In a time loop, one must familiarize oneself with its events, then acknowledge that the time loop is their fault. It is important to preserve the time loop to avoid being thrown into an alternate universe. Understanding the reasons for the time loop will eventually lead one to valuable insight about themselves. If someone gets bored of the time loop, they can always go to an alternate universe to die.

TAMMY attempts to console Charles as he curses himself for getting stuck in a time loop. Phil calls using a speech function, but can barely speak out full sentences. He tries to get Charles to come back by promising to get drinks with him. Charles tells him he can’t do that because he, Phil, is a computer program. Phil becomes aware of himself as a program, returns to communicating via instant messaging, and expresses his embarrassment over believing he was human.

TAMMY disapproves of Charles’s being mean to Phil. Charles’s tendency to push the people he loves away makes him feel like a bad person. He interprets his future self’s actions as a self-destructive remedy to his terrible nature.

Charles sees a book on the machine console entitled How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe.