9-11

By Mike Mahoney

 



For some time, I had wanted to write a story about a real event, rather than events in Hill Valley's past and future. I also noticed that most of my stories revolved around Marty, Doc and sometimes Jennifer, hardly mentioning Clara, Jules and Verne. Since I figured that if I were a kid, and my dad had a time machine, I'd probably want to use it, so it seemed logical to write a Jules and Verne story. Deciding to kill 2 birds with one stone, I sent Jules and Verne to a real event, however I couldn't decide which one until I looked at the date - June 11th. 9 months after September 11th, and like September 11th 2001, June 11th 2002 fell on a Tuesday. So Jules and Verne headed into their future, to the World Trade Center, September 11th 2001.....




CRASH! "Oh, you wascally wabbit!"

Verne Brown laughed loudly at the cartoons on the TV. He and Jules had just returned home from school, and Jules was trying to do his homework. Verne planned to do it later. After all, his parents were busy.

Doc had been working on an addition to the time machine. Until now you could travel through time, but only in Hill Valley. If you wanted to go somewhere else, you had to drive there by yourself and then travel through time. Doc was working on a Destination Location device for the DeLorean so you could not only travel through time, but through time to other places. Now Marty could really watch the signing of the Declaration of Independence should he want to!

Marty had popped by after school to help Doc with the project. They were both so busy - and Clara wasn't home yet from the school she worked at - that Jules and Verne had the house to themselves.

Elmer Fudd fell off a tall cliff and Verne chortled again. Jules put down his books.

"Verne, could you turn it down? I am trying to do my homework."

"Homework's boring, cartoons are cool," replied his brother. And just to annoy Jules, Verne turned the cartoon up.

Jules lost patience. He decided the only way he could get the TV turned down was if he took the remote. "Give it here!" he yelled, as the two fought for the remote. As they did so, one of them accidentally changed the channel.

".....Christmas in New York, what could be better?" said the announcer. They'd turned onto a travel show. "The famous shops of New York, such as Bloomingdale's, offer fantastic opportunities for Christmas presents. And don't forget to visit the famous landmarks of this fabulous city. Fancy standing on top of the World Trade Center, looking down on the city that never sleeps?"

The boys stopped and looked at the TV. It showed the view from the top of the towers.

"Wow," said Verne, "imagine Elmer Fudd falling off that."

"The World Trade Center," muttered Jules. "That's what my homework is on, big buildings. I'd love to visit it. Just imagine, standing on the top of it, looking down, the photos I could put in for my homework- I wouldn't just get an A, I'd get an A+.

"Ask Dad then," suggested Verne.

"No chance, Mom and Dad are spending money on Christmas presents, not holidays. Plus Mom and Dad want to spend Christmas at home."

"Boys, come here!" called their father from his lab. "I've made a breakthrough."

Jules went to the lab. Verne turned the TV back to the cartoon channel, but the cartoon had finished and the news was on. Bored, Verne followed his brother.

Marty and Doc were down, smiling. "Boys, the Destination Location is finally complete! Now we can go places in different times, not just Hill Valley." Doc had been working on the Destination Location on the DeLorean since July, and had thought he'd finished it in September. That proved to be a false alarm though which had endangered his past self in 1975! Now, 3 months later, it was time for another test to see if - this time - he had finally managed it. He was looking forward to using the car again, as it had not been used for time travel since September.

"Wow," said Jules, a plan forming in his mind. "How does it work?"

"You input your destination location by typing in the latitude and longitude on the keypad," Doc explained. "Then you type in the date as usual, and get up to 88 miles per hour."

"This sounds familiar," chuckled Marty, thinking back to the morning of October 26th 1985 when Doc had shown him how everything worked, and to that day last September when they'd first tried it out.

"Wow, that's cool!" said Verne. "Can we test it?"

"I don't see why not," said Doc. "Although fitting 4 people in the DeLorean might be tricky."

"We'll manage," said Verne. Everyone got inside, Verne sitting on his father's lap and Jules on Marty's. "Where shall we go?"

"How about the signing of the Declaration of Independence?" suggested Marty, again thinking back to that October morning.

"Good idea," said Doc, and he typed in the date - 07 04 1776 - and the precise location. Then the DeLorean flew up into the sky, hit 88 and disappeared.




"Here we are," said Doc. "Philadelphia, July 4th 1776."

They landed the DeLorean in a wood and crept towards the State House. Peering through the window, Marty and the Browns saw Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman, Robert B Livingston and the rest of the men present signing the document that would set up the United States of America.

"Wow, this is amazing," muttered Verne.

"I should have done this when I had that homework on the Declaration," said Jules. Doc put his finger to his mouth - after all, he didn't want them to be discovered. Once the Declaration had been signed, everyone went back to the DeLorean, and squeezed inside. Doc typed in 02 12 1986 16 10, and the co-ordinates for his house in Hill Valley, and they went back to the future.




"Well everyone, what did you think?" asked Doc once he'd parked the DeLorean.

"Amazing Doc," replied Marty. "I'm just glad it worked. Jennifer was beginning to think I'd abandoned her when I was working on it all the time."

"Well, we've got to do the train next," said Doc with a grin on his face. "No, Marty, you go and see Jennifer. The train will take a while to sort out - at least a month."

"OK Doc, see ya later. Bye boys," Marty called as he left. Doc felt hungry.

"You boys want something to eat?" he asked. When they said no, he went into the kitchen to feed himself. Einstein followed him in and sat by the cupboard housing his dog food, whining softly.

"OK Einie, it's dinner time," Doc told the dog. The automatic dog feeder Doc had invented had broken and he hadn't had a chance to mend it yet. When Doc was out of the way, Jules turned to Verne.

"How would you like to visit the World Trade Center?" he asked.

"What, now?"

"Yes, we sneak into the lab whilst Dad feeds Einstein, take the DeLorean and head for New York. I'll get the exact co-ordinates from my atlas and we can leave almost instantly."

"Won't we get into trouble?"

"No, we'll arrive back as soon as we leave! Dad will never know."

Verne was convinced. "All right," he said and followed his brother into their father's lab, Jules picking up his atlas on the way. The DeLorean was unlocked, as Doc had forgotten to lock it. Jules opened the door and got in when they heard footsteps.

"Damn," muttered Jules. They were sure to be caught. Just as their father was about to enter the lab, the telephone rang. Doc walked away to answer it.

"Hello?....ah, hello Jonathon, how's things?" Jonathon was an old friend of Doc's from university. Jules knew Doc would be on the phone for a while now. They were safe.

"What date shall we go to?" asked Verne as Jules typed in the co-ordinates.

"Let's see, I was born in September," said Jules, "so we'll go to that month. You were born on the 11th, so we'll go for that day. And as for the year..."

"2001," said Verne. He'd recently seen the film 2001 on video. Jules agreed, and entered in the date. "We'd better go early in the morning so we don't get seen," Jules said and typed in 4.55am. He then started the car, hoping Doc wouldn't hear him. When their father didn't come rushing in to see what was going on, Jules pressed the button that opened the garage and he drove off.

"How do you know how to drive?" asked Verne.

"I've seen Dad do it lots of times," explained Jules, and when they hit 88, they disappeared from 1986.




"This doesn't look like ten to five to me," said Verne as they entered New York.

"I guess I must have hit the 7 instead of the 4," guessed Jules as he stopped the DeLorean. Luckily they weren't seen, as Jules had arrived in an alleyway near to the World Trade Center. Hiding the DeLorean behind some crates, the two boys got out.

"There's a costume shop over there," said Verne. "Maybe we should disguise ourselves." Jules agreed it was a good idea, not wanting to get recognised, and a few minutes later Jules came out of the shop dressed in a long coat and a hat, and Verne followed wearing a baseball cap to cover his hair, and glasses.

The two walked over to the World Trade Center. On the way, they had a shock.

Coming towards them were Biff Tannen, his girlfriend Caroline and his son Tom. Tom was aged 33 by now, and by the sounds of things lived in New York, as he was acting like a tour guide.

"And here we have the tallest buildings in New York, the World Trade Center, which we'll visit in an hour once we have something to eat."

"Don't they have a restaurant in the Center?" asked Caroline.

"They do, but this little cafe is nicer - and cheaper," Tom explained. Turning, he noticed Jules and Verne staring at them. "Hey, what are you looking at?"

The boys were looking at Biff's hand. He had a wedding ring on. So did Caroline. He must have remarried between 1986 and 2001. They were standing by the entrance to the alleyway, not moving. They didn't want to leave the DeLorean when Biff was around, and so "stood guard".

"If you think we're going to give you money, forget it!" said Biff.

A man came running out of the Center towards Tom. "Tom, wait a second!"

"Oh hi, Fred, what's up? Oh, this is my dad and step-mom."

As everyone introduced themselves, Jules was wondering. From what he'd heard Biff was alone again in 2015 when he met Marty Jr in the Cafe. He'd have to check up on that later. Meanwhile Fred noticed the boys.

