Dear Readers: This is more of a novella than a game... There are plenty of different paths so if you like, backtrack and see what happens.
Your friend Gerald Marsden is an amateur inventor. He was kicked out of grad school for advocating his "deluded" theories. Aware of his eccentricities are you are, even you are a little bemused when he invites you to his house for a trip "into another time". Probably just a practical joke.