So you have decided to time travel on your own. Maybe you’re never done it except to get here, or you’ve already taken an escorted trip. Regardless, we’re going to walk you safely through a round trip from Haven to somewhere, and back.
Get access to a time machine
Somewhat obvious. We’ll call this ‘the device’…time machine is the colloquial term. For the record, the technical term is a ‘temporal flux manipulation device’, as that is what they do, but no one calls them that.
Make sure you have an emergency beacon
If you have an electronic payment device or phone, it will have that functionality built in. If you don’t, you can get one for free from Project Zero.
Make sure it to make sure your device is fully charged
Most device give a warning when first turned on if they are not.
Calibrate the device to you if not already done
There should be a option for that. Part of that calibration will include jumping or standing on a special platform, so you are not in contact with the ground. Essentially, the device needs to make sure it knows who ‘you’ are, the exact boundary of your body, especially where you’re touching the ground. This is so it doesn’t send you back in time with part of the ground, or, worse, without your feet. Note the device will remember this, you don’t have to keep recalibrating, but only if the same person uses it.
Determine an arrival window
All MTPs have a list of their own official arrival windows in their own timeline, which are very useful if you are trying to sightsee at any public park or museums or government site, as it will also list when they are open, if there is any charge, and what time periods they did not have heavy traffic, so you do not have to deal with contemp tourists. There is also a group called LOCALES on the network that has compiled a much larger list of useful arrival windows across all timelines, and made it freely available. These are user-provided and are not vetted as well, but will allow you to get much closer to many more locations.
Let’s pick one of those for your first trip. Perhaps the Grand Canyon, that is a free, nationally protected site in all timelines. You can find them both the MTP and LOCALES listing on your device, but let’s use the official one provided by your timeline’s MTP. Pick a date. Be sure to pay attention to the temperature, you want to dress appropriately. Save that as your destination.
Find a place to depart from
A trip through time requires a large amount of localized temporal flux. However, you’re on Haven, so you can just use one of the places where that is constantly maintained, called a departure port. Head to the one, they’re listed in your device under ‘departures’.
As you get close, you will see warning signs. This is because high temporal flux can cause odd side effects, such as strange pulsing lights that seem to be visible through solid objects, and headaches and what feel like pressure fluctuations. Don’t worry, this is entirely safe as long as you stay in it less than thirty minutes. Have your device ready, and walk in as directed.
Shape the flux
Once you are in the designated area, check your device. It should have a indicator that says FLUX READY, and an obvious button to push. Push that. It will say some like ‘shaping’ or ‘shaping resonance’,. This will take about twenty seconds, then say ‘Done’.
If it gives an error, it’s because someone else near you is trying to do it at the same time. What is happening is that the device is trying to shape the temporal flux so it sends you somewhere, and it’s smart enough not to do that if someone else is doing the same. Eventually they will leave, and then device will say READY again, and you can try again. If you start feeling physically ill, you have likely been standing in the flux too long. Walk out, get some food, sit down for at least thirty minutes, and come back later.
Once it says Done, hit Go, and you’re gone.
Translocation
Everyone experiences time travel different. Some not at all, some seem to think it’s a long tunnel, others see some odd flashes.
In theory, no time passes during the trip, which means you cannot experience anything. Which means anything you think you experienced during the trip is probably your brain trying to make sense of the sensations of leaving and arriving. But some people swear there is actual time passing during that, that they have enough time to think.
Regardless, it’s certainly better than standing in high temporal flux, isn’t it?
Enjoy
You should now be the time specified.
If you look at your device, it will have gone into a standby mode. That means it will be generating a very small amount of temporal flux, enough to keep your current thread isolated. You must have at least one time machine in standby mode the entire time you are there. If you don’t, it will trigger emergency beacons. Don’t let the device run out of charge, it normally will last a week but still have enough for a return trip. You do not have to keep carrying it, or even keep it close, but don’t let it get stolen.
Any preprogrammed destination like this will have instructions how to get out and get to places. With official MTP destinations, the arrival location will often be a secured site, often a fenced-in area with a locked gate that can be easily opened from the inside. Don’t relock it if there is. With user-provided LOCALE destinations, it’s often just a flat area that is out of sight but a short hike to somewhere with transportation.
Follow whatever instructions it gives you to find civilization, then enjoy the Grand Canyon for as long as you want.
Do not worry about changing things, nothing you do here can have a repercussion on the timeline. You are in an individual thread, and any changes will go away over time.
Return trip
Your device is presumably still charged and calibrated, so the first thing to do is select a destination. Haven should be right at the top. Pick it.
Find a place to depart from
When you’re at a pro-programmed destination, there likely is a suggested departure point from it. Just look at ‘departures’ again, see if it came with a suggestion. It’s often the exact same place you arrived at, the same thing made it idea to arrive at makes it ideal to leave from.
If a departure point isn’t listed, you need to find an isolated place. It’s going to take about nine minutes to build up enough temporal flux in a location, depending on the device. As you will remember from your first time, high levels of temporal flux are very noticeable to people in them, so you need somewhere out of the way, that no one is going to come within 50 feet of while you do this.
Build up flux
You didn’t have to do this on the outward trip, but you do now. Your device will not say READY, instead it will say NO FLUX, with a button to start generating it. It will do so, and provide either an estimated time or a specific percent bar or something like that. You’ll feel it building after about three minutes. It will take about nine total.
