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Mr. Prokosch
Feb 14, 2012

Behold My Magnificence!
Time Bandit - Chapter 1: Lucky

You’re special. Now, this would come as a surprise to literally everyone excepting your mother. You have, up to this point in your life, exhibited no special qualities. Not one. What makes you special will not happen for another 28 minutes.

It is Thursday February 7th 2019, 10:22. You are 24 years old. You are currently traveling forward through time at the standard rate of one second per second. You are on the third floor of a tall building in downtown San Francisco. You are nervous. You spend these last 8 minutes before your interview checking your resume. You wrote it. It’s supposed to be you. In your present state, it feels like you’re studying for a test about yourself.

1. Name (Raffle Voting)
A. Mr. _______
B. Ms. _______
Write your name

2. Education (Raffle Voting)
C. Masters in Business Administration
D. Masters in Philosophy
E. Masters in Computer Science
F. Masters in Fine Arts
G. Write In

3. Job History 1 (Raffle Voting)
H. Library Technician
I. Teaching Assistant
J. Intern at a Soulless Corporation
K. Write in

4. Job History 2 (Raffle Voting)
L. Dashing Waves Amusement Park
M. Joe’s Crab Shack
N. Food n Stuff
O. Baby Watch Express
P. Write in

5. Skills (Majority Rules - Two will be picked – most of this poo poo is on your resume, but those 2 mostly true)
Q. Second Language (write in)
R. Computers (NA if Master in CS)
S. Leadership
T. Problem Solving
U. Customer Service
V. Creativity
W. Communication
X. Empathy
Y. Organization
Z. Write in


6. Space-Time Distortion Added:
YES. I push the pause button immediately, as soon as the device is in my hands.
NO. I take the device and make sure no one is watching before I play with it.
I will count voters who already wanted to walk off as NO votes.

You do your interview. It doesn’t take long. You’re nervous, but it’s not a disaster. They said they’ll call, they might. They probably won’t.

The world is a blur around you. You step outside. In your head, you’re still in that office. This time you’re more charming, more clever, less sweaty. You come to a corner and stare empty-eyed at the walk sign while cars zoom across your vision.

Suddenly your eyes focus on a man. He’s near you, but in the middle of the street. He wasn’t there before, was he? Did he step out? You see him for just a second. In that second, time seems to stop. The image burns in your brain. His face screams joy, pure, triumphant, joy. His clothes are weird. Some kind of blue jumpsuit. He’s holding something in the air, looks kind of like a TV remote. Then he’s gone. With a screech, a San Francisco city bus ran full speed into the soft, squishy obstacle that suddenly appeared in its path.

He loving splatters. Roadkill. The bus, much too late, comes to a panicked stop in the middle of the intersection. Miraculously, the device he was holding skitters across the pavement, completely unharmed, and lands right at your feet. In a daze, you pick it up. It looks kind of like this:


(just more slick and aesthetically coherent, less like a janky collection of stolen icons)

It is 10:50 and you don’t know it yet, but through no effort of your own you are in possession of the only untraceable, unregistered SOVEREIGN CLASS time-travel device in the entire human continuum. You are the luckiest person who has ever, or will ever, live.

What do you do?
6. Write in (Science Voting)

Hello and welcome to my time-travel CYOA! This CYOA is inspired by a lot of time-travel media. The two biggest contributors are the bad Adam Sandler film Click and the completely deranged RPG Continuum. There are some plot twists, threats, neat secrets, and opportunities to go cross-eyed but I also want the game to be largely free form. I hope you will stumble on poo poo on your own while you gently caress around. If that doesn’t happen, plot may jump in eventually.

I will be using different voting systems depending on the vote:
1.Raffle votes means I’ll pick someone’s choice at random. This will likely be the most common kind of vote.
2. Majority Rules means I’ll count the votes and highest vote count wins.
3. Science means that I’ll be executing all of your wonderful ideas. Anything perfectly safe will be done as soon as I get to it in whatever order makes the most sense to me. Anything that might be dangerous will be put up for a bundle of yes/no majority rules votes that may cause a few space-time distortions. Science is also Question Time if there are people to talk to.

Mr. Prokosch fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Mar 29, 2020

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Junpei
Oct 4, 2015
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!
Ms. Lucille 'Lucy' Grant.

Computer Science.

Library Technician

Intern at Soulless Corporation

Empathy and Communication


Science vote:

Look at the back. Usually, remotes have removable backs so you can replace batteries. Is there anything there?

Mr. Prokosch
Feb 14, 2012

Behold My Magnificence!

Junpei posted:


Look at the back. Usually, remotes have removable backs so you can replace batteries. Is there anything there?

You turn it around. The back doesn't have a hinge like you'd expect on a remote. It has four tiny screws securing it. If you want to take the back off, you'll need one of those miniature screwdrivers and a bit of time. Irritating design if you need to change the batteries all the time.

Reclaimer
Sep 3, 2011

Pierced through the heart
but never killed



1. B - Ms. Lucinda "Luce" Dejar
2. F
3. K - Stoner
4. M
5. T, X
6. Kill Hitler

Reclaimer fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Mar 29, 2020

jng2058
Jul 17, 2010

We have the tools, we have the talent!





B - Ms. Abigail "Gail" Nelson

E - Computer Science

H - Library Technician

L - Dashing Waves

T - Problem Solving & W - Communication

Quietly pocket the device and calmly walk away. DO NOT gently caress WITH TIME TRAVEL ON A PUBLIC STREET!

Mr. Prokosch
Feb 14, 2012

Behold My Magnificence!

Reclaimer posted:

6. Kill Hitler

Like ~99% of the human population you resolved sometime in your teenage years that, given even the slimmest opportunity, you would kill Hitler so hard. He would die by your hand! For some reason, that sentiment flares to life in you as you stare at this weird remote. Some deep instinct, some tug of fate, makes you feel like your chance is before you. But... How?

If you figure out how to use the device well enough to begin a Hitler assassination plot, I'll put it up for a vote.

jng2058 posted:

Quietly pocket the device and calmly walk away. DO NOT gently caress WITH TIME TRAVEL ON A PUBLIC STREET!

You jolt out of your daze a bit. You just saw a man die and a major intersection is clogged up. A huge crowd is gathering. You also just took his... Thing? The cops will show up soon. You need some air. You decide to walk a block down the road.

Mr. Prokosch fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Mar 29, 2020

AJ_Impy
Jun 17, 2007

SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
Yam Slacker

A. Mr. Luke 'Luce' Cedrin

E. Masters in Computer Science
H. Library Technician

4. Job History 2 (Raffle Voting)
O. Baby Watch Express

5. Skills (Majority Rules - Two will be picked – most of this poo poo is on your resume, but those 2 mostly true)
T. Problem Solving

Go somewhere secluded and look for a help function

Zybourne Clock
Oct 25, 2011

Poke me.
1B. Justine Thyme
2G. Masters in Archaeology
3I.
4P. Surf instructor
5Q. Aramaic + X

6. I press the button with the two vertical bars, the one under the green bar.

Mr. Prokosch
Feb 14, 2012

Behold My Magnificence!

AJ_Impy posted:

Go somewhere secluded and look for a help function[/b]

You spot a parking garage and wander in. You enter the stairwell. No one can see you, and the odds of someone stumbling in instead of using the elevator is pretty rare. Is that good enough, or do you want to go home?

I may come back to this once we've finalized skills and background. Some of that stuff might help you intuit where the help button is, if it exists. We can put it on pause or you can make your own decision about the help button. I made the face of the device in the OP. It looks janky, but each symbol has a meaning/function. You do not find any hidden buttons not on the face.

