José’s life goal was to break through time’s wall. Banshee wailing guided his path as time opened a crack large enough to fall through. In spite of common expectations, there was no chance to go back and kill a bad person, changing time going forward.

He had to meet his past and find a way around his own history before moving on. His competition was a slew of other independent time researchers and the University with their proton-time device.

Being first was important, returning to the Now in one piece was probably important too.