"Who are they?"

"I don't know, but they keep staring at us," said Tom.

"Oh," said Fred, "come up to my office, I need to show you something."

"Not now Fred," said Tom, "we're just going to the cafe for a bit to eat." Tom changed his mind when he noticed his father looking at Jules and Verne, who were still guarding the DeLorean. Deciding he'd better get his father away from the boys before he might cause a scene, Tom decided to go into the Center.

"Come on Dad, Caroline, let's go to the Center now whilst it's not too busy."

The Tannens left and went into the North Tower. Jules turned to Verne.

"We'd better go to the South Tower to avoid running into them," he said. Verne agreed, and that is what they did.

 

Jules and Verne Brown stood at the top of the World Trade Center. Looking around, they saw the whole of New York City. It was breathtaking. They got out their cameras and took a few pictures.

After a few minutes, Jules turned to his brother. "Come on Verne, we'd better go, we can't leave the DeLorean unattended for too long."

Verne reluctantly agreed, and the Brown boys walked to the elevator, where they went down to the lobby and back to the DeLorean. This, of course, after Jules took a few photographs of the exterior for his homework. When they approached the alleyway, they saw a bunch of tourists by the entrance. Realising they couldn't get into the alleyway to get the DeLorean as they, and the car, would be seen, Jules and Verne went into a sweet shop opposite. Verne was thrilled. He asked Jules if they could stay in here for a while, and Jules agreed, since he would be able to see if the tourists went near the DeLorean.

The clock in the shop turned to 8.46. The shopkeeper, and the boys, heard the sound of an aeroplane flying over the city. Seconds later there was a loud sound, like an explosion.

The shopkeeper ran outside. Looking towards the North Tower, he saw that an aeroplane had crashed into it. The tourists near the alleyway were looking up too. Jules spotted his chance, and headed towards the DeLorean, dragging a staring Verne with him.

"Get off Jules, haven't you seen what happened?"

"Yes, I have, a tragic accident. Come on, now's the chance to go home, plus we don't want to stay here and accidentally stop the fire service from coming by, do we?" The two got into the DeLorean and headed home.

 

In the North Tower, Fred was showing Tom some files. Biff and Caroline were looking out of the window. Biff saw an aeroplane heading for them.

"Hey, he'd better watch out, or he might hit....." Biff began, but he didn't finish, as the plane and tower collided.




"Why are we in 2015?" Verne asked.

"I have to put the times back to where they were before we used the DeLorean," explained Jules, "so Dad doesn't notice. For example, I noticed that the Last Time Departed before we left was April 27th 2015, 4.25pm, so we come here, and go back to 1986 at 4.25."

"Oh," said Verne. "Why 10 minutes earlier?"

"I want to see the future," answered Jules with a grin. He landed the DeLorean in the alleyway between Texaco and Blast From The Past in Courthouse Square. Verne was quite impressed, even though his brother was only 10, he could drive the car quite well. Verne also needed the toilet.

"I think there's one in the Cafe 80's, there's one in the aerobics studio," Verne told his brother, referring to Lou's Aerobic Studio, which in 1986 occupied the future sight of the Cafe 80's, "so there must be one in there."

Jules couldn't argue with that, and whilst Verne ran to the bathroom, Jules walked through the grassy park in front of the Courthouse. As he walked up to the Courthouse itself, he noticed something.

September 11th Memorial, Dedicated to Residents of Hill Valley who died in the World Trade Center, September 11th, 2001.

Underneath was a list of names. Jules scanned through them. There were 7 of them.

J Appleby, K Hughes, T Smith, B Tannen, C Tannen, T Tannen, P Wilson.

Jules froze at the name "Tannen." He recognised the initials. B, C and T. Biff, Caroline and Tom. The Tannens had perished in the plane crash that day.

"VERNE!" he called, quite scared. Something was wrong. Jules knew that Biff would still be alive in 2015, yet here he had died in 2001, and history had somehow been altered. Verne came out of the cafe.

"What's wrong?"

"Come and see this!" the very pale Jules told his brother. Verne looked at the memorial, horrified. Jules made up his mind.

"Quick, to the library!"

 

"Excuse me, can we have the newspaper for September 12th 2001?" Jules asked the librarian.

"Yes, they're over there. Homework?"

"Uh, yes," Jules lied.

"I was in New York the day before. Very tragic, lot of people died," said the librarian.

