Daylight Savings

Alistair,

While recently testing a time travel device, I think I accidentally flipped the schematics; my maiden voyage sent the entire universe forward by one day, rather than myself. Unfortunately, the power demands of a move like that mean that the only way I’ll be able to reverse the move is to hook up to a nearby star. The hitch is that it would take a few billion years to establish the connection. I considered using time travel to skip ahead, but the power demands for that are even more ridiculous. Any advice on fixing the situation?

Daylight Savings in Brussels


Daylight Savings,

So everyone’s lost a day. In the end, nobody’s going to notice. Oh, there may be a schedule slip or a few lost items as people misplaced things in the missing interim, but in the end, it’ll be chalked up to exactly the same thing as it always is: ‘Gee whiz, where did the time go? Seems like just yesterday it was last week.’

Besides, on the scale of all things, people are constantly doing this nonsense. In the end, the universe won’t be ten years off in any direction.

Alistair

Messed

Alistair,

I’ve conflicted with my future and past self; there was a battle royale, lots of people died. Thank goodness it was only me. 

However, after destroying my time machine, I went out for bagels and coffee and encountered the Butterfly Effect. Gorillas are no longer the dominant lifeform, the angels never made contact, and Bon Jovi turned into a pop singer. What should I do?

Messed Up in Sudan


Messed,

You idiot. Change it back! Actually – you know what? Leave well enough alone. Finish your coffee. Go and collect Sudanese stamps. Just stay the dickens away from time-travel for the remainder of your linear days. For penance, you are obliged to listen to What is Love exclusively from this day forth.

Alistair

Menace

Alistair,

I decided to take your advice and collected a baseball bat to mug my younger self for time machine fuel. Right before I could “transition,” another time machine landed next to mine. My older self emerged with a decked-out assault rifle and told me to hand over my fuel. I did, and he left. Am I in danger of destroying the space/time continuum?

Maybe a Menace in WV


Menace,

I think given the circumstances you have outlined, we can be safe in assuming that the space/time continuum is going to be jarred at the very least. We can hope that your future self is as aware of such considerations as you seem to be. If he is, presumably he is presently (or futuristically, or historically) working at maintaining the integrity of the current timeline. However, now that your personal timeline is one where you have no more fuel, I recommend you take up a different hobby altogether.

Alistair