TIME TRAVEL TROUBLES
a (very) short story by Kklak!

"It's finished," you exclaim. "Finally finished!"
You've been toiling for twenty years, dreaming of this day - and here it is, in your hands.
The world's first time machine.It's a shoo-in for the Nobel Prize, of course. Never mind Tim and his lousy cure for cancer. No, this is Nobel Prize-winning material. And not just any Nobel Prize, of course. Why not go back in time and win the first Nobel Prize? Or even better, invent the prize yourself?Your daydreams are rudely interrupted by a figure bursting into your laboratory. A strangely familiar figure. "No," you murmur. "It can't be...!"
"Oh yes it is," comes the reply, from a strangely familiar face. It is, in fact, your own.
"I'm you," you say. "You from the future - and carrying a vital message." You point at the device in your hands, eyes gleaming with desperation. "You have to destroy the time machine!"

"No, hang on," you say. "I just finished building it!"
"Look, just trust me," you reply. "The time machine, it ruins you. It makes you a perfectionist. You can't stop yourself from going into the future to see how tomorrow turns out, and finding ways to fix things. You spend more time fixing your life than living it."You thoughtfully consider this. "Yeah," you conclude. "That does sound an awful lot like me."
"For obvious reasons," you remark pointedly. "Could you destroy it now?"
"But I haven't even tested it yet," you protest feebly.
"Look, I'm here, aren't I? I think that's pretty solid proof that it works."
"And how do I know you're not a hallucination? I-I've been working long nights."
You give yourself a flick on the forehead, and you flinch. "Satisfied?"You sadly nod in response. With a heavy heart - and having run out of excuses - you prepare to destroy the machine. After all, you can hardly ignore the warnings of your future self, can you?"Stop!" cries a voice, and a figure bursts in through the laboratory doors - another strangely familiar figure. "No," you murmur for the second time today. "It can't be...!"
"Oh yes it is!" comes the reply. It's you. Another future you. And you're very cross. "Whatever you've just told yourself, it's all a lie. You mustn't destroy the time machine!"

"This is getting out of hand," you say to yourself. "Now there are two of them...!"
Your future self turns to your future self with undisguised fury. "I followed your instructions to the letter," you say. "I destroyed the time machine. And guess what? I've spent every day since regretting it. I never got the respect I deserved, I never got the wealth I deserved, and I certainly never won the Nobel Prize. You know who did? Tim! With his cure for cancer! That gormless prat!" you spit. "That prize was mine! You ruined my life!!"
"I fixed your life," you reply. "And I'm sorry to hear you mucked it up in a new and original way.""Oh, don't start. I've had enough of listening to you!" You pull out a gun from your coat. "This ends now. I'm here to take my life back!"
You also pull out a gun from your coat. "And. So. Am. I."You watch this from the sidelines, time machine still in hand. "Oh, come on," you say. "Put the guns down, and we'll talk this over. We're not shooting ourselves, right?" But the two of you raise their eyebrows, and you gulp. Maybe they actually will."No, wait, that's a good point," says one of you. "We can talk this over. In fact, why don't you decide? You're the one who just invented it. You've heard both sides now. What do you think?"
"Destroy the time machine," one says, "and be able to live your life again?"
"Or keep it," says the other, "and win the Nobel Prize you deserve?"It's decision time... which side do you pick?

"Instinctively," you say, "I think we should destroy the time machine."One of you is delighted. The other is angry. Very angry.
"How... dare you?!" you cry, pointing the gun at you. "Do you understand what you've done?"
In a fit of rage, you pull the trigger. You wince as the gunshot rings out - but it's someone else who slumps to the floor. When you open your eyes, future you lies bleeding from the chest. You must've jumped in front of you to save you."No!" you cry. You try to tend to your wounds, but you know they're fatal already. With ragged breaths, you pull yourself closer, to whisper in your ear.
"It's a loop," you say in your dying breath. "It's a loop..."You don't understand what that means - but you've got no time to think about it, because you've started firing again. You grab the gun out of your dead hand to defend yourself, and crouch behind a desk. You're between you and the exit, but there's still one escape route. The time machine. With sweaty fingers, you hastily set the time coordinates and-"Don't move," you say, gun at your left temple.
"Or what," you remark. "You'll shoot me? I'm your past self! Kill me and you'll stop existing."
"That depends on what theory of time travel you subscribe to," you rasp. "Without time travel, no-one's ever been able to test it."
"And they won't be testing it today either," you reply. You activate the time machine before you can fire, and the bullet passes through thin air...

