Talk:Lost Track of Time (novella)
Plot
Ian Grada (born in 2005) graduates from college early and gets a job at Hazdon Industries. While there, he notices what they are working on (reverse-engineering a time travel device), and reaches out to his former physics professor, Harold Meltzner. Over coffee, Harold looks at Ian's data, recognizes the artifact, and has a breakthrough: The machine needs a biological catalyst or an organic temporal anchor to stabilize.
Once he goes to Hazdon with the new device, they realize that it works now and immediately try to silence Ian as it cannot be leaked that they possess a time travel device. He manages to escape Hazdon after they attempt to hold him hostage by grabbing the device and a sample vial of a new chemical he was also working on (Formula 627?) and travels back to 1990 New Prairie, where he buries the device. To help his escape, Harold managed to include a one-time diverting device that prevents Hazdon from tracking its particular and unique signature.
Ian, knowing that he can't let the device fall into the wrong hands, accepts his fate to live in the past, takes the new chemical he was working on which slowly wipes his memories, left himself a few clues in case he ever needed to find the time machine, and proceeded to live a "normal" life in the past. He eventually meets David Ricci while working at the local architecture firm and the two become friends.
In 1995, a future group of individuals working for Hazdon travel back in time (again, no clue how that happens) in an attempt to seek out Ian and his time machine. They come after Ian, with David "getting in the way" but not wanting to leave his friend as these individuals chase after them, and the whole things turns into a race against time to remember where the time machine is buried before the Hazdon people find it. The confrontation comes to a head when the Hazdon people shoot and kill Ian just as they find the machine. David, not knowing how it works, manages to travel back to the last known travel date included on the device (1990) and misses being killed by the Hazdon people.
He arrives in 1990 just after Ian does and now with the new knowledge of the events that are going to happen, he explains everything to Ian and is the one who helped Ian bury the time machine, leave the clues, and wipe his memory. He also tells him before he leaves to wear a bullet proof vest and when David jumps back to 1995, Ian is alive and well after being shot because he remembered David's request. Randombell (talk) 11:01, 3 July 2026 (EDT)
Loop Holes & Fixes
Gap A: How does Ian wipe his memory in 1990?
You already have a world-changing element in your pop-culture lore that does exactly this: Professor R’s chemical time-displacement formula. When Ian escapes into the past, he isn't just running away; he has stolen Hazdon's experimental chemical component meant to shield a traveler's brain from a chronological jump. Instead of shielding himself, Ian overdoses on a variation of it (perhaps your universe's Formula 627) to forcefully induce deep amnesia.
When David arrives from 1995 to warn past-Ian, he realizes Ian is already starting to drift and forget who he is. David is the one who frantically writes down the clues, helps him hide the machine, handles the logistics, and hands a dazed Ian a bulletproof vest before jumping back to the future.
Gap B: How do the Hazdon people travel back to 1995?
If Ian has the only working time machine buried in the dirt, how do the bad guys follow him?
- They don't build a new machine—they track the echo.
- Remember, Harold worked for the military/government for 13 years. Hazdon Industries eventually acquires that military research data. While Hazdon can't build a machine from scratch yet, they can build a crude, high-powered Temporal Hook—a one-time-use brute-force projector that can throw a strike team backward, but only by locking onto the exact tracking coordinate of a major chronological shudder.
- Why do they land in 1995? Because on September 5, 1995, a massive supernatural event fractures reality in New Prairie: the Dark Killer violently possesses Amanda Mendel in Judge Cozzi’s courtroom. The absolute supernatural weight of that moment creates a massive rift in time. The Hazdon team hitches a ride on that 1995 distortion wave to hunt Ian down.
Randombell (talk) 11:05, 3 July 2026 (EDT)
The Stealth Jump Mechanics:
How does Ian escape to 1990 without lighting up Hazdon's tracking systems?
- The Law of Conservation of Energy:
- A temporal jump always vents an immense chronological signature. You cannot hide the energy—but you can mask where it went. * When Ian activates the jury-rigged device at Hazdon to escape being held hostage, Harold assists him remotely or designed a safety valve: A Decoy Diverter.
- The machine fires, sending Ian back to 1990. However, the massive wave of energy released by the jump is forcefully funneled and disguised by Ian's device. To Hazdon's sensors, the signature looks like a completely different phenomenon—a random background spike or an anomaly centered entirely somewhere else.
- Why Hazdon hits 1995 instead:
- Because Hazdon can't trace the quiet line to 1990, they have to wait years until they refine their tracking array. When they finally activate their brute-force Temporal Hook in 1995, they can only lock onto an undeniable, massive beacon. They completely miss the stealth drop of 1990 and charge headfirst into the blinding glare of the 1995 courtroom possession.
- The Safe-Valve Loophole:
- When Ian Grada and Harold Meltzner successfully mask Ian's 1990 escape jump from Hazdon's trackers, they do it by choosing a frequency that perfectly routes the "Chronological Shudder" through the background hum of Cambiare Rock. Because Cambiare Rock's natural energy is constantly leaking into New Prairie anyway, Hazdon's sensors see the jump as a standard, harmless geographical tremor—allowing Ian to slip quietly into 1990 completely undetected.