Time Matrix (The Animorphs)

The Time Matrix is a fictional device from the book series, the Animorphs, by K.A. Applegate. It is essentially a time machine, though it can also create a whole new universe if given improper, or mixed, directions. The Andalites claim it was created by the God-like species known as Ellimists (coincidentally, there is only one Ellimist), though there is no mention of the Matrix in the book The Ellimist Chronicles. After its accidental discovery by the Skrit Na, the Matrix was taken to the Taxxon world, but was stolen by Elfangor and Arbron, and was eventually buried on Earth in a forest (which would later become a construction site) by Elfangor.

The Time Matrix is spherical in shape. The logs on the Skrit Na ship indicate that it was buried beaneath a pyramid structure on a relatively primitive planet. Given the ship's proximity to Earth and various theories surrounding the use of pyramids, the implication is the the Matrix was on Earth to begin with, beneath the Great Pyramid.

History

The Time Matrix plays an important role in The Andalite Chronicles, in which Alloran, Elfangor, and the human, Loren, attempt to escape from a black hole using the Time Matrix. The device is controlled by thought - all one has to do to operate it is place their hands against it and think of the place where they wish it to take them. Initially, Elfangor and Visser Three struggle to gain control of the Time Matrix, both trying to direct it to two different places. During the struggle, Loren also joins in, and the result is that the Time Matrix cannot find a place that matches all three requests, so it generates a new universe that is a mixture of the Andalite homeworld, the Yeerk homeworld and Earth. The three characters are then thrown into this new universe, and Elfangor and Loren team up in an attempt to find the Time Matrix before Visser Three, so that they can direct it back to a place in the real universe, leaving Visser Three stranded.

During their journey through the constructed universe, it is shown that the Time Matrix based the destination entirely on the operators' thoughts and memories - for example, Loren's mother in the new universe possesses knowledge that she could not possibly have. Also, the universe has finite boundaries, which Elfangor and Loren encounter during their journey.

The ability of the Time Matrix to construct new universes is manipulated by Elfangor and Loren when they attempt to return back to the original universe. Due to a time distortion effect close to the Matrix in the constructed universe, both Loren and Elfangor age to a noticeable degree. In an attempt to fix this, Loren directs the Time Matrix to Earth, but tries to imagine that everyone expects her to be a new age. This works, and Elfangor hides the Time Matrix in a forest on Earth to prevent it from being found. However a number of years later the Ellimist reappears and takes Elfangor back to the Andalites. He also modifies Loren's memory so that she does not remember any of her experiences with Elfangor or the Time Matrix. It is assumed that this was done as part of the perpetual fight between the Ellimist and the Crayak.

The Time Matrix also features again prominently in Megamorphs #3, Elfangor's Secret, when it is found by the demoted Visser Four. After losing the battle over the Leeran homeworld, Visser Four was demoted, however, he then stumbled across the Time Matrix in the construction site built on top of the forest where Elfangor hid it. He realised that if he could alter major events in human history, he could weaken the human race and make it easier for the Yeerks to take over Earth. By doing this he would then be promoted, possibly to either a very high Visser status, or even onto the Council of Thirteen.

His plans are thwarted when the Drode (the Crayak's messenger) makes a deal with the Animorphs which will enable them to follow the Time Matrix every time it moves through time. This enables them to try to stop the visser's plans, however they fail at virtually every point, and Jake even gets killed during the course of the book.

In the end, after the Visser has left his dying host (an actor named John Berryman), the Animorphs ask John when and where his parents originally met, with the intention of preventing them from ever meeting, and thus stopping John from ever being born and enslaved by Visser Four. He tells them, although it is with sad acceptance, as he now realises that because they are going to stop him from being born, he will never exist.

The Animorphs then take the Time Matrix to an American town during the 1960's, where John's parents supposedly met. They are concerned, because they do not know what his parents look like, and a crowd of hippies are gathering around to look at the Time Matrix, which for them has suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Almost immediately after arriving, the Animorphs are transported back to the present. Jake is also brought back. They quickly realise that John's parents had been in the crowd of hippies, but being so interested in the Time Matrix, they had not met each other. Presumably, the Time Matrix is either taken back by the Ellimist, hidden somewhere else, or simply not found at all because of John's lack of existence.

It is also stated that the Time Matrix is the reason that Elfangor returned to Earth as he was dying. He had been intending to look for the Time Matrix so that he could win the war, but he was too weakened by injuries to reach it, and met the Animorphs instead. Elfangor was then eaten by his old nemesis, Visser Three in morph, in front of a small army, and the Animorphs, so very near to the device that could have saved his life and turned the tide of the war for the Andalites.