Parts for a Time Machine

[Ninja-Bear]

Hello Herophiles, 

 

I found a nice scernerio to use for my kids. The plot has a villain stealing high tech parts to make a time machine. However I’m terrible coming up with technobabble trinkets for this. I figure at least a super computer and a wormhole type generator for power. I’m stumped as to what else the villain needs for this project. Any ideas?

[steriaca]

Vorpal Clock, to tell time in a non-linear way.

[Ninja-Bear]

Now who would have a Vorpal Clock? Hmmm....

[Lucius]

 

The Eon Flux Capacitator

 

The Cycle Recycler

 

The Emergency Generator

 

The Emergency ReGenerator

 

A Supersonic Screwdriver

 

Supersonic Screws

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says that last is just a name, we're not saying Lucius Alexander is a component of a time machine....

[Ninja-Bear]

I forgot about the Eon Flux Capacitor! 

[steriaca]

Humm...Psycho Paper. The Peachbody Improbability Device. A flask of Light Water. The energy pistol of a Gweenie. The Labada Configuration. A pair of extremely dirty socks.

[BoloOfEarth]

The Doctor: Looks like a spatio-temporal hyperlink.
Mickey: What's that?
The Doctor: No idea, just made it up. Didn't want to say "magic door."

 

http://www.scifiideas.com/technobabble-generator/

http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/malfunctionmaker.htm

http://enneadgames.com/generators/technobable-generator/

[BoloOfEarth]

Don't be afraid to mix and match things from various technobabble generators.

 

Synaptic sub-harmonic manipulator

Regulated ion injector

Temporal resonance regulator

Phased kemocite grid

Secondary pulse-wave modulator

Dynamic flux compensator

Harmonic tetryon buffer

Reactive gravimetric stabilizer

 

 

[Ninja-Bear]

Bolo I couldn’t seem to find a decent random generator for sci-if.

[Tom Cowan]

https://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-tech.php

 

[wcw43921]

Would this time machine be like a teleporter, where you step into a booth or onto a platform and be sent into the past or future?  Or would it be a vehicle that flies through space as easily as time?

 

Either way, a "tempo-spatial synchronizer" sounds like it could be an important component.  Have fun with your players.

[Ninja-Bear]

37 minutes ago, wcw43921 said:

Would this time machine be like a teleporter, where you step into a booth or onto a platform and be sent into the past or future?  Or would it be a vehicle that flies through space as easily as time?

 

Either way, a "tempo-spatial synchronizer" sounds like it could be an important component.  Have fun with your players.

It will be like a teleporter to transport all the heroes in the future!

[Lord Liaden]

You'll really need to obtain some unobtainium.

[assault]

From the original source:

"The thing the Time Traveller held in his hand was a glittering metallic framework, scarcely larger than a small clock, and very delicately made. There was ivory in it, and some transparent crystalline substance."

'“This little affair,” said the Time Traveller, resting his elbows upon the table and pressing his hands together above the apparatus, “is only a model. It is my plan for a machine to travel through time. You will notice that it looks singularly askew, and that there is an odd twinkling appearance about this bar, as though it was in some way unreal.” He pointed to the part with his finger. “Also, here is one little white lever, and here is another.”

The Medical Man got up out of his chair and peered into the thing. “It’s beautifully made,” he said.

“It took two years to make,” retorted the Time Traveller. Then, when we had all imitated the action of the Medical Man, he said: “Now I want you clearly to understand that this lever, being pressed over, sends the machine gliding into the future, and this other reverses the motion. This saddle represents the seat of a time traveller.'

"Parts were of nickel, parts of ivory, parts had certainly been filed or sawn out of rock crystal. The thing was generally complete, but the twisted crystalline bars lay unfinished upon the bench beside some sheets of drawings, and I took one up for a better look at it. Quartz it seemed to be."

“I told some of you last Thursday of the principles of the Time Machine, and showed you the actual thing itself, incomplete in the workshop. There it is now, a little travel-worn, truly; and one of the ivory bars is cracked, and a brass rail bent; but the rest of it’s sound enough. I expected to finish it on Friday; but on Friday, when the putting together was nearly done, I found that one of the nickel bars was exactly one inch too short, and this I had to get remade; so that the thing was not complete until this morning. It was at ten o’clock today that the first of all Time Machines began its career. I gave it a last tap, tried all the screws again, put one more drop of oil on the quartz rod, and sat myself in the saddle. I suppose a suicide who holds a pistol to his skull feels much the same wonder at what will come next as I felt then. I took the starting lever in one hand and the stopping one in the other, pressed the first, and almost immediately the second."

