Plot synopsis
Zak Gibbs finds a special wristwatch, which is really a molecular accelerator. He puts it on, and it sends him into hypertime: His time, relative to those around him speeds up, so that those around him move so slowly that they seem like statues. When he switches off the clock, his time slows down again so that it matches theirs. However, he has aged considerably more than the others because he has been travelling backwards in time relative to them.
The advantages are that he is able to move around without others seeing him. Although he only feels like he is moving normally, relative to others, he is moving too fast for them to see him! Also, when he switches on the wristwatch, anyone touching him at that moment is also sent into hypertime. He soon realises that he does not have the only molecular accelerator and there are others also in hypertime. Government agents end up confiscating all the watches.
My comments
If a man’s personal clock is ticking faster than those around him, this will cause him to age faster than them because he is moving backwards in time relative to them. This concept is also discussed in the film reviews of A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Cashback (2006) and Lost Horizon (1937).
Summary of time travel
Although Zak is travelling backwards in time, he can never travel back beyond the moment the molecular accelerator begins. So, nothing from his past can be changed, meaning the past is undefined. He is creating a different future for the others by the things he does to them during the frozen period, which causes the future timeline to diverge.
In the following diagram, the time freezing begins at the origin. Zak then skips back to the point when it begun to re-join those around him on a new diverging timeline.
Category of time travel
Science fiction: hand-held device.
Model of time
Undefined past, open future with a diverging timeline.