The device mostly should stay within a 10-foot radius while doing this for maximum efficiency. If you start to get a headache, you can leave the device there and step away. However, that is how a lot of time machines get stolen. There is very obviously something happening in that area if anyone comes within about fifty feet. 99% of contemps will leave in mild panic at the weird lights and pressure, but that last 1% will investigate and find the device and start pushing buttons.
Additionally, about 0.02% of people seem to have extreme sensitivity to temporal flux and can notice much much lower amounts of it. They may even notice it when your device is in passive mode. However, they will have no idea what it is, it is mostly slight trails of light and a very slight pressure.
To save time, you can start building up flux before putting in the destination. The device doesn’t need the destination until the next step.
Shape the flux
When it says FLUX READY, tell it to go. It will then shape it, and you hit Go again. Be ready to move immediately off the arrival platform.
Arrival
You must immediately get off the arrival platform. That is a shared destination that multiple people can use, and they can land inside you. That isn’t fun for anyone. Just look down, there will an arrow with the word ‘Move’ on it pointing to the nearest edge of the platform. Go that way.
It’s safer than it sounds, you have a slight amount of temporal flux lingering on you that will redirect time travelers slightly away from you, but that only lasts about 40 second. It also moves them in a random direction, including sometimes upward, which will result in them crashing down on you, so get off of the platform regardless.
If you wish, there are locations that allow you to pre-book an exact arrival time. You need to do that if you are trying to bring something that you cannot clear the platform quickly with.
Additional information
Here’s a summary of some more complicated thing, but they are just a summary. Look them up on the network for more information.
Programming your own arrival window
Just don’t do it.
If you are trying to set a custom arrival window, that can be extremely dangerous, and it’s recommended don’t until you are more experienced. But if you do, remember that arrival windows are truly windows. When you pick a point, you can end up to 46 feet (14 meters) and 21 minutes away, in any direction. Although you usually will not be that far off, with a 50% chance of arriving within 10 feet, and a 50% chance of arriving within 4 minutes.
The arrival has a slight pressure wave that will shove aside gas and liquid and even small objects. Your arrival will also try to shove thing out of the way, including you, and you may succeed in moving either it or yourself, and just be very badly bruised or with some broken bones. But that’s much better than being unable to shove it away, and ending up inside of it. You would be essentially crushed inside it, with it bent to accommodate you. At best you lose whatever body parts ended up in there.
What we are saying is be very careful, and do not time travel to inside buildings or anywhere there might be stuff. Or other people, there are horror stories describing what landing inside someone looks like, although luckily people seem to be fairly shovable, but both of you can end up breaking bones or even dying from the sudden shock of that acceleration shoving you apart. Although that may be better than being crushed inside of someone.
Scared you yet? Good. Be careful.
Also, you need to specify the exact level of the ground, which means you are going to want the ground to be as flat as possible. Do not worry about arriving above or below the point specific, part of the reason that the arrival window is so vague for horizontal and temporal location is because the vertical location has been tuned to be exact. Just a few inches up could result in a sprained ankle, and a few inches down would break your ankles as you are shoved upward extremely quickly, and that’s the lucky outcome where you aren’t embedded in the ground.
So you will end up within 0.6 inches, or 15 millimeters, of the vertical location programmed.
Finding a level enough place, or the exact ground level, that is also not a building so you don’t appear in a wall, is often very difficult.
You can simply decide to appear a few feet in the air, and try to wear good boots and brace yourself. Or you can high enough that you can parachute. The easiest solution is to just appear right above a body of water. LOCALES also has a list of sea levels and tides at various times so you can calculate that easily. That is one of the more safe custom destinations, 50 feet into the ocean or lake, a few feet in the air. You just have to deal with the awkwardness of splashing into the ocean and swimming to shore, and bringing a sealed case with a change of clothes. There are ones specifically sold for this that function as flotation devices.
Groups
If you are traveling with a group, you can link your devices up. Any of you can choose a destination, and you can generate flux at the same time with two devices, which will be faster, although that also will increase the side effects you experience. Do not use more than two. Once there is enough flux, one of you can tell your device to shape it, and all the devices should detect when it’s ready and let the user go.
An important thing to understand is the arrival window is indeed a window for everyone, everyone arrives at a different location and time within it. Which means it can theoretically be 42 minutes from the first person arriving to the last. That’s unlikely, and it about fifteen-twenty minutes is a more reasonable expectation. Also, the order you leave in has no bearing on this.
Do not worry about one time traveler landing inside another. Like on Haven’s arrival platforms, the first person’s residual temporal flux from the trip will deflect anyone from hitting them for around 40 seconds. Just move away.
Moving large things
If you ever find yourself needing to carry something very large, or even another person in an emergency, you should recalibrate the time machine for that. If you do not have time or ability to do that, there will be an option on the last screen before you trigger the trip saying something like ‘ignore size estimates’ or ‘largest guess’ that you should choose, which will cause it to err upward. Also, for best results, try to make sure the additional item is not in contact with the ground. If they are a person, have them stand on your feet if possible, or climb on your back for a second. Be aware you may end up taking nearby pieces of scenery with you when you do this, you may want to try to stand on dirt if possible.
There are carrying cases you can purchase that are specifically designed so that the device includes it automatically without recalibration, including some fairly large ones.
This Welcome Packet prepared by the Haven Provisional Government.