Jules and Verne sat down and read the Hill Valley Telegraph from September 12th 2001. Inside they learnt what had happened. At 8.46am, just as they had seen, a plane - Flight AA11 - had crashed into the North Tower. At 9.03 the South Tower had been hit by another plane - live on TV - and in the next hour and a half both towers had collapsed. The Pentagon had also been hit and part of that had collapsed. In all, over 3000 people had been killed - including the Tannens.

"What do we do Jules?" Verne asked.

"Somehow we've changed history," said Jules, "but I don't know how. I think we need to fetch Dad."




Arriving the minute they left, Jules and Verne ran to their father, who was still on the phone.

"Dad, Dad, help!"

"Jonathon, the boys need something, I'll be back in a sec," Doc said into the phone. He covered up the mouthpiece and said to his sons, "What is it? It had better be important, I'm on the phone."

"It's important," said Jules, and he quickly explained what had happened. Doc spoke into the phone.

"Jonathon, I'm going to have to call you back."

 

10 minutes later the Brown family was sitting in the dining room. Clara had arrived home just after Doc hung up and she was listening to the tale.

"I can't believe you just took the time machines!" said Doc angrily. "You know the rules, Marty, Jennifer, your mother or myself must be with you at all times!"

"What are we going to do Emmett?" Clara asked.

"We're going to have to go back and watch the boys," said Doc, "and find out what they did. Somehow, Biff went into the World Trade Center when he shouldn't have, and as a result he was killed, causing a paradox. If Biff isn't there in 2015, how can he steal the time machine etc..."

"Dad," asked Jules, "where was Caroline in 2015?"

"Oh, she and Biff had separated after she thought he was cheating on her," Doc explained, "that's why Old Biff was quite nasty to Marty and Marty Junior, he was taking his anger out on them, but they got back together again the next day. Anyway, to the time machine."




The Browns arrived 5 minutes before past Jules and Verne arrived. Doc checked no one was looking, and then flew the DeLorean up onto the roof of the sweet shop. He got out the futuristic binoculars he'd used to spy on Marty Junior in 2015 and watched as the past versions of his sons arrived. Jules and Verne, also watching through binoculars, explained why they were doing what they did. Doc put the pieces together.

"My guess is, Fred was supposed to ask Tom to come in with him, but Tom declined, as he had his dad and step-mom with him. Therefore the Tannens were not in the Center when it was hit and thus they survived. But when they saw you staring at them, they changed their minds and went in to get away from you. Thus, they were in the tower when it was hit and didn't come out again."

"What do we do?" asked Clara.

"We have to go in and stop them," said Doc, and he explained the plan.

"Just a second," Doc said. He got into the DeLorean, entered a date and disappeared. A second later he reappeared.

"Where did you go?" asked Jules.

"I went to tell Marty what we were doing," Doc explained, "just in case we need some back up." Doc and Clara set off. The boys were to stay in the DeLorean and guard it - Clara didn't want to risk them being in the Center.

"Dad?"

"What, Verne?"

"You should use that costume shop, in case they recognise you."

 

The Browns entered the World Trade Center North Tower with wigs and long coats on.

"How do we know where Biff is?" asked Clara.

"Good question," replied Doc. "Let's look around."

20 minutes later they had not found Biff. They had tried asking for Fred's office, but since they didn't know his surname they couldn't be as precise as they wanted. Doc was beginning to wonder if he should have spent more time thinking about how to find Biff, when the Browns finally had Lady Luck on their side.

"Have you seen Tom and Fred?" a man asked his friend. "They came in about half hour ago?"

"Oh, you mean Tannen and Hall?" his friend asked. "Oh, I saw them a few minutes ago. In their office."

"Thanks," the first man said and headed for the stairs. Clara turned to Doc. "He's heading for Biff."

"Right, let's go," answered Doc, and the two followed the man up to the office.

 

It took a few minutes to climb the stairs, and the man was cursing the fact he'd decided not to take the elevator to lose weight. So that they wouldn't attract suspicion, Doc and Clara began talking about their son's school reports.

Eventually, they reached the office. The man knocked and entered. Doc and Clara waited outside. They heard the man talking to Tom and Fred about some business deal, or at least that's what it sounded like to them. The door opened and the man left. When he was out of earshot, Clara said, "I hope he's one of the lucky ones."

"He should be," said Doc. "he's heading for a lower floor. Anyway, let's get Biff out of here." Reaching into his pocket, Doc got out the sleep inducing alpha rythmn generator, just in case he needed to use it. They opened the office door.

