The Crosstime Traffic corporation went into business in the mid-21st century. After the planet experienced an overtaxing of resources and severe climate change, scientists developed a means of moving not only through time, but across parallel dimensions, dubbed alternates. The histories of these various alternates were quite different from the home timeline, and many still had viable resources. Crosstime Traffic was established as a commercial venture. Outposts of various kinds were established in many alternates. Through these outposts, operatives for Crosstime Traffic traded for the various resources the home timeline required.