Branch-and-Return Timeline

Tag Area: Timeline Model
Short Story

Ripples in the Dirac Sea

A physics guy invents a time machine that can go only backward and must always return the traveler to the exact same present from which he left. —Michael Main
  1. Travel is possible only into the past.
  2. The object transported will return to exactly the time and place of departure.
  3. It is not possible to bring objects from the past to the present.
  4. Actions in the past cannot change the present.
Pen-and-ink drawing of a man holding a woman in front of him with a peace sign on her sleeve and a complex clockface behind.
  • Eloi Gold Medal
  • 1989 Nebula
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Short Story

The Moment Universe Stories 1

Some Like It Cold

Sure, others have pulled that 20th century actress forward to make modern films with spectacular failure, each attempt spawning a branch universe unconnected to the 21st century of time traveler Det Gruber, but none of the others took into account the psychological factors in the way that Det’s employers have done. —Michael Main
She may be a wreck, but she wants to be here. Not like Paramount’s version.
A naked child sits beside a robot dog with the moon in the background.
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Novelette

The Moment Universe Stories 2

The Miracle of Ivar Avenue

  • by John Kessel
  • in Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Antholgy , edited by John Kessel et al., January 1996
In 1949 Los Angeles, Detective Lee Kinlaw has writer/director Preston Sturges down in the morgue. The only problem is that Sturges is still alive and well in Hollywood. —Michael Main
It’s a transmogrifier. A device that can change anyone into anyone else. I can change General MacArthur into President Truman, Shirley Temple into Marilyn Monroe.
Three patterned rectangles sit below the title of the Intersections anthology.
  • Eloi Honorable Mention
  • Science Fiction
  • Mystery and Crime
  • Definite Time Travel
Novel

The Moment Universe Stories 3

Corrupting Dr. Nice

Take a pair of time-hopping con artists looking for their next mark. Add a naïve and incredibly rich young scientist waiting to be fleeced. Stir together in the volatile political atmosphere of Roman-occupied Jerusalem at the time of the Crucifixion. The result: a wickedly entertaining blend of screwball comedy and biting social satire from one of science fiction’s most honored authors. —based on publicity material
The audacity of his snatching the first dinosaur out of the Cretaceous will draw the ire of every protect-the-past radical in the Northern Hemisphere.
A greenish-grey T. Rex gaps out of lush greenery.
  • Science Fiction
  • Comedy
  • Definite Time Travel
Novel

Da Vinci’s Cat

As a hostage to Pope Julius II in 1511 Rome, 11-year-old Federico is lonely until he receives a visit from a tawny cat, an art collector from the 20th century, and an 11-year-old kid named Bee from the 21st century. —Michael Main
All we need is to get Raphael to draw me and make sure he signs it.
Illustration of part of the Sistine Chapel with left side showing a cat above a modern kid climbing a tree and the right side showing the same cat above a medieval kid riding a horse.
  • Science Fiction
  • Audience: Children
  • Definite Time Travel
Short Story

Paean for a Branch Ghost

In the far future, a woman who had lived through the Sobibor extermination camp manipulates the system to go back and rescue the rest of her family. —Michael Main
“Twentieth century,” said Davos, and I whistled, long, and low, and falling. “Special assignment,” he said, and I whistled again. I’d never heard of anyone going that far back.
Outbuildings and a parking lot with a lake and a spaceport in the background.
  • Science Fiction
  • War
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

The Adam Project

In 2050, time jet pilot Adam Reed steals a jet and heads back to 2018 to save his stranded wife, but he gets waylaid in 2022 where his 12-year-old self is the only hope to save the mission. —Michael Main
Young Adam: I mean if this is happening to me, that means that it already happened to you—right?—unless it works more like a multiverse where each ripple creates an alternate timeline—
Middle-Age Adam: It isn’t a multiverse! My god, we watch too many movies.
Ryan Reynolds and Walker Scobell (as the two Adams) pose in superimposed pictures along with three other cast members of The Adam Project and a timejet.
  • Science Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel