The first rule of time manipulation is one you never read in a physics book: Don’t blink when you press the button.

Let me set the scene. It was a typical Tuesday. The air smelled like stale coffee, wet wool, and regret. I was wedged between a man snoring louder than the engine and a woman scrolling through emails with the dead-eyed stare of a corporate zombie. We were all trapped in the grey, grinding machine of the daily commute.

Because this genre dances close to non-consent (the frozen cannot say no), any simulation requires ironclad boundaries.