Charlie’s First Time Machine

The Robot Who Looked Like Me

This thread traces Charlie Gleister’s invention from an unreliable prototype into the mechanism that draws him into a branching struggle over the future.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Machine That Only Flashes A Machine That Only Flashes from "The Robot Who Looked Like Me". The Incomplete Invention Basement experiments Charlie Gleister works in his laboratory with a box of dials, switches, and lights.

A Machine That Only Flashes from "The Robot Who Looked Like Me". The Incomplete Invention Basement experiments Charlie Gleister works in his laboratory with a box of dials, switches, and lights.

The Incomplete Invention Basement experiments Charlie Gleister works in his laboratory with a box of dials, switches, and lights. The device tingles and flashes but does not yet travel through time. Knowledge from the future The narration presents the machine’s eventual success as dependent on insight Charlie has not yet acquired. His invention is framed from the outset as part of a paradoxical loop.

A Visitor from Another Track A Visitor from Another Track from "The Robot Who Looked Like Me". The Future Charlie Arrives A double appears A man identical to Charlie materializes with a matching box.

A Visitor from Another Track from "The Robot Who Looked Like Me". The Future Charlie Arrives A double appears A man identical to Charlie materializes with a matching box.

The Future Charlie Arrives A double appears A man identical to Charlie materializes with a matching box. He says they are the same person occupying different time tracks. Advice against invention The visitor tells Charlie not to invent the machine because it will be used for evil. His warning introduces a conflict between foreknowledge and the inventor’s resistance to being ordered.

Defiant Completion Defiant Completion from "The Robot Who Looked Like Me". Invention Through Opposition A refusal to obey Charlie decides not to refrain from inventing the machine.

Defiant Completion from "The Robot Who Looked Like Me". Invention Through Opposition A refusal to obey Charlie decides not to refrain from inventing the machine.

Invention Through Opposition A refusal to obey Charlie decides not to refrain from inventing the machine. He distrusts the command even though it comes from another version of himself. A paradox becomes practice Knowing that the device can work lets him complete it quickly. The story treats novelty as something that may already have happened on another track.

The First Journey The First Journey from "The Robot Who Looked Like Me". Crossing into the Future A chosen destination Charlie sets the controls for the far limit of the machine’s forward reach and activates it.

The First Journey from "The Robot Who Looked Like Me". Crossing into the Future A chosen destination Charlie sets the controls for the far limit of the machine’s forward reach and activates it.

Crossing into the Future A chosen destination Charlie sets the controls for the far limit of the machine’s forward reach and activates it. The journey makes him the first time traveler from his own perspective. A changed scale of reality The transition is described as a shift between ways of understanding time, not simply a movement along a line. Coincidence and recurrence become visible features of the journey.

Police in the Distance Police in the Distance from "The Robot Who Looked Like Me". The Journey’s First Sight An unexpected arrival point Charlie materializes in the distant future and begins to take in his surroundings.

Police in the Distance from "The Robot Who Looked Like Me". The Journey’s First Sight An unexpected arrival point Charlie materializes in the distant future and begins to take in his surroundings.

The Journey’s First Sight An unexpected arrival point Charlie materializes in the distant future and begins to take in his surroundings. The first conspicuous sign is the presence of policemen. A warning of political danger The scene shifts the invention from private experiment to a tool with public consequences. Charlie’s curiosity has carried him into a world where time travel serves power and surveillance.

A September afternoon in Harvest Falls

Shortly after the lab door is found bolted

Two hours after the visitor disappears

Immediately after the machine becomes operational

Upon arrival in the far future