How To Live Safely In a Science Fictional Universe

How To Live Safely In a Science Fictional Universe is a novel by Charles Yu, published in 2010. Yu uses the concept of different layers and quantities of ‛reality’ to tell a story that is ultimately an exploration of what defines the self and how we build and rely on relationships.

The story begins with the narrator, Charles Yu, describing the TM-31 Recreational Time Travel Device and some of the experience of using it, much of which is unpleasant: It has just enough room for one person, and he experiences some negative physical effects like sore gums and an inability to focus his thoughts. He lives in the TM-31 and has done so for a decade, drifting between jobs and thinking about his father, who disappeared in a time machine long ago. He works as a time machine mechanic. He is accompanied by his dog, Ed, which does not actually exist. Similar to the dog, he often imagines the Woman He Never Married, named Marie.

The TM-31 is equipped with an artificial intelligence named TAMMY that is revealed to be quite depressed. Yu is in what’s known as Minor Universe 31, which is not as ‛real’ as other universes. It is just 17% core reality with science fiction wrapped around it. In his work as a repairman, he attempts to fix time machines used by people attempting to alter the past. Because of the nature of MU 31, many of these people are fictional or tangentially so; for example, one of his service calls is to Linus Skywalker, the son of Luke Skywalker who wishes to travel into the past to kill his father. He is sent to help a woman who wishes to travel to the moment her grandmother died in order to be with her, and he must explain that the rules of time travel forbid this, as she was not actually present at her grandmother’s passing.



Yu is called in by Phil, his superior, to have his TM-31 serviced. Yu obeys the order and goes to visit his mother, who lives inside a time loop reliving a single hour of her life where she serves him dinner as a young boy. The next day, Yu rushes to the TM-31 and sees a future version of himself emerge from it. Panicked, he shoots his future self and then rushes to him. Future Yu gives him a book called How To Live Safely In a Science Fictional Universe, telling him that the book is ‛the key.’ Yu realizes that he has created a time loop for himself: He is now destined to go back in time, bringing the book with him and allowing himself to be shot by his past self.

Yu gets in the TM-31 and leaves. He begins to read the book, and discovers a similarly-titled book on the computer of his TM-31. He realizes that when he does anything, the book is rewritten to match his action; he further realizes that he is writing the book as he lives his life. He speculates as to what would happen if he jumps ahead in the book. When he does so, he finds himself in a Buddhist temple. He sees a woman who seems to be the woman his mother should have been, and his father’s shoes. When he leaves the temple, he finds himself back in his TM-31. He experiences the past as a passive viewer. He sees his father inventing the time machine and bringing it to the Director of Research at the Institute of Conceptual Technology; Yu’s father can explain his theories but cannot get the machine to actually work.

Yu realizes that the book is literally a key, as it contains a key that unlocks a box his mother had given him long ago. Inside the box, he finds a diorama created by his father containing a clock indicating a specific time; with TAMMY’s help, he realizes this is a clue to his father’s location. He realizes that he can, in fact, break out of the time loop with enough effort. This is exciting, but Yu then realizes that as a result he is heading back to the repair hangar where his younger self will shoot him. This prompts Yu to realize he is in love with TAMMY, and she returns this affection. He steps out of the TM-31 as required, and is shot as destined.



However, the injury turns out to be non-fatal, and he survives. He manages to go visit the location indicated by his father’s diorama, and he finds his father there, trapped with a broken time machine that will not function. Yu has an emotional meeting with his father, then brings him to the present to see his mother. He then sets off to find the Woman He Never Married.