It was 8.39am. 7 minutes to go until the impact.

"Hello there," said Doc, "I'm looking for a Marty Lewis."

"Who are you?" Tom asked..

"I'm ...Chris Brown. This is my wife...Mary. I need to see him urgently. Do you know where I can find him?"

"Yeah, his office is on the 63rd floor," explained Tom.

"Could you show us, we don't know our way around?"

Tom turned to Fred. "We're all finished," said Fred, "you can leave if you want."

"Alright, I'll show them on the way down. Dad, Caroline, you hungry?"

"Yep," said Biff.

"Then we'll go to that Cafe I mentioned earlier. This place is getting a bit busy now, so I'll bring you back here this evening. The view's better at night anyway."

Biff couldn't argue with that, so everyone set off. Fred called, "See you next Monday. Nice meeting you Mr and Mrs Tannen."

"This way please," Tom told the Browns. They, and his parents, all followed Tom out of the room. They got into the elevator and headed down to the 63rd floor.

"So what do you need to see Marty for?" asked Tom.

"I'm an old friend," said Doc. They reached the 63rd floor and got out. Tom led them towards the office. Doc looked at his watch. It was 8.45. And 55 seconds.

 

Outside, in the sweet shop, the clock in the shop turned to 8.46. The shopkeeper, and Past Jules and Verne from their first visit to 2001, heard the sound of an aeroplane flying over the city. Seconds later there was a loud sound, like an explosion.

The shopkeeper ran outside. Looking towards the North Tower, he saw that an aeroplane had crashed into it. The tourists near the alleyway were looking up too. Past Jules spotted his chance, and headed towards the DeLorean, dragging a staring Past Verne with him.

"Get off Jules, haven't you seen what happened?"

"Yes, I have, a tragic accident. Come on, now's the chance to go home, plus we don't want to stay here and accidentally stop the fire service from coming by, do we?" The two got into the DeLorean and headed home, watched in horror by their future selves on the roof.

 

The Brown/Tannen group heard the explosion about 20 stories above.

"What the hell was that?" yelled Biff.

"Quick, to the stairs!" yelled Doc. The group ran to the stairs.

"I thought you wanted to see Marty," said Tom as they ran.

"I'd rather survive!" panted Doc.

All around workers were leaving their offices wondering what had happened. Their bosses decided to evacuate the Tower.

Everyone was trying to get down the stairs. Clara whispered to Doc, "I'm glad we didn't bring the boys."

"You have children?" Caroline asked.

"Yes, two sons. Little devils they are," smiled Clara. They passed the 60th floor.

 

Jules and Verne watched the flaming tower, frightened. They hadn't stayed this long last time, plus their parents were in there as well. They had the radio on in the DeLorean, listening to the news.

It had been 17 minutes since the plane had hit. Jules looked up to the sky. Another plane was approaching the South Tower.

"Good God," he whispered as it crashed into the tower. Even though he knew it would happen, it was still the worst thing he could imagine.

 

The people in the North Tower stairway screamed when they heard the second collision. They were at the 55th floor, still heading downwards. They were joined by more people every floor, as everyone wanted to get away from the infernos above.

"Caroline?"

"Yes Biff?"

"My leg's hurting!"

"Biff, it always hurts when you do exercise!"

"No, I think I've pulled a muscle or something." Biff took a step forward and let out a cry of pain. Clara, who knew about these things (Jules had once used the excuse to get out of gym class) quickly checked Biff's leg.

"He's telling the truth," she said. Caroline sighed, and she and Tom let Biff wrap one arm around them for support. Then they helped him downwards.

They were on the 54th floor.

 

"...and the Federal Aviation Administration have shut down all NY airports," the radio announcer said. Jules and Verne were watching the towers and listening to the radio at the same time. "President Bush has now been told about the crashes by Chief of Staff Andrew Cook...oh, this just in, bridges and tunnels leading into New York City are being closed..."

It was 9.21am by Jules' watch. He was really regretting ever coming to New York on this day. Verne was almost in tears. Jules was trying to stay calm, but he knew what he was seeing was 10 times worse than any punishment Mom and Dad would give him.

 

"Hey, watch it!"

"Sorry Dad." Tom Tannen, carrying his injured father down the stairs. There were on the 22nd floor by now, at 9.42am. Caroline, Tom, Doc and Clara had taken it in turns to help Biff down the stairs and poor Tom had had the misfortune to trip slightly whilst carrying his father.

