Phone Microwave

Lore & Background

This invention inadvertently unlocked the door to the world of SERN and the global conspiracy surrounding time travel. By allowing the Future Gadget Lab members to alter small events in their immediate history, they unknowingly shifted the Divergence Meter, creating different timelines with varying consequences. The Phone Microwave became the focal point of the struggle between Okabe's desire to save his friends and the crushing weight of fate, as every message sent was a gamble that could erase or reshape reality itself.

In Their Own Story

The hum of the microwave filled the cramped laboratory, a sound usually reserved for reheating bento boxes but now vibrating with the potential of altered time. Okabe adjusted the dial, his fingers trembling slightly as he stared at the digital display. 'This is it,' he whispered to himself, the weight of the world pressing down on his shoulders. He placed the N-Phone inside, the screen glowing faintly in the dim light of Akihabara's afternoon sun filtering through the dusty window. With a deep breath that tasted of ozone and determination, he pressed 'Start.' The machine whirred to life, not with the heat of cooking, but with the silent, terrifying energy of rewriting history.

Reader's Guide

The Phone Microwave operates on pseudo-scientific principles where microwave radiation is used as a carrier wave to transmit text data encoded in electromagnetic pulses. By modulating these waves and sending them through a specific frequency, the device targets mobile phones that were active at a precise moment in the past, effectively sending an SMS message backward in time. A critical limitation of this technology is that it can only send text messages; physical objects or people cannot be transported. Furthermore, the recipient must have a compatible phone model and battery power to receive the message. The act of changing the past through these messages triggers a phenomenon known as Reading Steiner, where the sender retains memories of previous timelines while the world shifts around them. Repeated use of the device causes severe physical strain on the user's body due to the accumulation of temporal stress. Additionally, sending too many messages or altering significant events can lead to catastrophic timeline shifts, potentially erasing the sender from existence or trapping them in a loop where their actions are futile.

Did You Know?

• The Phone Microwave was originally a standard microwave oven found in the Akihabara electronics shop of Daru.
• The device can only send text messages; physical objects or people cannot be transported.
• Sending a D-mail triggers the Reading Steiner phenomenon, where the sender retains memories of previous timelines.
• Repeated use of the device causes severe physical strain on the user's body due to temporal stress.
• The first D-mail was sent by Okabe after he discovered Kurisu Makise's dead body, but the message arrived before he sent it.