Back To The Future || Part Zero

Chapter Thirteen

Hours later, Professor Brown was driving the truck down a dirt road. At the end of it was a huge barbed wire fence, padlocked, with a huge sign. "U.S. Army. Restricted Area. Authorized Personal Only." Their goal. The test site.

The Professor nudged a dozing Marty as they approached the gate and pulled to a stop. He had previously told Marty to leave the talking to him, and Marty had no problem with that. He certainly did not want to get them arrested. Almost as soon as they had stopped, an M.P. stepped up to the truck, a rifle in hand.

"Where do you jokers think you're going?" he asked, peering into the cab.
The Professor picked up some papers -- their "orders" -- off the dashboard and handed them to the guy. "We're here to deliver that refrigerator." He pointed to the back.

The M.P. glanced at it and shook his head. "Do you know where you are?"

"This is where they're gonna drop the bomb, right? Well, Philco wants to find out what it does to their refrigerator," Professor Brown explained smoothly.

The M.P. strolled over to the back and used his gun to lift up a corner of the tarp and look under it. "What's with the motorcycle?"

Marty watched the Professor carefully, wondering how he would answer this one. As before, he had a logical answer. "General Motors wants to find out what it does to their truck. The motorcycle is because we don't want to find out what it does to us."

The man glanced at the papers. "Well, you better shake a leg. That bomb goes off in fifty five minutes!"

Professor Brown and Marty glanced at each other, relieved, then drove through the now-open gate. They had passed the first obstacle.

* * *

Colonel Nordell peered through binoculars at the barren desert from the artillery bunker. The bunker had a full communicational base in it, with 105mm Howitzers, ready for any last minute attacks. The desert appeared to be peaceful and deserted...then the Colonel saw the army truck speeding toward the test sight. He turned toward Lieutenant Glass, standing beside him.

"Lieutenant, what's that vehicle doing down there?" Colonel Nordell demanded.

The lieutenant glanced up, looking unconcerned. "Two guys delivering a refrigerator from Philco, sir."

"From Philco?" The Colonel shook his head. "Jesus Christ! How many refrigerators do we have to blow up in this test?"

* * *

Marty and the Professor reached the tract houses a few minutes after being allowed inside. This suburbian site was 1.5 miles from the blast site, according to a large sign nearby.

Professor Brown backed the truck into a driveway of a house where two mannequins were positioned on the front lawn. The man was set up with a lawn mower and the woman was in a chaise lounge. Marty looked at the bizzare spectacle for a moment, then jumped out of the truck to open the garage door for the Professor. He finished backing the truck inside and switched off the ignition.

It was hot outside already so Marty took off his jacket and tossed it inside the cab of the truck. He helped the Professor take the tarp off the back and start to hook the time machine up.

* * *

The clock read 11:30AM inside the detonation control room. The room bustled with activity as the time drew near for the blast.

"Coming up on exactly 30 minutes to detonation," the timekeeper announced. "Lock all timing circuits...now."

"Mark," the first technition said. He flipped a switch, starting four clocks counting down in sync.