This is our fourth installment examining the temporal anomalies in Primer. Last time we looked at problems surrounding their heroics at the party. At some point, probably on that same solo trip, Aaron records every conversation he has that day, which he uses to play himself in repeating the day. He tells us that having the recordings in his ear gave him a two-second lead on the world, enabling him to control how things would happen.
This means that whether or not he attends the party, he still makes the trip, because he has determined to make the recordings. Since this provides a second motive for the trip, he will make it.
What he does not tell us is that the version of that day which we watch the first time is not the original version. Aaron has not only already lived through the day, he has already recorded it, and is playing his part from the recordings. That makes this the third time through--once to recognize the importance of the day, again to make the recordings, and again to use them.
There are three clues that confirm this is what is happening.
- First, everyone can see the earphone in Aaron's ear. He claims to be listening to "March Madness", the college basketball tournament, but he does not know what is happening in the game and steers people away from that topic.
- Second, when he is in the office he is asked if he knows where someone is, and he says no and asks why; then he says yes he does know, and will relay the message. He delivers the message on the basketball court outside. The best explanation for this is that his recorded script says he does not know, which he recites on cue, but then he remembers that he will see the man later.
- Third, also in that office he is asked where he is going, and he gives the setup for an unfunny joke which identifies the man he is going to see. Later when that man gives the setup Aaron does not know the answer. This follows if in the office he diverges from the script to deliver the line, then later is following the script in pretending he has never heard it.
Given these points, we can conclude that the Aaron we are watching go through this day has come from the future and replaced himself. He later explains how that can be done, suggesting that he had already done it once.
Aaron acts as if this were the most logical course of action available: you can travel to the past, prevent your previous self from taking certain actions, and save history by doing those actions yourself. Yet what Aaron misses is that he has failed to save the history that matters most: his own history. If the Aaron that he was does not make the trip that he made, he cannot be where he is.
It might be suggested that Aaron can save the future if he remembers to make the same trip himself at the right moment. Another author used such a solution once. The problem is, Aaron gets older, if only by a day, every time he makes this trip; and if he has to make the trip himself to preserve the past, he will age to dust before he can escape the loop. Besides, if he must always make that trip, he cannot have any existence after that trip.
Aaron's actions make sense if we assume divergent dimension theory, that whenever someone travels to the past he creates a new universe. Problems with that theory are discussed elsewhere, but if Aaron were actually killing his duplicate and taking his place, he would avoid at least some of these. This, though, does not appear to be what Aaron is doing; he has temporarily disabled his alternate, not ended his existence. If that is correct, there are now two of him in this world, and their lives will diverge significantly from here. This Aaron will ultimately leave for another universe, and his counterpart will remain here, unaware that his partner discovered time travel in his own garage. Given the number of trips time travelers are making in this story, the histories of the many worlds that would thus be created are much too complex to examine, as Aarons and Abes meet each other coming from different histories.
However, divergent dimension theory does not explain other facets of the story still to come, including the next event in our reconstructed chronology, when Aaron decides to punch someone in the nose and then cause it never to have happened. That we will examine next time.
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