Biff noticed people actually coming up the stairs! Firemen were heading up the stairs towards the inferno at the top of the tower. As they did, the workers cheered them on. Even Biff managed to smile a bit. Once the firemen had passed, Clara turned to Doc.

"Those poor men," she whispered to him. "Going upstairs to a certain death."

"It is sad," he whispered back, "but they will become heroes." Clara looked back towards where the firemen had been, and shed a quick tear for them, followed by a small smile.

"God bless," she said to them quietly.

"Argh!" The group turned around towards Biff. Some workers had bumped into him in their rush to the stairway. "Hey, watch it buttheads!" Biff yelled at them. Ignoring his wife's calls to calm down, Biff continued. "I'm injured here!"

"Shut up," a woman muttered. Biff overheard.

"Don't tell me to shut up, lady! I'm in pain here..."

"Dad!" Tom said sternly. Biff turned away towards a window. "My God, look at the smoke!" It was possible to see the smoke as he was looking up.

"20th floor!" someone called. There was a slight cheer. "Come on everyone!" Clara told them. "20 floors left! We can do it!" More cheers as everyone continued his or her journey. In a way, the disaster was bringing the workers close together.

 

At the same moment, Jules and Verne were hearing how the Pentagon had now also had a plane crash into it. Verne's tears were getting louder, and Jules too broke up.

Come on Mom, Dad, he thought through his tears. Please.

 

"2 more floors!" a worker called. Doc and his entourage were almost out! Caroline, who was now supporting Biff, was pleased - her husband would have to go on a diet when they got home. When they got home. Not if, but when.

"The doors!" the worker called. Everyone began running, wanting to get out as quickly as possible. When he stepped outside, Doc Brown felt a great sense of relief. He was OK. So was Clara. And they'd got the Tannens out safely. Doc looked at his watch. 10.04am.

What a coincidence, he thought, the time making him smile slightly. He and Clara walked away from the Center, making sure the Tannens were out of the way as well. They were about 100 feet away when-

CRASH!

The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. At 10.05am, September 11th 2001, it ceased to exist. Doc and Clara ran as fast as they could away from the debris. They managed to get into a shop for cover. A customer - the past version of the Hill Valley Librarian in 2015 - was in there too.

"Oh my God," she whispered as the tower collapsed.

"Quick, to the car," Doc hissed to his wife. They ran out of the shop when it was safe and headed for the sweet shop where their sons were waiting.

 

Jules and Verne, to Clara's relief, were OK physically when the Brown family was reunited, but they had witnessed the full horror of the collapsing tower. Both boys were in tears as their parents comforted them.

Doc looked at his watch. 10.27am. In one minute the North Tower would collapse. Not wanting the boys to witness it, Doc quickly put his family into the DeLorean - and it was quite a squeeze, fitting two adults and two children inside. Inputting the co-ordinates for their house in Hill Valley, 5 minutes after they'd left it in 1986, Doc sped the DeLorean up to 88mph. It vanished just as the North Tower collapsed. The World Trade Center was gone for good.




Doc and Clara lay in their bed, neither one asleep. The events they had lived through had frightened them, and they knew they were lucky to have survived.

Jules and Verne knew nothing of September 11th. They had been so frightened and tearful, that Doc and Clara had decided to erase their memories using the memory eraser, worrying about the effects the memories would have on the boys. Jules and Verne now "remembered" being caught by their father just before they set off. Due to this, they were grounded for a week.

"It's amazing how evil people can be," Clara said to her husband. "How they think killing over 5,000 people is right. When we moved to the 20th Century, I knew it could be violent, but this is beyond anything I could have thought of."

"I know," said Doc.

"Couldn't we go forward and prevent it from happening?" Clara asked.

"No, sadly it would cause a lot of paradoxes," Doc said sadly. "But some good news though, Fred survived." Doc had done a bit of research earlier and had found out Fred had gotten out minutes before the Tower collapsed.

"I'm glad," Clara replied.

"The tragedy however started a war on terrorism that destroyed the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and security on airlines improved drastically following that day. We mustn't forget though that 5,000 people, including about 200 firefighters, died."

"No, we mustn't." There was silence for a few minutes as each thought about this. Then Clara turned to Doc.

"Emmett, tomorrow I want to go to 2015 and lay some flowers on that memorial. I feel we should."

"Agreed."

They turned their lights off.

"Goodnight Emmett," said Clara, snuggling up to her husband. "God bless."

"God bless America," Doc replied.

The End

I do not own Back to the Future or its characters, my story is completely unofficial.

Last Revised: June 4th 2004

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