How To Live Safely In a Science Fictional Universe

Charles and TAMMY watch Charles’s childhood memories through windows in the father-son axis.

The first time machine prototype, UTM-1, was built when Charles’s parents became increasingly combative over family finances. To distract himself during their fights, Charles would pretend to build BASIC programs on his Apple II-E. The young Charles would wonder who he was putting on this façade for, only for the present Charles to understand that he was doing it for his older self. Charles’s mother left to stay with her sister. Charles and his father went on quietly with their lives, though Charles remained sympathetic to his mother.

The TM-31 includes the word “recreational” in its name. This word can be understood in the sense of “entertainment” but also in the sense of “creating again.” This resonates with the way human memory works.

Young Charles watches his father work in the garage, seemingly unnoticed. Eventually, his father asks him to help. The first UTM-1 test lasts less than one minute. The prototype travels through time, but has no control to stop in the past. Charles and his father briefly glimpse themselves from a few moments earlier. The prototype then returns to the present moment.