The Man Who Was Stuck in Tomorrow
A few years ago, scientists discovered a strange problem with time travel.
It wasn't dangerous.
It wasn't expensive.
It was simply annoying.
Whenever someone traveled more than twenty-four hours into the future, they couldn't return to the present until they had completed one official government form.
Nobody knew why.
The scientists tried destroying the form.
The printer produced another one.
They tried filling it out in advance.
The system rejected it.
They even tried traveling back before the form was created.
The system simply displayed:
ERROR: YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO RETURN YET.
Eventually, the government created a special department called the Department of Temporal Administration.
Its job was simple:
Make sure nobody returned from the future without permission.
On Tuesday morning, Daniel volunteered for the first public test.
The machine was ready.
"Are you sure about this?" asked Mia, the technician.
"Absolutely," Daniel replied.
"You'll only be gone for ten minutes."
"Technically, yes."
"And when you come back?"
"I'll come back ten minutes after I leave."
Mia frowned.
"That's not how time travel works."
"That's exactly why I'm doing it."
Daniel stepped into the machine.
Mia pressed the button.
There was a flash.
Daniel disappeared.
Ten minutes later, he reappeared.
Except something was wrong.
He wasn't ten minutes older.
He was twenty-four hours and three minutes older.
Mia stared at him.
"What happened?"
Daniel looked around.
"Where is everyone?"
"It's Tuesday."
"No."
"Yes."
Daniel checked his watch.
"My watch says Wednesday."
Mia checked the machine.
The computer displayed:
TIME TRAVEL SUCCESSFUL.
Then another message appeared:
RETURN REQUEST DENIED.
Mia stared at the screen.
"That's strange."
"Can you send me back?"
"I can try."
She pressed the return button.
The computer displayed:
PLEASE COMPLETE FORM T-24.
Mia sighed.
"Here we go."
She opened the form.
"Question one: Name?"
"Daniel Carter."
"Question two: Current date?"
"Wednesday."
"Question three: Desired date of return?"
"Tuesday."
Mia typed it.
The computer immediately displayed:
INVALID DATE.
"Why?" Daniel asked.
"Maybe Tuesday no longer exists."
"What?"
Mia tried again.
The computer displayed:
TUESDAY IS CURRENTLY OCCUPIED.
Daniel looked at her.
"Occupied by whom?"
The computer didn't answer.
Instead, it printed another page.
QUESTION FOUR: HAVE YOU ALREADY RETURNED?
Daniel laughed.
"Obviously not."
Mia clicked NO.
The computer beeped.
INCORRECT ANSWER.
"What?" Daniel shouted.
Mia looked at Daniel.
"According to the system, you already returned yesterday."
"But I was here yesterday!"
"No, you weren't."
"Yes, I was!"
"Daniel, I remember you leaving."
"Then who returned?"
The computer suddenly made a loud sound.
A new message appeared:
PLEASE WAIT. DUPLICATE USER DETECTED.
Daniel went pale.
"Duplicate?"
Mia slowly turned toward the laboratory door.
Someone knocked.
Three times.
She opened it.
A man walked inside.
He looked exactly like Daniel.
Same face.
Same clothes.
Same watch.
Daniel stared at him.
The other Daniel stared back.
Mia whispered, "Oh no."
The new Daniel smiled.
"Hi."
Daniel pointed at him.
"Who are you?"
"I could ask you the same question."
Mia closed the door.
"Nobody move."
The computer printed another form.
FORM T-24B: IDENTIFY THE ORIGINAL DANIEL.
Mia read the first question.
"Who remembers yesterday?"
Both Daniels raised their hands.
"Okay," Mia said. "Second question: What did you eat for breakfast?"
Daniel answered immediately.
"Toast and coffee."
The other Daniel said:
"Toast and coffee."
Mia sighed.
"Of course."
She continued.
"Third question: What did you dream about last night?"
The first Daniel said, "I don't remember."
The second Daniel smiled.
"I dreamed about this room."
Mia looked at him.
"What happened in the dream?"
"You asked me which one of us was real."
Daniel suddenly stepped backward.
"That's impossible."
The other Daniel continued.
"And then you opened the door."
Mia looked at the door.
"What happened after that?"
The second Daniel pointed toward the hallway.
"You saw yourself."
Nobody spoke.
Then the laboratory lights went out.
When they came back on, there were three Daniels.
Mia screamed.
The computer calmly printed another message:
TEMPORAL STABILITY: 3%
Daniel shouted, "Turn it off!"
Mia ran to the control panel.
"I can't!"
"Why?"
"The computer says I'm not authorized."
"Then shut down the electricity!"
"I can't."
"Why?"
"The electricity department requires Form E-17."
"Where is the form?"
"Tomorrow."
Daniel stared at her.
"What do you mean tomorrow?"
"The forms haven't been invented yet."
Suddenly, one of the Daniels started laughing.
Everyone looked at him.
"What's funny?" Mia asked.
He pointed at the computer.
"Look."
The screen displayed:
TEMPORAL STABILITY: 2%
Then:
EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.
Mia finally smiled.
"Good. The emergency protocol will send everyone back to their original time."
She pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
"Why isn't it working?"
The computer printed one final message:
EMERGENCY PROTOCOL CANNOT BE ACTIVATED UNTIL EMERGENCY FORM E-17 IS APPROVED.
Mia slowly put her head on the desk.
Daniel looked at the three copies of himself.
"So... what do we do now?"
One of them shrugged.
"We wait."
"For what?"
"Tomorrow."
And that was how the world's first successful time-travel experiment became the world's first completely useless one.
The government later announced that time travel had been a great success.
They also announced that the problem had been solved.
They simply banned yesterday.
Nobody was allowed to visit it anymore.
The only problem was that nobody knew what day it was.
Not even the computer.
Especially not the computer.