hat and turning his jean pockets inside out, but there's only one way to be sure on what they might need and that's to find the shops. If not tonight, then to know what to buy tomorrow when they open again.

[timecircuiton]

"All the better to acquire clothes without looking conspicuous in the daylight hours," Doc says without taking his eyes off the road. It was a rather empty road actually. No cars other than themselves, even up in the sky there was no traffic.

Doc pulled to a stop in an alley nearby Hill Valley town square. It was a pretty clean alley too, no garbage cans, no alley cats, nothing but synthetic brick walls. He opened the car door, checking his watch with a small flashlight in his mouth to be sure he had it set correctly. "Right, if we get separated, we meet back here in one hour." It was good to have a fail safe plan in case of anything bad happening.

[88miles]

"I guess I can see the logic. If we find something actually open."

Marty himself doesn't seem to think much if anything of the lack of traffic, simply attributing it to the later hour, most people are likely either still at work or back home hours ago to have their dinner and relax for the evening. What does strike him is when they get to the square, the alley. How clean and tidy it all is. Sure, things are fairly presentable back home but there was still some litter occasionally when someone missed aiming for the rubbish bins, some stray cats or dogs.

He opens the door, also using the flashlight to check his own watch at the time. Just to be sure. Because often in their little adventures through time, things might not quite go as smoothly as they might hope or predict.

"Okay. One hour. If we get separated, sure."

Now the question is, where to from here for any clothing stores? Well, this is the center of town, so the only way to find out is look around. Once they are out of the alley, he looks left, then right.

"Right?" he asks, gesturing. It seems as good a general direction to explore first, anyway.

[timecircuiton]

Doc works on parking in the alley and covering the Dolorean to hide it from prying eyes. He then peers around the corner carefully. No immediate cataclysms so far.

However...there was something very strange. Nobody was around. The town square, while lit up for the night, was deserted. And it was eerily quiet. Doc makes a noise that sounds distinctly like uh oh. "Perhaps we should come back in the daylight."

[88miles]

"It's not usually this quiet. Even this late. There's still the cinema and stuff open. Or.....there was. You think something happened? Where else can we go?"

Because he knows they can't be entirely sure if Doc's place is still there and not now someone else's. Let alone Marty's, whether he might have moved since 2015. They could try and check, but there's no guarantee for either place. Though when something has Doc uneasy, that's bad news in and of itself, most of the time. It's eerie, seeing the square so empty, at any hour. Marty rubs the back of his head, looking to Doc.

"9pm isn't that late. Did we want to try your place then?" They could always come back in the morning. Things should be normal then?

[timecircuiton]

"Normal is a relative term and you know how Einstein felt about relativity..." Doc says, distractedly looking around at the empty streets. It just all felt wrong for some reason. Had the town been abandoned? He checks a nearby trashcan but not even a newspaper shows itself.

Its just about that time a car pulls up to where they're standing on the curb. Even with the futuristic design, it's obviously a police car. The window comes down revealing a young lady cop with a frown on her face. "Can I help you two gentlemen?" her tone sounding like she would rather they got off the street entirely so she didn't have to deal with them.

Doc plunges in, "Yes, we..." he looks over his shoulder at Marty, hoping he will play along. "We appear to be a bit lost. Is this Hill Valley?"

"It is, but no one's to be out in the streets after 8pm." Again, the lady cop sounds miffed that they don't know this. "I'm sorry, my compatriot and I did not realize..."

"Where are your goggles?" she asks, looking suspicious. Doc is confused. "Goggles? Er, they're in the car. We...took them off. For a moment." It seems as if she might not believe them but they didn't seem to be disturbing the peace. Yet.
She taps Doc on the chest with her baton. "See that you go home and put them back on. I don't want to have to bring you in on a 508 charge."

"No, ma'am, I wouldn't want that either." Doc looks worried but thankfully the police car hums away down the quiet street.

[88miles]

Marty himself is about to respond about Einstein when he also notes the car, listens to the cop. The cop that talks about curfews and goggles apparently being regulation. What goggles? But he doesn't say anything, doesn't get the chance to or want to make it worse by questioning her further before she drives off again.

After which he gives Doc a Look. One he probably knows all too well, given Marty's almost perpetual confusion and feeling over his head each time they've traveled through time at least at some point in their adventuring.

"Well. That explains how quiet the streets are. No idea what she meant about the goggles but I guess we'll have to figure something on that before we head back here tomorrow?"

[timecircuiton]

Granted they could just take the Dolorean make it to daylight in a matter of minutes. Doc wanted some answers first. He strides down the street, heading for the cinema. Surely a business like that would be open, right?

Wrong. There's a holographic paper on the door saying in no uncertain terms that the place was scheduled for demolition due to lack of interest. It wasn't the only one, there seemed to be quite a few small businesses that were going out of business.

Doc ponders to himself, as if forgetting Marty is still with him, "We may be on the brink of a complete makeover of the town. If business is this bad..." He squints at the paper again. "Great Scott! Look!"

The new owner of the buildings?
Mcfly Demolition Incorporated.

[88miles]

They could easily try that. But it seems better to possibly try a bit more digging first. Or, in Marty and Doc's minds anyway, regardless of whether they should be somewhere or not.

Which, well. What they do find when they check the cinema only raises more questions as a result of said curiosity, as Marty follows, about to respond when he also notices the owner.

"W-wait, what? Is this....me 'McFly' Or.....?"

To be fair, given the time of their destination, and previous encounters with his parents and kid with their adventures. It's not a bad question.

[timecircuiton]

"Theoretically, yes, but it could be any of your offspring as well." Since they had previously repaired the past, how Marty and his family turned out was a mystery. Doc quickly turns around, covering the paper with his back as if that might prevent Marty from seeing it.

"Perhaps we should not have come here." His mantra was always one shouldn't know too much about their own future. However, Marty usually was the one to talk him out of that kind of thinking.

They needed more information. But what was the future equivalent of a newspaper they could get their hands on? They also needed to get off the street before that policewoman came back.

[88miles]

"I guess so. But hey, we're here now. We'll figure it out. Just lie low and snoop around. Same as we did last time in the future."

Because that went so well with Jennifer and all. Still, this is different and they've both learned from that by now. Marty hopes, and figures. That's the important thing, learning from past mistakes and all, right? He catches enough of the signs to register his last name but not the details with Doc turning and covering more with his body in the way.

"For now, shall we head back to your place? We can brainstorm there and try figure things before coming back tomorrow and looking around properly."

It seems as good a plan as any, if he is to try talk Doc out of immediately leaving right here and now for the Delorean and back to the past.