The Time Machine function of the Chronosphere
If Great Clock starts to deteriotate, when Chronosphere is removed, then why does it have Time Machine function, known to everyone? Well, since Time and Great Clock are the same, maybe Time inside Chronosphere is equal in effect to Chronosphere inside Clock? Thus Time Machine function is to allow Time to deal with (or cause, remember Hatter) some sort of paradoxes or other chronological malfunctions directly. There is something special about the Ascot property.
Maybe it was built on a bunch of ley lines or the family once used magic generations ago. Whatever the case, their home is closer to the more unusual and strange. None of the current residents realize or notice since they are almost painfully normal and proper (like Hamish and his mother), but odd things happen on their property more often. Four-leaf clovers, fairy circles, and so on. That's why Alice always seems to be on their property when she goes to Underland. Their home is somehow closer the borders between the two worlds.- Tying into this, their home being magical might be why they're painfully normal: they've required stronger/more active Weirdness Censors, which in turn makes them more ready to brush off "ridiculous" ideas, like female ship's captains or other such things.
The technical term for the rust is "anti-time."
Why? Rule of Cool. Due to the days listed in the Chronosphere, the events of Alice in Wonderland 2010 take place 2 days after Horunvendush Day.
When Alice tries to end up in Horunvendush Day, the 2nd day after that day displays Tarrant talking to Alice on the stump, a scene taking place in the first movie. The first tea party when Tarrant and the rest of his trio may have been stopped by Time, but it could only be broken by Alice - he did not specify a certain age, however, and Young Alice may have allowed the Hatter and his guests to move about again. So why did it seem that the Hatter, the Dormouse and the Hare were still reportedly stuck by Time when 19 year old Alice arrived? Did Time pull it on them again so Alice would eventually be led there to fulfill Frabjous Day? The second movie may have had Tarrant state to Alice that his family has been lost 'for many years', but this may just refer to how long Alice has been gone since the first movie, which was 3 years.- As Alice in Wonderland takes place over 4 days in Underland, being Griblig, Quillian, an unnamed day, then Frabjous Day, then Iracebeth's rule lasted 6 days in all...
Alice Kingsleigh is half-Underlandian.
In the Gamebook A Matter of Time, you are offered a choice by Time: Give him the dead watch that your father owned or allow Time to fix it. Choosing the second choice will rewind all time back to when Alice was around 8 years old, presumably before her father died, and without any memory of anything that happened prior. Note that Overlandian watches typically don't do that when fixed. Notice how Underlandian's lifespans are tied to their watches, and do the math...- This possibly repairs a plot hole, specifically regarding how she was able to escape the clock shop: Alice is able to create her own entrances to Underland in the form of mirrors. She may not have been aware of this power as it may have relied entirely on instinct, and may have subconscious limits on who's allowed inside; Absolem may have entered Overland through the rabbit hole, and Alice may have unknowingly blocked Time from going through the portal.
- Underlandians themselves have powers (see Mirana), so it can't be out of the picture for her to be able to do something like this.
- Now that Alice is aware of her ability, there is some optimism that she can return again; she can make ways home on the fly.
- Charles Kingsleigh probably wouldn't have died, it's just that he went back to Underland again, which would explain why his watch stopped working much later than his initial 'death'. The reason why he didn't want to see Alice in Underland during the events of Alice 2010 is because she might either have abandoned Overland, brought attention to Underland from her family, be sent to an asylum in the process of trying to tell her family, or be extremely cross with him.
- The reason why Time offers to resurrect him for nothing in exchange is because he hates unnatural death instead of fateful, timely death.
Almost everything within Time's realm, the Void, is some part of the concept of time and his psyche, including his own body, the Grand Clock, his Seconds, the Ocean of Time, The Chronosphere and The Rust.
It's all some strange form of A Form You Are Comfortable With, each being a physical representation of an aspect of Time which in itself is capable of conscious and subconscious thought.- Time's body itself is a sort of avatar for him. A way to interact with the world that himself as a concept cannot, functioning more as a puppet.
- The Grand Clock and the Seconds are ways of conceptualizing himself into units for those perceiving him to understand and comprehend time so that they can use it, as well as for personal maintenance.
- The Chronosphere is perhaps not just his heart but his mind, providing as both an energy resource and as a way for Time's consciousness to maintain control over all these physical manifestations, and when removed, Time's 'soul' slowly slips away reducing the physical forms to nothing more than empty shells.
- The Ocean of Time is the fourth dimension and the very soul and subconscious of Time himself - the Chronosphere (along with a temporary Tempus Fugit) acts as a bridge between the physical world and this, and appears to 3D mortals as a 3D ocean.
- The Rust is a part of Time's psyche that he continuously suppresses. It's a part of the fact that he is inherently a good person, being a feeling in the back of his head that maybe these Underlandians deserve a longer life and that the moments that are good should never end, the ironic desire to stop himself from passing. The Rust is the only way to do so, though it's the worst way possible; its unleashing comes forth as a subconscious mental breakdown through the loss of logic from the paradox, doing, albeit in a twisted way, what Time has always wanted deep down.
There's more forms that the Seconds can take
Since the Seconds themselves can form into different and larger foms (the Minutes being form when 60 seconds combine themselves into one, leaving 60 Minutes prolling around, and the Hour is form of the same 60 Minutes (or 3600 Seconds to be exact) combine themselves into a even bigger form; it's may you wonder how big would be the Day/Night, the Week, the Month or even the Year if those ever existed (and all of the Seconds it may need to form them).