Zybourne Clock posted:

6. I press the button with the two vertical bars, the one under the green bar.

I'm comfortable with space-time distortions during science time. You were on the curb by the accident, then you walked down the block, then you went to the parking garage. When do you press the button?

Zybourne Clock
Oct 25, 2011

Poke me.

Mr. Prokosch posted:

I'm comfortable with space-time distortions during science time. You were on the curb by the accident, then you walked down the block, then you went to the parking garage. When do you press the button?

Right then and there on the curb.

Mr. Prokosch
Feb 14, 2012

Behold My Magnificence!

Zybourne Clock posted:

Right then and there on the curb.

This is for other voters:

6. Space-Time Distortion Added:
YES. I push the pause button immediately, as soon as the device is in my hands.
NO. I take the device and make sure no one is watching before I play with it.
I will count voters who already wanted to walk off as NO votes.

Mr. Prokosch fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Mar 29, 2020

Reclaimer
Sep 3, 2011

Pierced through the heart
but never killed



Yes. Maybe it'll help us kill Hitler.

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!
Sure! Let's press it now!

AJ_Impy
Jun 17, 2007

SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
Yam Slacker
No, seclude first then break causality.

Mr. Prokosch
Feb 14, 2012

Behold My Magnificence!
You are Ms. Lucinda "Luce" Dejar, a white hispanic American woman, when you remember that you're hispanic. Your dad has a slight accent, and your home had significantly better food than your friends, otherwise your heritage has not been a major factor in your life. You would describe yourself as smart and focused first and foremost, you work well under stress and you're a good friend to the few friends you have. Given the current market and your skills, you almost certainly got that job despite your nerves.

This is you:
Master in Computer Science


Library Technician


Dashing Waves


Empathy


Problem Solving


You hesitate with the remote in your hand. Part of you thinks you should leave before you play with the dead dude's stuff. The cops might be mad about that kind of thing? But the crowd isn't paying any attention to you yet, and it's not like it will really do anything, right? You recognize the the array of buttons on the top, it's the same thing you'd see on any TV remote. You hit pause.

Everything goes silent. You can hear your own breathing, it's ragged. Your heart is pounding.

Problem Solving: Keep it together. Don't feel yet. Think rationally. Break it into parts. Not all at once.



The crowd of people are frozen in place. Their expressions look pretty silly this way. It's like a still frame. The cars don't have motion blur like in a movie. They're just stopped. Everything stopped but you. You just paused the loving universe. You reach forward and touch the person next to you... And your hand passes right through him. You don't feel a thing. It's like he's a ghost. Or you are. You feel like you're in a dream. This has to be a dream.

Empathy: It's not a dream, real life feels different. You're having trouble dealing with this right now. Close your eyes. Breath in and out.

Problem Solving: This is some weird poo poo. I don't mean stopping time, that's too big right now. Why is the ground firm but nothing else? How can we breathe? What are we breathing if the oxygen is frozen. Why can we see? Shouldn't the light have stopped too?

Dashing Waves + Library Technician: We're inside. We know inside and we know outside. With our eyes closed it's obvious we're in some big, poorly ventilated building. It's cold, it's musty, the air is stale. It was outside before we hit the button but now it's definitely inside.

Computer Science: "We can't really stop time, but we can provide the end-user with a time-stopping experience. I call it the TruPause system!"

You feel smart for figuring this out. Feeling smart makes you feel calm. You open your eyes again and see the same frozen world as before. You look down at the device. The screen displays this:

pre:
37.776534	|| 6,871,210
-122.417380	|| 2.7.10.50.33
Computer Science: GPS on the left, of course. Current date and time on the bottom right. Top right is the year? The device must not use the Gregorian calendar, it's pegged to something millions of years ago. You did a bit of work on UI design and you're 80% sure happy SHODAN in the bottom middle of the device is the help/assistant function.

Science Voting!
What do you do?

jng2058
Jul 17, 2010

We have the tools, we have the talent!





Press HELP. Try to acquire documentation. We're a computer scientist, dammit, let's do this properly!

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!
Press the brain button.. Brain. Brain means 'smart'. Brain means 'information'. Maybe it will help.

AJ_Impy
Jun 17, 2007

SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
Yam Slacker

jng2058 posted:

Press HELP. Try to acquire documentation. We're a computer scientist, dammit, let's do this properly!

This.

Mr. Prokosch
Feb 14, 2012

Behold My Magnificence!

jng2058 posted:

Press HELP. Try to acquire documentation. We're a computer scientist, dammit, let's do this properly!

You hit what you're pretty sure is the help button. The device speaks:

"How can I help?" The voice is just the tiniest bit robotic

SUCCESS!

Computer Science: They could make the voice sound more realistic, the robot effect is to remind the user that it's a robot and doesn't have feelings.

You: "Do you have documentation?"
SHODAN: "Yes!
...
SHODAN: "I'm sorry, I have a network connection error. My functions are limited."
You: "Tutorial?"
...
SHODAN: "Not found in local storage."
You: "What do you do?"
SHODAN: "I am a SOVEREIGN Time-Skipper. My primary function is to allow Time Lords to carry out their duties."
YOU: "List available help functions when offline"
SHODAN: "1) Execute voice commands, 2)Offer basic advice 3) Explain interface

Computer science: This is a little frustrating, but since you don't know the valid commands this is actually much easier than you expected. Its ability to interpret commands is pretty good. Alexa would be doing a google search or playing a song by now.

You: "Explain interface"
SHODAN: "I am in explanation mode. You may safely select any button and I will provide a basic description. Press my button again to turn off explanation mode. You can activate explanation mode at any time by holding my button down for 3 seconds."

Junpei posted:

Press the brain button.. Brain. Brain means 'smart'. Brain means 'information'. Maybe it will help.

You press the brain button in explanation mode.
"Internal Consciousness Transfer Mode allows you to overwrite your past or future consciousness along this time stream with your current consciousness."

Problem Solving: You systematically press buttons in explanation mode and figure this out:
It has four modes:
Man in bubble = Time-Space Relocation - Allows you to jump to a specified space-time
Brain = Internal Consciousness Transfer Mode - Allows you to overwrite your past or future consciousness along this time stream with your current consciousness
Puppet = External Consciousness Transfer - Allows you to overwrite someone else's past or future consciousness along this time stream with your current consciousness
River = Time-Stream Relocation - Toggle to maintain Time Stream Anchor or to Skip Stream. Select and enter coordinates to jump to a specific time stream.

The rewind and fast forward buttons let you go a bit back or forward, what that means exactly depends on the mode. Otherwise you need to input coordinates. The exact coordinates needed depend on the mode.

Pause allows you to experience paused time. You already figured a thing or two out there. The assistant doesn't explain exactly how that works.

The colorful buttons on the left and right of the central D-pad are bookmarks. Hold them down for three seconds to save a bookmark. Hit them to bring the bookmark up.

The bottom-left symbol is used to call home. It doesn't work right now.

The bottom-right symbol is toggled to turn off all safeties, or pressed to confirm an inadvisable action when safeties are on. This is how the device tries to keep you from killing yourself.

Computer Science: It really isn't very smart without network functionality, it's repeating rote answers and does not respond well to questions. The voice interpretation is great, it just doesn't seem to have access to its own documentation and it's clearly designed to access stuff from the cloud.

You now understand a bit about your device. You are pretty good at figuring it out and could probably use it for a bunch of poo poo. You're not an expert though. What are your immediate goals?
A. Kill Hitler
B. Learn More
C. Money, power, fun
D. Write in

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!
I say we do what always comes up when the power of time travel can be used: get rich with lottery tickets!

Reclaimer
Sep 3, 2011

Pierced through the heart
but never killed



A!!!

jng2058
Jul 17, 2010

We have the tools, we have the talent!





