小說主角能超脫時空 (unstuck in time)，時在當下，忽焉往昔，小說情節於是不按時序(chronological)，支離散亂，待讀者拼貼詮解。主角後為異星人誘拐，巧的是，這些外星生物也能穿梭時空。對他們來說，過去現在未來既渾為一體，所謂生死，也就不足縈懷： “When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in that particular moment, but that same person is just fine is plenty of other moments. Now when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is ‘So it goes’ ” (27). 馮內果寫的當然不是科幻小說，而“So it goes” 不過是聊以自解的說詞（朋友不妨算算小說裡出現了幾次“So it goes”）。

馮氏在小說中也透露出對基督救世的懷疑。小說主角喜讀科幻說部，曾讀及時光旅行與基督生死之謎： "The time-traveler in the book went back to Bible times to find out one thing in particular: Whether or not Jesus had really died on the cross . . . he leaned close to Jesus . . . and he listened. There wasn't a sound inside the emaciated chest cavity " (203). 人子死矣， "So it goes" (203).