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RATS: A Tragedy of Timeline Tourism
“I’ll clearly never let you anywhere near that event,” RATS says. “Changing her meta-narrative, though… That could be subtle enough to work. I see maybe…four in a quadrillion options where it functions.”
It’s been seven decades since my mother’s death. But when I saw a poster on the train advertising clinical trials for a new time travel technology, I jumped at the chance to visit her again. Now I’m back in 2003, an old man tethered by microchips, reliving every detail of my childhood. When I finally see her, she’s manic, smiling in a hospital bed and flirting with the doctors. It’s then I realize – how could I not try to save her?
Unfortunately, the scientists running the study thought of this. Drilled into my head with the microchips is RATS, an AI here to maintain timeline integrity – and to bully me out of enjoying my all-expenses paid trip to the past. Now, I’m forced to ride the rollercoaster of my own memories as RATS builds an algorithm for emotional resonance.
Still, changing the future would only take a nudge, a single moment outside of protocol. So saving my mom should be easy, right? Of course, that’s also assuming I survive reliving the worst years of my life…
Warning : This book deals with suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, please reach out immediately to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741. These services are free and confidential.
It’s been seven decades since my mother’s death. But when I saw a poster on the train advertising clinical trials for a new time travel technology, I jumped at the chance to visit her again. Now I’m back in 2003, an old man tethered by microchips, reliving every detail of my childhood. When I finally see her, she’s manic, smiling in a hospital bed and flirting with the doctors. It’s then I realize – how could I not try to save her?
Unfortunately, the scientists running the study thought of this. Drilled into my head with the microchips is RATS, an AI here to maintain timeline integrity – and to bully me out of enjoying my all-expenses paid trip to the past. Now, I’m forced to ride the rollercoaster of my own memories as RATS builds an algorithm for emotional resonance.
Still, changing the future would only take a nudge, a single moment outside of protocol. So saving my mom should be easy, right? Of course, that’s also assuming I survive reliving the worst years of my life…
Warning : This book deals with suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, please reach out immediately to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741. These services are free and confidential.
102 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 22, 2025
About the author
J.H. Tomen
14 books47 followersHi, I'm JH Tomen! I live in Chicago and write science fiction and fantasy novels (and a climate blog called The Carbon Fables). Whether I'm writing about magic or robots, I think stories are a great way to speak to both life's beauty and its struggles.
I think of my books like animations painted by an Impressionist - beautiful abstractions that aim to get at something true. And like many authors, I'm also trying to share a moral vision with the world and myself. Many of my books are about instrumentalism, focused on characters who have turned themselves into tools and want to go back to being human. I think many of us get lost in modernity, in needing to be useful when we deserve to simply be.
This, ultimately, is the great power of novels. They are a practice in empathy. They are not utilitarian. And yet, they are more than just a break from the world. They are a way to transform it. I hope you enjoy these books. I hope they remind you that you are worth every joy the world has to offer.
I think of my books like animations painted by an Impressionist - beautiful abstractions that aim to get at something true. And like many authors, I'm also trying to share a moral vision with the world and myself. Many of my books are about instrumentalism, focused on characters who have turned themselves into tools and want to go back to being human. I think many of us get lost in modernity, in needing to be useful when we deserve to simply be.
This, ultimately, is the great power of novels. They are a practice in empathy. They are not utilitarian. And yet, they are more than just a break from the world. They are a way to transform it. I hope you enjoy these books. I hope they remind you that you are worth every joy the world has to offer.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
December 31, 2025
All of it blurs together until it's everything. I see it all at once. I remember. I forget, I'm inside the black hole.
I'm a little too close to this one to review it objectively, but I can easily say, without the rose colored glasses of friendship, that I found this short, semi-fictional novel of grief and the ability to lose or find yourself in the void that follows to be incredibly powerful.
The life I have is warm, familiar. Even in its tragedy, I've learned to love it. But like a bird's nest, it suddenly feels made for jumping out of.
I'm a little too close to this one to review it objectively, but I can easily say, without the rose colored glasses of friendship, that I found this short, semi-fictional novel of grief and the ability to lose or find yourself in the void that follows to be incredibly powerful.
The life I have is warm, familiar. Even in its tragedy, I've learned to love it. But like a bird's nest, it suddenly feels made for jumping out of.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review