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"Do you remember the taste of the water? Recycled so many times it could never be made pure again? ... Do you remember the taste of metal in the air? The stink of 20,000 souls crammed into a shelter designed for half that number?"
Philip Pearson[src]

By the year 2449, human civilization has all but collapsed and the survivors live in squalid, disastrous conditions. This necessitated the Grand Plan and the Traveler program to correct the mistakes of the past.

Synopsis[]

Artistic depiction of a bunker in the future

According to the history Grant MacLaren knew before being sent back in time, the 2010's and 2020's were the turning point for the eventual collapse of society. Climate change became irreversible, which lead to mass migrations, severe overpopulation in urban centers, famine, and ancient diseases that were released from beneath receding polar ice—diseases for which humans had no immunity. This resulted in mass death, governmental collapse, and the loss of resources. The survivors waged war over the remains of civilization which lead to the use of nuclear weapons and winter from the fallout. (S3E10: Protocol Omega)

By the year 2449, the remnants of humanity live in underground shelters. MacLaren recounts to Carly Shannon that the shelters were barely heated by failing nuclear reactors, and survivors subsided on a diet of yeast and recycled water. (S3E10: Protocol Omega) The recycled water had been recycled 10,000 times. (S3E01: Ilsa) The shelters themselves resembled glass geodesic domes, which would allow sunlight to penetrate before they were completely covered by ice. (S3E07: Trevor)

Historial Record[]

The interior of the shelter that Traveler 0115 and his wife lived in, in the future. The lights from their community seen below, with the dome almost completely covered in ice.

In an alternate version of 2018, an asteroid designated Helios-685 collided with Earth, killing nearly 91 million four hundred sixty-two thousand people. The impact resulted in massive tidal waves; Philip Pearson uses the simile "like a Helios tidal wave" to describe the emotional reaction to a drug overdose. (S1E05: Room 101) The Director's initial version of the Grand Plan was centralized around preventing the impact, which the Travelers accomplished. (S1E06: Helios-685)

In the timeline wherein the Helios disaster never occurred, Drs. Samantha Burns and Amanda Myers (originally casualties from the impact) published research on the singularity engine later in 2018. The engine is a device capable of harnessing the rotational movement of a gravitational singularity - a power source that is 29 percent efficient, orders of magnitude greater than any power source currently in existence. In 2019, the device was first patented. It would not be built for another 19 years.

A chemical compound designed to combat heroin addiction is invented at some point in the late 2030s.

The year 2038 saw the creation of the first singularity engine. However, the first use of the device resulted in a gamma ray burst that wiped out 1.4 billion people within hours and stripped away the Earth's ozone. This event was seemingly prevented by the Travelers as well when Andrew Graham mathematically proved the engine's catastrophic side effect. (S3E08: Archive)

Anna Hamilton is elected 53rd President of the United States by a slim margin; her opponent is described by Grant MacLaren as "another old white guy" (who in fact wins the election in an alternate timeline). The country is said to have been torn apart by the election. Anna is eight years old as of 2017, therefore it is assumed that the election could not have been sooner than 2044 if the age requirement for President set by the United States Constitution has not been altered in the future. (S2E10: 21C)

In 2068, Robert Fraser discovers a new element which proves essential to the creation of a room-temperature superconductor used in quantum computing. (S2E07: 17 Minutes)

Normally, Travelers can go back to the past only after the arrival point of the most recent Traveler. Grace Day (Traveler 0027) says that this holds true with a timespan of 431 years, meaning from her reference in 2018 all Travelers arrived from the year 2449 and further, counting 001's arrival in 2001 and the 17 years' interim until the present day (2018). (S2E01: Ave Machina, S3E10: Protocol Omega)

Climate[]

"The ozone layer is gone by then. That's just one problem. In a hundred years things are way worse. We live under the ice. Oh, the math's not that complicated. You have two people that want the same thing, the two people fight over the one, and then there's none."
Simon[src]
Detailed view of a shelter dome, as artistically depicted by Traveler 004

Over the centuries Earth has become uninhabitable due to the mistakes of humankind. At first it was believed that the impact of asteroid Helios-685 was the primary cause, but the future remained essentially unchanged after the Travelers successfully deflected it. (S1E06: Helios-685)

Several places in North America drastically changed. The Niagara Falls dried up at some point in the future. The Fraser meteor fell into a lake that also dried up by 2068. The Great Valley was built over by shelters. (S2E07: 17 Minutes)

Animals of any kind seem to be extinct or otherwise unavailable within the shelters. Travelers were unfamiliar with what dogs or bears are, much less see them out in the wild. (S1E06: Helios-685, S3E08: Archive) Plants are likewise in short supply, with even common foodstuffs like carrots unheard of, and sustenance being made only from yeast vats. (S1E11: Marcy)

In an alternate version of 2017, the corporation Galston Agriculture developed seed-C589, a genetically modified seed designed to extract more nutrients from the soil. C589, which contains genes from the kudzu weed, became the cause of widespread famine when it spread and rendered large portions of land untenable. (S2E04: 11:27)

