Description: An enigmatic traveler from the future, in a time vessel which cannot be breached, baffles scientists in his past. (His messages include: "you must travel through time by an equal amount of accumulate hindward potential...") The Very Slow Time Machine (VSTM) appears in an unoccupied space December 1985 at the National Psychical Laboratory. As time progresses forward the occupant_initially "ragged and tattered as a tramp: as crazy, dirt, woe-begone and tangle-haired as any lunatic in an ancient Bedlam cell"of the Time Machine grows "saner and more presentable" (2). How exactly time works for the Time Machine and its occupant is slowly revealed over the decadesand the occupant's position slowly becomes Christ-like figure for those that observe him through the glass. The collection is filled with narrative experimentation ("Programmed Loved Story," "Agoraphobia, A.D. 2000," etc), some awe inspiring ideas ("The Very Slow Time Machine," "The Girl Who Was Art" etc.), a few delightful allegories ("Our Loves So Truly Meridional," "My Soul Swims in a Goldfish Bowl"), and a handful of more traditional SF stories that hint at anthropological themes ("On Cooking the First Hero in Spring," "A Time-Span To Conjure With" etc).