" The little hands upon the dials that registered my speed raced round faster and faster."

[Ninja-Bear]

2 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

You'll really need to obtain some unobtainium.

Well I’m Villainy Amok there is Dr Blackhole(?) that can create Blackholes so I was going to use that.

[Hermit]

I suggest at least one Sprocket

Cogs just don't get it done.

 

 

[segerge]

Heisenberg compensators, because quantum physics operates on time as well (and because you can steal shamelessly from Star Trek:TNG)

 

Entropic Compensators would be useful as well, since you'll be jumping to a time period with a wildly-different entropy than your origin point.

 

If you're changing spatial location on Earth at the same time, your villain will also have to compensate for things like different heights between points A and B (air pressure and gravitational potential energy) and different latitudes (earth rotational speed).  I'd probably hand-wave some of those away with something like "hyper-dimensional modulation"

 

A physics degree is a wonderful thing to abuse...

[BoloOfEarth]

7 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

Bolo I couldn’t seem to find a decent random generator for sci-if.

 

I had three links in my first post.  Granted, they weren't all great, but as I said, you can take pieces from various things and come up with some useful results.

 

For instance, from the http://www.scifiideas.com/technobabble-generator/ I got:

 

" Don't forget to calibrate the transitory particle interceptor, or you could wind up with an unwelcome subharmonic oscillation. "

 

From that, I come up with the "transitory subharmonic oscillator."

[DShomshak]

Other people seem to have the technobabble well in hand, but in case you want something more descriptive, I'll add a few.

 

Monopole Crystals. A monopole is a flaw in space-time. Its most distinctive feature is that it has a magnetic field with only a north or south pole, which is otherwise impossible. Call ing it a subatomic particle is shifty nomenclature because it's a lot more massive than any atom could be. The crystal is to hold the particle in place so you can do things with it. Also because proper comic-book super-science must include crystals.

 

Bose-Einstein Concensate Vortex. Cool a gas of atoms to near Absolute Zero and the atoms "smear out" and interpenetrate because of Quantum Mechanics weirdness. Fun fact: A Bose-Einstein Condensate slows the passage of light a lot. Set the quantum gas spinning, and a beam of light can be trapped inside -- its speed reduced to ZERO. Since the speed of light is intimately tied to Space and Time, a comic-book scientist should be able to do things with it.

 

Muonic Matter. The muon particle is identical to the electron, except a lot more massive. If you could replace some of the electrons in atoms with muons, their orbits would be much tighter, resulting in smaller atoms, denser materials, and -- so it is predicted by those who predict such things -- vastly increased magnetic properties. Muonic Iron would be just the thing to build a Hyper-Magnetic Generator.

 

Strange Matter is even better for technobabble. The atomic nuclei of ordinary atoms are made of protons and neutrons, which in turn are made of "up" and "down" quarks. But there are other sorts of quarks! The next pair are called Strong and Charm. Atoms that include particles made from these quarks are Strange Matter or Charmed Matter. In addition to being very dense their properties would be, well, strange. (Or charming?) Make up anything you want, here. Like, there might be completely new forces never before seen.

 

Just don't forget to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow. Whenever the Third Doctor had a techno-problem, this solved it. (Because the actor Jon Pertwee put his foot down and said he was only going to learn one technobabble phrase, and good for him.)

 

Dean Shomshak

[Ninja-Bear]

Speaking of Doctor Who, I did find Chronon radiation. 

[wcw43921]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had something O'Brien called "Chronoton Particles."  Perhaps your time machine could use something like a "chronoton particle generator" which is pretty much what it says on the label.  It could even be possible to weaponize the projector, creating a "Time-Ray" that could project the target into the past or future, or accelerate or reverse the target's age.

 

Hope that helps.

[Ninja-Bear]

Well Time radiation is going to be useful. That way the heroes can use a device and track down the time villain. Plus that also gives me a macguffin/sfx for his Time Powers.

[Ninja-Bear]

And Vibron (4th) might be looking for a Pulse-wave regulator!

[Sveta]

I suppose an interesting concern is if you want the time travel to be an instantaneous sort of thing, or a translocation sort of thing. In other words, when they pull the giant lever, do they just *poof* away, or does it open up a temporary sort of gate in front of them, with all the lightning and pizzazz you wish.
 

As for technobabble though, nah. Don't ask me. About all I've got is whether you'd be setting it up in a traditional "They go wherever" time clock, the theoretical "They can go anywhere into the past, up to the point where the device was made," or exploiting the "Roman Clock" style of time travel. 

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

I submit the retro encabulator.