Ending 1/4
There's a bright flash of light, and before you know it, you find yourself facedown on the floor. Not the most dignified first trip, but at least you've escaped. You're outside your laboratory - and your eyes bulge when you peer through the windows to see yourself inside, putting the finishing touches on your time machine. "It's finished," past you exclaims. "Finally finished!"You watch and wait - future you should be turning up any moment now, to persuade yourself to destroy the time machine. But you never show up, and you start to wonder - who's going to deliver the message about the dangers of time travel? Past you still needs to know, after all...Well then. Deep breath. Here goes nothing.
"Stop!" you shout, bursting through the laboratory doors. You tell yourself to destroy the time machine; you give the whole spiel about fixing mistakes, and argue with your other future self; but underneath, you start to wonder if something's gone terribly wrong.As you fire the gun on yourself, you instinctively jump in front and take the bullet - and it's only in that moment that you realise. "It's a loop," you mutter in your dying breath. You were your future self. Everything that you'd been told, you'd been told by you. Was any of it true? Was your life really ruined by the time machine? Or was it just something that you'd told yourself, over and over?As the darkness swallows you up, you realise you'll never find out...

"Instinctively," you say, "I think we should win the Nobel Prize."One of you is delighted. The other is... well, pointing a gun at you.
"I'm sorry," you say. "But that machine must be destroyed. I'll change your mind, or die trying."
"I've already given you my answer," you declare. "You'll just have to die, then."
"No," you reply. "You will." Suddenly, there's an almighty bang. You wince as the gunshot rings out - but it's someone else who slumps to the floor. When you open your eyes, future you lies bleeding from the chest. You must've jumped in front of you to save you."No!" you cry. You try to tend to your wounds, but you know they're fatal already. With ragged breaths, you pull yourself closer, to whisper in your ear.
"It's a loop," you say in your dying breath. "It's a loop..."You don't understand what that means - but you've got no time to think about it, because you're approaching, pistol in hand. You grab your own gun out of your dead hand to defend yourself, and crouch behind a desk. You're between you and the exit, but there's still one way to escape. The time machine. With sweaty fingers, you hastily set the time coordinates and-"Don't move," you say, gun at your temples.
"Or what," you remark. "You'll shoot me? I'm your past self! Kill me and you'll stop existing."
"I'm asking you, very nicely, to change your mind," you reply. "I'm just here to fix our life."
"Respectfully," you say, "I think I'd rather live my own life." You activate the time machine before you can fire, and the bullet passes through thin air...

Ending 2/4
There's a bright flash of light, and before you know it, you find yourself facedown on the floor. Not the most dignified first trip, but at least you've escaped. You're outside your laboratory - and your eyes bulge when you peer through the windows to see future you inside, persuading yourself to destroy the time machine. You must've gone back in time by just a few minutes.You watch and wait - future you should be turning up any moment now, to convince yourself to save the time machine. But you never show up, and you start to wonder - who's going to deliver the message about the Nobel Prize? Past you still needs to know, after all...Well then. Deep breath. Here goes nothing.
"Stop!" you shout, bursting through the laboratory doors. You tell yourself to save the time machine; you give the whole spiel about Tim, and argue viciously with your other future self; but underneath, you start to wonder if something's gone terribly wrong.As you fire the gun on yourself, you instinctively jump in front and take the bullet - and it's only in that moment that you realise. "It's a loop," you mutter in your dying breath. You were your future self. Everything that you'd been told, you'd been told by you. Was any of it true? Had that halfwit Tim really won the Nobel Prize? Or was it just something that you'd told yourself, over and over?As the darkness swallows you up, you realise you'll never find out...