B - Bookmark immediately. Then make further inquiries and undertake cautious experimentation someplace well away from here.

We're still a computer scientist. You don't just run code willy nilly. Debug first! Also get some numbers. How long exactly is it safe to pause? How far forward and back to we go in each mode? Is there a way to view where we're heading before we commit to travel so we don't end up roadkill like the last guy? Do we have logs for what happened right before we lost network connection? Please give all saved information about Time Lords.

There's a lot we need to know BEFORE we kill Hitler. Also, killing Hitler isn't that a great idea. PUPPETING Hitler, on the other hand, may have some serious advantages, presuming we can make those kinds of gross historical changes without invalidating our own existence.

MORE DATA NEEDED!

AJ_Impy
Jun 17, 2007

SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
Yam Slacker
D - Find a time it can be networked.

Reclaimer
Sep 3, 2011

Pierced through the heart
but never killed



Point of order, killing Hitler is always a great idea.

Arcanuse
Mar 15, 2019

B.

If killing hitler (+cohorts) was as easy as just showing up, someone would've done it already, right?
It can't be that easy. :colbert:

sheep-dodger
Feb 21, 2013

D go back just far enough in time to save the life of the guy who just got splattered

Let's do our first paradox!

jng2058
Jul 17, 2010

We have the tools, we have the talent!





Reclaimer posted:

Point of order, killing Hitler is always a great idea.

Killing Hitler depends on a lot of things. If you kill Hitler too late then all you do is let Goring or some other rear end in a top hat take over. Kill him too early, like the old "kill him during World War I" plan perhaps, and who the gently caress knows what's going to happen? Maybe Drexler rises to power instead, or Rohm, or maybe it's Goring and Himmler all over again. Too many variables to guess what the consequences are. For that matter we don't yet know if we get any re-does. It could be we can't affect the same event more than once, so if it turns out that killing young Hitler means that Rohm controls Germany but has more patience than Hitler and waits until he's completely rebuilt the German military before going to war and then lucks into nukes and the world ends in nuclear fire in the 1950s, but now you can't un-do killing Hitler. Now you've got to try and fix the new mess, but you don't even know who all the new players are, and who knows how much worse things will get?

Do you want Red Alert? Killing Hitler without a plan is how you get Red Alert. :colbert:

On the other hand, if you really want to make a positive influence on history, maybe a carefully planned series of Puppetting strikes can work. Use control of Hitler and others at the right moments and steer things in a way that the Nazis never rise to power in the first place. It's a lot more work...we'll need to learn German and study the details of German history a ton before we even try it....but it's also a lot safer. Assassinating a major historical figure should be our LAST resort, not our first one.

Speaking of Puppeting, though, it occurs to me that the guy who showed up and got splattered could well be us from the future (in our personal timeline as opposed to absolute sense) in a puppet body. Maybe they were so triumphant because they'd just managed to close a time loop by getting the Sovereign back to us to begin the loop or something?

For that matter maybe the reason that the Sovereign is offline is that something we did....like killing Hitler without a plan...somehow wiped the Time Lords out of history so there's nothing to connect to now?

There's just too much poo poo we don't know yet, and loving around in time before we know them is grossly irresponsible. That's not how you get good code or sort a collection. We should know better than that.

By popular demand
Jul 17, 2007

IT *BZZT* WASP ME--
IT WASP ME ALL *BZZT* ALONG!