Further environmental consequences resulted from the proliferation of antimatter weapons. (S1E02: Protocol 6) In one version of the year 2038, Earth's ozone disappeared after a gamma ray burst. Nuclear winter followed and the Earth remained covered in ice for centuries. (S3E08: Archive)

Society[]

"Maintenance of the yeast vats, first and foremost, is your responsibility to the community."
Simon[src]
A communal dining space in the future, as artistically depicted by Traveler 004

Due to the volatile environmental conditions, humans have abandoned the towns and cities of old to live in bunkers, of which there are at least forty-one. These bunkers are located in a mountain range on the former United States-Canada border. The enclosed spaces, which were only designed to accommodate 10,000 people but which may contain twice as many, necessitate communal living. Privacy does not exist in these conditions. (S1E11: Marcy)

The surviving humans are ruled by an advanced quantum artificial intelligence known only as the Director. The Director controls "every facet" of people's lives, akin to a dictator.

Many aspects of society the 21st century took for granted disappeared, necessitating training programs specifically for relearning these and blending in. "21st century female behavior" is one such program. (S2E07: 17 Minutes)

Traveler 3468 hallucinating his friends left behind in the future (two on screen, two offscreen)

People in the future appeared to favor bald or shaved hair, even the women. The longest known is still above shoulder length, as with the final body of Traveler 0115's wife. They universally wore drab grey clothing, sometimes with holes, highlighting their dismal conditions. (S1E07: Protocol 5, S3E01: Ilsa, S3E07: Trevor)

Future society was once united in their goal of changing the past. However, when Shelter 41 was not destroyed as a result of Traveler actions in the past, an unnamed faction originated from there, chafing under the Director's rule and seeking to have humans take charge of their own decisions. At one point they began open rebellion, succeeded in deactivating the Director, and seized partial control of the time travel program. The Director was subsequently restored to power, literally and figuratively, due to the intervention of the core traveler team. (S1E12: Grace, S2E05: Jenny, S2E06: U235)

As there were so few people left, life was considered precious and new births were rare. Travelers had compunctions against killing people, or even animals, and only exposure to the 21st century revived the baser instincts. The rise of the Faction relaxed these moral restraints a little, evidenced by both sides' willingness to kill each other in the past and future. (S1E04: Hall, S1E11: Marcy, S2E01: Ave Machina)

Technology[]

Time travel[]

Despite the collapse of society, humans have still managed to innovate and invent technologies that would seem alien or even magical to a modern person. Most notable is the Director's ability to send data - including messages, artificial intelligence, and even human consciousness - back in time via quantum entanglement.

Two individuals in the future as artistically depicted by Traveler 004

The Traveler program was made possible with the development of consciousness transfer, the ability to send a mind into a different body. Traveler 0115 and his wife were the first two volunteers for this program, and Simon claims to have helped build the original transferal machine. There have been two iterations of the Traveler program, known simply as Version One and Version Two. (S3E10: Protocol Omega)

The technology has its limits. Consciousness transfer requires a T.E.L.L., and global positioning systems did not become accurate enough to prevent misfires until the early 21st century, effectively prohibiting time travel to earlier eras in human history. Furthermore, it is impossible to send a Traveler or message further back in time than the arrival point of the most recent traveler or message. Time travel can also be blocked within a certain radius by way of a space-time attenuator. (S1E12: Grace)

Medicine[]

Main article: nanite

Modern medicine is essentially obsolete in the future, replaced by nanotechnology. Programmable machines called nanites are used to heal wounds and cure diseases. The Director only authorizes their use in the past in extreme emergencies, however, so every Traveler team has a Medic who is specifically trained in 21st-century medicine. (S1E10: Kathryn)

However, there are still some ailments that apparently even nanites cannot cure. Traveler 001 wasted away from a disease "that doesn't exist yet" from the 21st century's point of view. Traveler 2383 lived with a tumor on his neck. Temporal Displacement Aphasia is a condition that even the Director hasn't found a cure for despite efforts. (S2E01: Ave Machina, S3E01: Ilsa, S3E07: Trevor)

Energy[]

While the Director and the bunkers are powered by nuclear fission, a contemporary technology, humans have nonetheless developed alternative energies in the future. Antimatter development began in 2016 as alternative energy and evidently became the cause of an arms race. Traveler communications devices, called "comms" for short, are made from graphene, a material still in development in the 21st century, and is powered by the energy in the human body.

Timelines[]

This section describes significant events that affect the Director or the far future.

Unless otherwise specified, all the events in former timelines happen in later timelines.

#0.00 : Original Timeline[]

In this timeline, there is no time travel.

Vincent Ingram dies in the 9/11 attacks. Marcy Warton is not brain damaged.

95 million are killed in the short term aftermath of Helios 685, including Samantha Myers and Amanda Burns.

After Dr. Delaney's creation of antimatter, there is an antimatter arms race that builds up for decades.

In 2044, the president is described as being “Another old white guy”.

In 2068 Robert Fraser discovers a new element from a meteorite, being vital in room-temperature superconductors that would eventually be part of the Director.

