[Spoiler Alert: There are some plot-revealing references to the movies Arrival, Inception, Total Recall, Back to the Future (although who here hasn’t seen BTTF?) and the TV series Mr. Robot in this month’s column.]
Welcome back to Time Travel Wordcraft. It was so good of you to come back after last month’s…misadventure. We had some problems with the technology that powers the time travel closet, and consequently we slipped into an alternate timeline. That was scary. But, you know—it’s time travel, so little snafus like the one we experienced are to be expected from time to time. Given the fact that we did drop into an alternate timeline that so completely deviated from the historic account of the Cuban Missile Crisis, we’ve decided to stay in the Time Travel Writing Lab this month.
Ada, my Time Dilation Engineer, and I have transformed the Time Travel Writing Lab into a replica of the Albert Einstein Archives at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
According to arhiva.dalje.com, the archive “contains more than 80,000 documents, including 40,000 documents contained in Einstein’s personal papers. Einstein was a founder of the Hebrew University and bequeathed all of his writings and intellectual heritage to the Hebrew University.”
I felt this was a fitting place for today’s topic. Take a seat.
What is Time?
- Is it a system?
- Is it a measuring tool?
- Is it important to us—as time travel writers—to understand time?
I’m not sure…
I think it’s relevant for us to understand the impact of the passage of time. For humans, as for all animals, we are born, we live and we die. That’s a very linear path. Yet, the seasonal cycle of spring, summer, fall and winter frame our lives. If we are graced with the opportunity to live many years, we will experience many springs, summers, falls and winters to the point where the passage of time can feel circular. Although death is final—for us as human beings—we are surrounded by the reminder that dying can be seen as life becoming dormant, waiting to be reborn. It’s part of a cycle, and all part of the passage of time.
I think this is one of the reasons people are drawn to time travel stories. I think it touches on our own mortality.
If time travel was possible, could our lives become a circular path?
How would such a discovery (of time travel) affect human mortality? Would the discovery allow us to cheat death? Maybe we could relive days when we were well and healthy, never allowing ourselves to approach the hour of death. Or, jumping forward to a time when treatments or cures are available for whatever it is that’s killing us. The story possibilities on that theme are endless.
The basic idea of time being circular was part of the film, Arrival. The movie dealt with aliens who came to earth. I won’t say why they came to earth. I don’t want to give away that much of the plot. But, within the quest to find out why they’ve arrived on our planet, we’re introduced to their language. And that gives one of the team members working with the aliens insight into the circular manner in which the aliens experience time. I felt this was a unique and absorbing way to infuse time travel into a story about aliens, communication and the hidden power of language.
In talking about this now, I still can’t shake the feeling that we need to understand or explore what time is for us storytellers—as human beings. What is this thing we call time? Shakespeare wrote in Macbeth, “Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more.”
Hmmm…you know, I think—to put it simply—time is the container for the human experience.
Well—however you define time for yourself and your storytelling, I think the exploration and personal self-reflection that leads you to answer these questions about time are relevant and meaningful to the craft of writing.
We’re just about out of time for today, so let’s begin our walk out of the Time Travel Lab. Things have been on the fritz around here lately, so it may take some navigating to get out of the lab. Let’s walk this way and take the red door just down the hall.
Come on, straight through this door….
Oh my gosh! This is the fictional setting of the film, Arrival that I was telling you about. See? We’re in the anti-gravity chamber!
Let’s keep moving. Look, across the room. See that translucent, plexiglass door? There’s a sort-of amber glow coming from behind the door. I hope it’s not locked. No—it’s open! 
Wow! This is the room of clocks from Season 2 Episode 5 of Mr. Robot. I was just thinking about this room. Wait—wait, just a minute…. Yeah, I was thinking about this room when we left to find the exit. I believe we’re traveling through the labyrinth of my conscious mind. I think we should stand here for a moment.
I have to wonder—why are we here? So many clocks in this room, what does it all mean?
Look…that’s Chinese Minister of Security, Zhang. There’s no way out. He’s going to turn us over to the Dark Army!
[Zhang speaking] “Pardon me. I’m the Security Minister, and your time in this room is up. Allow me to show you out.”
We should follow the Minister!
[Zhang speaking] “Here we are. This will be your final door.”
There’s no light. I heard the door lock behind us. Oh my god…I’m being pushed down by something. It’s wet…I’m in water! Are you in water?
I’m starting to see light. Sunlight. We’re being washed up on a beach. This is the beach from the movie, Inception. The beach was symbolic of the main character’s subconscious. Let’s keep moving. Let’s walk up to the city. Look over there…buildings crumbling. Wait…wait, I’ve got it! Remember when I said that for me, time is the container for the human experience? Well, that’s all true. Standing here in my subconscious, I feel in touch with what a precious gift time is…sorry for the tears. The contemplation moves me very deeply. Look up at the sky. It’s filling with dark clouds. But, there’s that one brilliant beam of light. Look at the color of that light. It’s a mix of pink and gold. Have you ever seen anything…I’m sorry. I don’t seem to be able to stop tearing up. I’m not feeling at all sad. On the contrary, I feel joyful. Let me close my eyes and center myself.
Okay. Okay…. Look, our clothes are dry. They dried fast. Oh, we’re both still covered in sand from the beach. Do you hear that sound? Kind of a rumble. It’s getting louder, like an earthquake. Do you feel the ground beneath us starting to shake?
Time is a Prison
The rumbling has stopped.
That was it. That’s why we came here. I needed to confront it. For me, time is a prison. And when I write time travel, my soul is rapping on the bars of the cell, screaming to be released from the bounds of this physical world. But, I don’t want to die. I want to live forever, roaming the earth and traveling the universe. I want to learn the secrets of the cosmos. I want to know why there’s something rather than nothing. And I think the container of time is what keeps our souls earthbound. Of course, we need to remember this is the rambling of my subconscious….
Do you hear a car? Like a racecar?
Oh my god! Do you see that car speeding toward us? It’s the DeLorean from Back to the Future. And Ada is driving! She’s come to save us from the dark underbelly of my subconscious.
“Get in,” Ada says. “We don’t have much time! You’re on the brink of having a schizoid embolism!”
But, Ada…that’s a fictional condition from the movie, Total Recall.
“I know. That’s why we don’t have much time! GET IN THE CAR!!”
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