The murdered time traveler in Matter of Time

[JirinPanthosa]

I'm currently watching Matter of Time. Besides noticing that this episode states that phasers and warp coils don't exist in the 22nd century, I'm wondering what now happens 200 years later.

Historians must know, there was a time traveler in the 26th century, who traveled back to the 22nd century and met a man named Rasmussen who then murdered him. For this not to be true, the bureau of temporal investigations would have had to get involved and highly classify or eliminate all mention of Rasmussen. In the 26th century, there must be some historian who is compelled to go back in time and be murdered to preserve the timeline. He possibly even collected the timeship that appeared in the 22nd century and sent it back to his own time before going further back in time to be murdered.

But it's the 26th century, so other options are available. Like, replacing him at the last moment with a non-sentient biological duplicate. (Which actually they could probably do at any time to preserve historical figures by replacing them at the moment of their death.)

 

[Tosk]

The DTI investigate, but as far as the show goes they don't go fiddling with time themselves. Or do they?

And we don't actually know he was killed. Granted, it's pretty strongly implied, but still...

 

[Nakita Akita]

I'm currently watching Matter of Time. Besides noticing that this episode states that phasers and warp coils don't exist in the 22nd century, I'm wondering what now happens 200 years later.

Historians must know, there was a time traveler in the 26th century, who traveled back to the 22nd century and met a man named Rasmussen who then murdered him. For this not to be true, the bureau of temporal investigations would have had to get involved and highly classify or eliminate all mention of Rasmussen. In the 26th century, there must be some historian who is compelled to go back in time and be murdered to preserve the timeline. He possibly even collected the timeship that appeared in the 22nd century and sent it back to his own time before going further back in time to be murdered.

But it's the 26th century, so other options are available. Like, replacing him at the last moment with a non-sentient biological duplicate. (Which actually they could probably do at any time to preserve historical figures by replacing them at the moment of their death.)

Maybe they just know that one of their own disappeared. Lost in space, something like that.
Possibly the person was Time/traveling but he wasn't supposed to be so he was doing it secretly.
Rassmusen said that He was from the26th century. Which was a lie. He is most likely lying as to where he got the ship and even if he wasn't lying, the person he stole it from could have been lying.
Or, the person that had the ship befor Rassmusen could have been from the 'past' too.
It's a fun episode. I watched some of it last night.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Yeah, but my point is there would be historical record of a man named Rasmussen having murdered a time traveler from the 26th century, and they don't know his identity but it would make time travelers know that one of them must be that man.

Rasmussen had no reason to lie to Data as he thought he had won. The time traveler might have been lying but it wouldn't change that there was a man who came back in time and got killed. And they would know what the craft looked like and the composition of the hull so they would know if their timeship was the same model as that one.

 

[Timo]

Nuances to this:

- The villain probably stole the name of his victim along with the time machine - so it's the real Rasmussen who died. Or got stunned or whatever, so that even his clothes would become part of the loot.
- Since "Rasmussen" entered the 24th century right next to the E-D but not at an ideal moment for the theft scheme, we might assume he didn't know too well how to operate the time machine. From which it would follow that the real Rasmussen had set the controls originally and had been interested in the E-D. Or perhaps on Pentara...
- One wonders if "Rasmussen" doing the "Two steps to the right, please" number is a further sign of his inability to deviate from the original settings of the machine, or at least of his general ineptness in operating it. He did claim it took him weeks to learn the ropes, but he may not have gotten particularly far after all.
- The settings of Rasmussen or "Rasmussen" took the time machine to within 300 kilometers of the E-D. An odd choice if the ship was the target - too close for stealth, too distant for a polite hello. Perhaps "Rasmussen" had originally intended to rob a planet that would be dead in a few moments anyway, and the starship was just a lemon he turned into lemonade?
- Heck, perhaps said theft had been the plan of the original real Rasmussen?
- Yet "Rasmussen" has lots of data available on the E-D from the get-go. Sure, he's likely to be a master cold reader and seasoned con man, but he did get some preparatory reading done at least. If he can operate the machine's databanks that well, perhaps he isn't a complete klutz?
- Or perhaps the likelier explanation is that the real Rasmussen had an interest in the E-D (if only in the sense of being maximally prepared to avoid her, a fact lost on "Rasmussen").
- Yet if it took "Rasmussen" weeks to learn how to activate the time machine, perhaps he arrived in the 24th century weeks late? Perhaps the real Rasmussen had intended to avoid the E-D that way.
- The possibility of "Rasmussen" specifically targeting the E-D against the original plan of Rasmussen is pretty unlikely, as it would take quite a bit of finesse, and "Rasmussen" would have much easier prey available anyway if he really were in precise control over the time travel.

Timo Saloniemi