We need Caution at first, loving about in the not so near past is bound to be much more dangerous than simply sending stock advice to ourselves a month back.

sheep-dodger
Feb 21, 2013

jng2058 posted:

Killing Hitler depends on a lot of things. If you kill Hitler too late then all you do is let Goring or some other rear end in a top hat take over. Kill him too early, like the old "kill him during World War I" plan perhaps, and who the gently caress knows what's going to happen? Maybe Drexler rises to power instead, or Rohm, or maybe it's Goring and Himmler all over again. Too many variables to guess what the consequences are. For that matter we don't yet know if we get any re-does. It could be we can't affect the same event more than once, so if it turns out that killing young Hitler means that Rohm controls Germany but has more patience than Hitler and waits until he's completely rebuilt the German military before going to war and then lucks into nukes and the world ends in nuclear fire in the 1950s, but now you can't un-do killing Hitler. Now you've got to try and fix the new mess, but you don't even know who all the new players are, and who knows how much worse things will get?

Do you want Red Alert? Killing Hitler without a plan is how you get Red Alert. :colbert:

On the other hand, if you really want to make a positive influence on history, maybe a carefully planned series of Puppetting strikes can work. Use control of Hitler and others at the right moments and steer things in a way that the Nazis never rise to power in the first place. It's a lot more work...we'll need to learn German and study the details of German history a ton before we even try it....but it's also a lot safer. Assassinating a major historical figure should be our LAST resort, not our first one.

Killing Hitler is soo last season. The new hotness is killing Wilhelm II to try and head off WWI and everything that followed.

By popular demand
Jul 17, 2007

IT *BZZT* WASP ME--
IT WASP ME ALL *BZZT* ALONG!


sheep-dodger posted:

Killing Hitler is soo last season. The new hotness is killing Wilhelm II to try and head off WWI and everything that followed.

It turns out the enemy was capitalism all along. :anarchists:

Reclaimer
Sep 3, 2011

Pierced through the heart
but never killed



I mean, if we don't kill Hitler now that's always gonna be hanging over our heads like a lecherous, racist ghost with bad hair. Might as well get it out of our systems early so we can move on to more important things like winning all of the lotteries in reverse order so no one can ever hope to catch on.

sheep-dodger
Feb 21, 2013

By popular demand posted:

It turns out the enemy was capitalism all along. :anarchists:

Time to travel back to the same era repeatedly and start aligning the social democratic parties across Europe against the war. As long as we don't cross our own paths we can work in Italy, France, Britain, Russia, Germany and Austria all at the same time!

By popular demand
Jul 17, 2007

IT *BZZT* WASP ME--
IT WASP ME ALL *BZZT* ALONG!


Like I said, It's best to start with the greater 'present'.
once we get some skills up in this bitch we can look at the clusterefuck that was the 20th century.

Zybourne Clock
Oct 25, 2011

Poke me.

sheep-dodger posted:

D go back just far enough in time to save the life of the guy who just got splattered

Do this. Seems fitting for someone who put empathy as a skill on her resume!

AJ_Impy
Jun 17, 2007

SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
Yam Slacker

sheep-dodger posted:

D go back just far enough in time to save the life of the guy who just got splattered

Yeah, this is brilliant.

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:

sheep-dodger posted:

D go back just far enough in time to save the life of the guy who just got splattered

Let's do our first paradox!

This seems to be the 'right' thing to do.

Or.... I'm thinking we could use the puppet function to go back and puppet the original 'Lucy' and guide the development of the human species from day one.

Mr. Prokosch
Feb 14, 2012

Behold My Magnificence!

By popular demand posted:

We need Caution at first, loving about in the not so near past is bound to be much more dangerous than simply sending stock advice to ourselves a month back.

You immediately bookmark the present moment, about 10 seconds after the time traveler was splattered.

Empathy: Everyone puts their favorite in the "number 1" spot, top left. You put yours in the bottom right, the bright yellow one. It's less likely to overwrite something important.

You think about that guy. It was a real traumatic moment to see him die right in front of you. Could you save him? You hit the rewind button one time, so it goes back by one second per second. You watch his body reconstruct in real time. You take a long look at him. His clothes are extremely thin, he has a short buzz cut. He's older than you, but not quite middle aged. Not bad looking, but no model. Still has a radiant smile. You can see the bus just a few feet from him. This feels kind of creepy.