"Well," you say. "Look. Um. From my perspective, at least, and from what's been said so far, it has to be said, I suppose, that we can conclude, that there's, um, points on both sides..."
Both your future selves frown in disgust.
"Oi, don't look at me like that!" you say. "I'm still you, remember? Both of you."But you're not, not really. You don't know who these people are. They might as well be strangers. When did you start carrying a gun, anyway? There's one thing for it - you're getting out of here. Right. Now.You run for the door, but before you can reach it, one of your future selves tackles you to the ground. "Who said you could leave?" you say.
"You're going to decide," says the other. "Destroy the time machine, or keep it."Of course, there's a third option. Maybe you can't escape through the doors, but you're still holding the greatest escape device of all time. It hasn't been tested yet, but seeing as Tweedledee and Tweedledunce have turned up from the future, surely it has to work, right?

"Now, look," you say, discreetly moving the time machine behind your back. "If you want me to decide, I'll decide." You start changing the time coordinates. Thirty minutes earlier in time - that should give you a good headstart. "And if you must know, my answer is..." You whip the machine out, hand hovering over the start button. "Escape!""Stop!" cries a voice. Before you can press it, another figure bursts into your laboratory. It's you - but old. Very old. "Don't press that button!"
"I'm trying to escape, you fool!" you cry, but your older self is having none of it.
"You're making a terrible mistake," you say. "You turned the wrong dial. That's not thirty minutes back in time, that's thirty years. Thirty years I was stranded, thirty years I had to live through. The time machine broke on arrival, and there was no way to fix it with what I had.""Look," you say. "That's lovely and all, but I'm still trying to escape?"
"No need," you reply, and suddenly guards arrive to detain your other future selves.
"Let go!" one of them shouts, and drops their gun.
"You've got a private army?" you exclaim. "Just how rich are you?"
"Well, I didn't just sit around twiddling my thumbs," you reply. "You can make a lot of money from knowing the future. Inventing all sorts of things. I suppose my fortune's in the billions now, I don't know."
"B-billions?" you gawp.
"Look, it's not important. What is important is that I've waited thirty years to rescue you, so you don't make my mistake. You're free to live your life now."
But maybe, you think to yourself, that life doesn't appeal to you anymore...

Ending 3/4
"No," you declare, and set the dial back to thirty years again. "I don't want that life. I'm going back in time. Just like you did. But this time, I'm doing it on purpose."
You're completely incensed at that comment, while the two of you to the side roll their eyes. "I spent thirty years waiting to save you from that life! And now you want to go and live it again!?"
"You're a billionaire, you nitwit! Things couldn't have gone better for you!"
"I never got my Nobel Prize..." you seethe.
"Only because you were too busy buying four hundred yachts!" Your hand hovers over the start button again. "I'm going to do it!""Not if I have anything to say about it," you reply. You've picked up the gun dropped on the floor, and now you're pointing it at you.
"Don't be absurd," you say. "You're not going to shoot me. No way."
"Don't. Test. Me," you enunciate menacingly. "I'm not getting stranded again. I won't let you."
There's a tense silence. Will you? Or won't you?
You make your decision. You go for the button, but you shoot faster. BANG! You collapse to the floor, dead."You... idiot!" cries one of you. "You stupid idiot! We don't exist anymore!"
And you're right - you've just killed your past self, wiping out all your possible futures. The three of you watch in horror as you dissolve into the air - and as the guards flee the room, silence descends upon your laboratory...

Ending 4/4
You set the controls for a different time, and before anyone can stop you, you're off. You've travelled into the past - a very specific past. Your own.It doesn't take you long to find your childhood home, and there you are - it's you as an eight year old, playing with your toy Delorean. You've always wanted to travel in time, ever since you were a kid. Given that, you're not at all surprised when you give yourself the big reveal.
"I know this is going to sound strange," you say to yourself, "but I'm you. You from the future."You take yourself back to the present, so you can watch today's events unfold as spectators. Both of you peer from one of the laboratory windows, watching you argue with yourself, insult yourself and point guns at yourself, all the way up to when you activated the machine."So," you say, as you watch yourself disappear in time. "What do you think?"
Little you ponders, and pouts, and decides. "I don't want to be a time traveller anymore."
"I thought as much," you reply. You turn around - your three future selves are already dissolving away in the laboratory. And so are you.With your last efforts, you travel back in time to return little you home, safe and sound. And as you walk away, crumbling in the wind - nothing more than the dying embers of an erased timeline - you wonder what your new life will be like. You've spent your whole life agonising over time travel; all those years developing the machine, and all your future selves finding nothing but unhappiness in its use.Time travel was your past and your future. Who will you become without it?