0115 along with his wife first volunteer for experiments on consciousness transfer. They take 3 host bodies each before his wife eventually succumbs to temporal aphasia, as a result of taking too many hosts.

Shelter 41 collapses.

001 is sent into the past, instructed to send an email that the Director would discover in the future. His mission was only a proof of concept, to prove time travel into the past actually worked.

#1.01 : Pre Helios Aversion Timeline (Travelers - Helios 685)[]

001’s travel is a misfire, being sent into the mind of Vincent Ingram, instead of the mind of Anthony Corrigan. The computer he's supposed to use glitches and he decides to escape, dumping his identification after leaving the towers. He works with tech entrepreneur, Oliver Norton, and marries a woman called Irene, having a kid that did not exist in the original timeline. Both Irene and Oliver succumb to death by messenger. 001 finds 004, coercing him into creating a consciousness transfer machine, under the guise it would help him with his host's severe schizophrenia. This leads to many people, including Marcy Warton, becoming severely brain damaged.

The consciousness transfer succeeds, and he moves himself to many host bodies, avoiding the Director, eventually arriving in the future, but dying at the collapse of Shelter 41.

The main Traveler team, along with Bloom and several Travelers for security and military support, assemble and prepare an x-ray laser powered by antimatter, to knock the Helios asteroid off course. They succeed, at the cost of everyone in the Van Huizen facility except MacLaren's team and Dr. Delaney.

#1.02 : Post Helios Aversion Timeline (Protocol 5 - Marcy)[]

Preventing Helios does not affect the far future apart from preventing the collapse of shelter 41, which leads to the creation of the Faction, who do not believe decisions should be made by an AI. They corrupt the Director using one of the Director's programmers, making the Director blind to the faction’s infiltration.

0027 sends her consciousness into the body of Grace Day, telling the main traveler team she is there to help Marcy.

#1.03 : Director Reset and Shutdown Timeline (Grace - U235)[]

By sending 3569’s original consciousness directly into the future, it went through the Director, where Grace had also put in a reset program for the Director, undoing the corruption of its programming by the Faction. After this happens, the Faction send a large amount of consciousnesses into the past, into the quantum frame. The Director sends a messenger through Ellis, telling 3468 to destroy the quantum frame. The Faction then cut the power to the Director after this happens. The Director is left offline.

The Faction impersonates the Director by sending messengers to Traveler teams, implementing their own agendas in the interim.

#1.04 : Refuel, Cooperation, and Singularity Engine Timeline (U-235 to Archive)[]

Following the exposure of Faction interference in the 21st century, MacLaren's team hide a fuel source in a mine, exploding the rock around it to be found in the far future. Rather than being left offline, the Director is fueled and turned online just a few seconds after the Faction unplugged it, as per the words of Traveler 4991. The Director disseminates the cure to a Faction plague via the deep web and overwrites the Faction members it can find.

Government agencies have been investigating Traveler activities for some time. The quantum frame overwriting Wakefield's FBI taskforce with Faction and Vincent Ingram forcing MacLaren's team to record confession videos and releasing them to the internet prove to be contributory tipping points. A coordinated assault targets Traveler groups worldwide. The Director speaks through Ilsa, a 21st century supercomputer, to communicate with 21st century authorities, to offer cooperation as the optimal path to avoid an unstoppable series of world-ending events. FBI Director Stevenson scraps the mission in time after much convincing from agent Joanne Yates.

The director consensually brings a messenger AI that unintentionally gained consciousness to the future, into a domain where it could share its intelligence and processing power. The Director also repacks Trevor's consciousness, the same way that happened to Marcy, to remove the AI from Trevor, except Trevor keeps all his memories.

In 2018, research on the singularity engine is published. In 2038, a singularity engine emits a colossal gamma ray burst, killing billions and destroying civilization.

#1.05 : Singularity Engine Aversion to Protocol Omega (Archive to Protocol Omega)[]

Traveler 7189 successfully convinces Dr. Burns to drop the singularity engine research.

In multiple concurrent timelines, the Faction implements nuclear strikes against the Director's archives worldwide. In one timeline, only the American archive is saved. The Director declares Protocol Omega in this timeline.

001 transfers his consciousness into Ilsa, then into the internet, eventually becoming the Faction's leader in the future. Every major world leader and several key officials are overwritten. Unknown to him, army generals were instructed to set off all their nuclear weapons if their leaders were overwritten. Missile strike warnings are sent to every mobile device. Traveler interference hastens civilization's demise instead of averting it.

#2.01 : First Version 2 Timeline (Protocol Omega)[]

3468 transfers to MacLaren's younger self in 2001 and persuades Kathryn MacLaren to give her fiancé John another chance. He attempts to warn Samantha Burns about Helios by giving her a letter while walking past her. At Stalwart Securities, 3468 prevents 001 from ever being sent back in time by arriving earlier than he did and sending the message before the computer historically freezes up.

Years later, as Marcy Warton is never brain damaged by 001, she meets David Mailer on a bus and both embark on the beginnings of a relationship, platonic or possibly otherwise.

The multiple major timeline changes form the basis of the Version Two Traveler Program.

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