The central conflict of the book revolves around Utilitarianism, the idea of doing the greatest good for the greatest number, clashing with individual morality.
The “Murky Moral Zone”: To save the human race from extinction after a plague wipes out 90% of women, governments authorize the retrieval of women from the past.
The “Rule of Death”: Agents justify this abduction by only taking women history records as deceased. They argue they are “saving” them, yet this removes the women’s autonomy, forcing them into a future where they are essentially breeding stock or prizes.
The Cost of “The Greater Good”: Shatner struggles with the trauma of this system. He notes that while the goal is survival, the method requires handing innocent people, like a newborn baby, over to death if history demands it, or stripping a woman of her past life to serve the future’s needs.
The narrative frequently questions whether time is mutable or if fate is fixed.
“Course Correction”: The universe appears to have a self preservation mechanism. Characters fear that saving someone might trigger a “ripple effect” or that the timeline will attempt to “course correct” to fix the anomaly.
The Cliff Analogy: Sera poses a direct philosophical question to Shatner: If you save someone from falling off a cliff, does it change a future that hasn’t happened yet, or was something different supposed to happen? This highlights the tension between acting morally in the moment versus adhering to a pre-written destiny.
The “Final Destination” Effect: Shatner jokes (with serious intent) about whether they can actually change the outcome or if death is inevitable for those marked by history.
Memory as the Only Reality: When the timeline is altered, the “true” history is erased for everyone except the agents (Shatner and Don) who were outside the timeline or holding specific devices. They become the sole custodians of a reality that no longer exists, raising the question: If no one remembers a life or a timeline, did it ever actually matter?.
Commoditization of Humanity: In the corrupted timeline, women are reduced to objects in a “Wife Lottery,” purchased by the wealthy. This strips them of personhood, exploring how scarcity leads to the collapse of human rights in favor of resource hoarding by the elite.
Social Engineering: The society of 2089 artificially reconstructs social norms to fit survival needs, outlawing lesbianism to maximize reproduction while celebrating gay men to reduce male-male competition. This reflects how morality is often fluid and dictated by the necessities of the ruling structure.
Who Controls the Narrative? The antagonist, Ramses, edits history not for the greater good, but for personal gain and control. This illustrates the danger of centralized power over history itself, those who control the past dictate the reality of the present.
“Clocked Out”: The agency uses euphemisms like “clocked out” or “unexplained anomaly” to sterilize death. By renaming murder and failure as bureaucratic errors, they detach themselves from the moral weight of their actions.