Wait.. What the gently caress? His hand is empty? You haven't taken the device yet, but there's nothing in his hand. He's triumphantly lifting... nothing? You look back at yourself. That's you standing there. It's a little disconcerting, you're used to looking at a mirror, not a clone. At this moment you're also looking at the nothing in his hand. You go forward a bit, to after the accident. You watch yourself pick up empty space like it has substance. You watch yourself hit a button on the nothing, then you watch yourself... disappear?

You go back to when the guy was alive. Can you get him out of this?

Problem Solving: Ahh... No? Not with what you have now. It might seem easy if you've paused the universe, but you'd have about 1.5 seconds between him existing in this moment and him becoming roadkill. You're incorporeal when you pause so you'd need to start up time to grab him. You haven't done the math, but even if you started at a run you're not sure you'd survive some kind of tackle move. You could try to grab him and pause again in the window. Also risky if you're slow on the button and you don't know if you can take people with you. You can take your clothes though, so probably? Also, won't that be a paradox? You only have the device because he got hit by the bus. If you use the device to save him, then how did you get the device in the first place? You want to ask him about paradoxes and how scared you should be of them but you'd need to cause the paradox first to ask him. You want to be cautious about this, after all your first experience with the device was watching a man kill himself with it.

It's a puzzler. Maybe if you learn more about the device or get some inspiration you'll figure out a way to safely pull him out. It's not like he's going anywhere. You laugh with a sudden incredible feeling of freedom. Your expression isn't so different from his. You have all the time in the world to figure it out!

Maybe it's better to practice with something more low key first. You've been staying with your parents since you graduated. It's the only way to be anywhere near San Francisco without a job. But now... Who needs a job? You could be the richest woman in the world!

You push the forward button three times, so you're traveling by one hour per second. The world blurs. After a bit, you're in late March.

Library Technician: the library is always here to help time-travellers in need! It's not far from here. You walk through the library's stately glass doors and head for the bathroom. You make sure no one is with you and hit play again. Once you're back in normal time, you head to the public computer and jot down winning lottery numbers and stocks that had a good month.

How do you use this information? (Raffle)
A. I go visit past me.
B. I leave a note for past me.
C. I jump back in time using my yellow bookmark
D. I try out the brain button
E. Write in


Sorry I forgot to clarify that the last vote was a raffle vote. I usually use raffle voting when I'm looking for a wide variety of ideas. Just want to point out that it is a raffle vote, because this is an upset. Majority would have gone with that last push for rescuing Mr. Splatter. I incorporated that a bit and it's not like you'll miss the opportunity (you think?) since you bookmarked this moment.

Mr. Prokosch fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Mar 31, 2020

Elfface
Nov 14, 2010

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na
IRON JONAH
A

We should try making out with ourself.

Later, we should steal/otherwise get some neat future tech. Maybe they'll have nanomachines that'll let us just reform like Terminator 2 if a car hits us, or a T-Rex bites us in half when we try to ride it.

And don't kill Hitler. Time travellers killed Von Schtaffen to give us Hitler, and we will never know how much better we have it. Preventing WW2 and the Holocaust is an exercise in going back far enough to prevent the Treaty of Versailles, changing the direction of WW1 so France wasn't as ravaged...

Basically, big good deeds would rewrite history so radically the present is unrecognisable.

jng2058
Jul 17, 2010

We have the tools, we have the talent!





For pete's sake, let's try and be Careful!

We don't remember meeting ourself in the past and getting lottery numbers! We have no idea how this thing handles paradox...or doesn't! And before you give us "It probably has protections for that" let's remember that they're cleaning the last guy who used this thing off the street with a hose.

There's no reason, that we know of, to rush into things. We need to take it slow and cautious, or someone else will be watching them clean us off some other street!

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Junpei
Oct 4, 2015
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!
C, let's be cautious.

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