A time machine is a mechanical device capable of defying the unidirectional flow of time. Such devices have existed purely as hypothetical constructions until the creation of the first time machine by SERN, and the creation of Future Gadget No. 8, the PhoneWave (name subject to change), by Rintaro Okabe and Itaru Hashida in the summer of 2010.
History[]
The PhoneWave is the first successful time machine.
Alpha (α) Attractor Field[]
On the Alpha Attractor Field, the creation of the PhoneWave causes Kurisu Makise to visit the Future Gadget Lab on the 28th of July, and end up becoming Lab Mem 004. Experimenting with Okabe and Daru, she takes the lead and develops the Time Leap Machine, the first device capable of sending a mind through time.
Sometime in Mid August, after the successful creation of the Time Leap Machine, a group of Rounders are sent from SERN to retrieve the time machine and capture all who worked on it, with additional commands to kill witnesses.
The captured members of the Future Gadget Lab are forced to work on time machines, though Itaru Hashida and Rintaro Okabe manage to escape, creating the resistance group Valkyrie and making a time machine of their own, leading to two functional devices - an unknown time machine used by SERN to enforce their will, and FG204, used to subvert their will by Suzuha Amane.
Beta (β) Attractor Field[]
On the Beta Attractor Field, the PhoneWave is destroyed before it can be used, in the hopes of preventing SERN from seizing control of it. However, with the murder of Makise Kurisu, the only extant copy of her thesis on time travel is stolen and handed to the Russian government as a gift in the defection of Dr Nakabachi.
The ensuing chaos and fear causes DURPA and Stratfo to begin operations to claim all of Kurisu's surviving research, including her laptop and the Amadeus program, to get an edge on the Russians.
Using what they already know, Maho Hiyajo and Itaru Hashida begin development and recreation of the PhoneWave and the Time Leap Machine, however the Beta Time Leap Machine is unsuccessful and the USA and Russia begin all out nuclear war.
Years later on many Beta world lines, Itaru Hashida, Maho Hiyajo, and Rintaro Okabe would successfully develop the Beta Attractor variant of FG204, allowing two people to travel back in time. This device would be used by Suzuha Amane and Kagari Shiina in an attempt to reach the Steins Gate world line.
Delta (δ) Attractor Field[]
On the Delta Attractor Field, development of the time machine ceases with little fanfare due to the Future Gadget Lab running out of money. It is used possibly once, depending on player choice.