Coiler Knots

With the Coiler, it is easy to outsmart yourself. Seriously, when shuffling the stream of perception it is impossible to take everything into account. One can never know fully what will happen. I think I had better give an example.

A few days ago I decided to finally tile the stairs. After about an hour my excitement for the project began to wear thin. Suddenly I had what I thought was a splendid idea. I would come back in time and help my self finish. I looked around expectantly but I didn't appear. Grudgingly, I took the Coiler and when forward to when the project was finished. The first thing I saw was the finished stairs and two of me standing next to it.

"Which one of you is coming back with me?" I demanded.

"I told you this was stupid," said one to the other, who just groaned and vanished. "He went back to help, brilliant one," he addressed me.

I didn't understand the rudeness but knew it would be explained in due time and so I went back as well.

"Well," the me that was already there demanded. "Let's get started."

We worked on together for a few hours and I have to say that my attitude was drug down by the surliness of my co-worker. By the time we were finished I was nearly as grumpy as him and we stared at the finished project without pleasure.

"At least we're finished," I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

"I am," he burst into laughter. "But not you."

Then I appeared from the past. "Which one of you is coming back with me," the newcomer demanded rudely.

"I told you this was stupid," my co-worker told me, clearly happy that I had to do it again.

I realized suddenly what was wrong and groaned. I used the Coiler and went back to where I knew the job was waiting for me. When the other me returned again I was not in a good mood.

"Well," I demanded. "Let's get started."

I did not feel like re-tiling the stupid thing but there it lay and so we worked. The whole time I made sure a let the other me know that this was his worst idea yet, but I didn't tell him why. I wanted to inflict on him the same sickening surprise of redoing it that was inflicted on me. When we finished I felt relief at being done.

"At least we're finished," he said, wiping his forehead.

"I am," I laughed. "But not you."

Then I appeared from the past. "Which one of you is coming back with me," I began to reflect on how rude I was.

I saw realization on his face. "I told this was stupid," I said triumphantly. He just groaned and disappeared. I saw confusion the youngest's face and I told him that he had gone back to help, and added a sarcastic remark about his intelligence.

When he was gone too and I was left alone with my finished stairs, I glared at the Coiler. I don't know if it makes life easier or just weirder, and don't know if it is worth it, but it sure is fun. If your not careful, it ties knots in the stream of perception.

Coiler Perception

The other day I found that the Coiler has an interesting feature that I didn't know about before. I'm not sure I like it but it might have its uses. I was fiddling with it absently when all of a sudden this thing popped out, like a little tablet with writing on it. It was in four languages, and I mean the first quarter was in one tongue, the next in another, and so on. Not the same thing four times like an instruction manual. I guess this was to make sure only a great learned man could decipher it, but what they got was me. The languages were Ptolemaic era Egyptian, classical Greek, Tamil, and Archaic Mayan. Needless to say it took me a few days to translate.
I'm not going to tell you how, mainly because I don't want you to know, but it told me another way that the Coiler messes with the time line. You may remember how Old Man Death Bed once explained how your perception of time changes but time itself does not. The Coiler can manipulate the its carrier perceives time.
Well, I thought this was going to be pretty awesome. You know, Matrix or Spiderman reflexes. Sorry, nope. I stepped out onto the sidewalk and slowed time down. I looked around at everything going slow just like you'd. I walked forward and I noticed I moved as if in slow motion too, Only logical, right? But something surprised me. My neural transmitters were slow too, which means I couldn't think any faster, couldn't act any faster, none of my senses even worked any faster. The only thing I could was think sooner, if you know what I mean. And then, just barely.
Suddenly I heard the sound of a gun being cocked. I turned around for what seemed about five minutes and there stood that same thug who tried to steal my Coiler and got minorly de-extremitied.
"Hhhhhaaaaannnnnddddd iiiiittttt ooooovvvvveeeeerrrrr,"
It was a strange sensation to hear him talk slowly yet understand him perfectly because my auditory receptacles were in time with him.
"Nnnnnooooottttt ooooonnnnn yyyyyooooouuuuurrrrr llllliiiiifffffe, yyyyyouououou fffffiiiiilllllththththlllllyyyy............"
He pulled the trigger. I thought he might and was already dodging, which is the only reason I lived. I saw the bullet coming, but faintly as my optical nerve still passed its information in the same time. I needed to move my head another fraction before the bullet hit and I begged it to. The bullet passed harmlessly, trimming a few hairs on the way by. Then a bullet passed by heading back toward him. It hit and he crumpled as I changed back to regular time perception.
"I've seen poor shots in my time," I told his body. "But sweet mother, that one is king."
I turned and there stood a me holding a recently fired gun. I rolled my eyes, "You know this is getting old. I can't so much as order the wrong sandwich without one of you morons showing up and straitening everything out for me."
"If you didn't need so much straitening we wouldn't have to. Now don't forget to come back and shoot him."
"Yeah, yeah."
"And look, could I borrow a few bucks, I'm a bit short."
"Are you serious," I cried. "Thats good, I hadn't thought of that yet. Here you go."
"Thanks, I'll see you later."
"Oh that's alright, anytime. Actually no, I take that back. Don't ever ask again."
"Don't worry," and he vanished.
I stepped back inside and looked at the Coiler. I couldn't see the point of the new thing I discovered, other than novelty. Oh well, I thought, it must have been the ancient mega geniuses doing their thing, incomprehensible to anyone normal. Such is life.

Coiler Reunion

Well, I was strolling along through the morgue one day and I overheard one of the men working there telling another about a class reunion he had just gone to. Quite suddenly and without my bidding I had a fabulous idea. I made all the arrangements, bought the food and drink, readied a large room in my cabin that I rent, and wrote down a reminder to come back every New Year’s day.
When the day finally came, the first day of the year, I had my doubts that it was going to work. I was sitting nervously in the large room, surrounded by the tables of food that would be wasted, when suddenly the first one arrived.
"Hello," he said. "Am I the first one here?"
"Um, yes," I said, it still gave me wibbles when I first saw another me.
"Last year I was the last," he said.
"Last year?" I asked. "This is the first time we've had this reunion."
"Oh yes, and actually the only time. But we come back every year."
Just then four more showed up. They were of random ages and began talking loudly to each other and to me. One started stuffing sandwiches in his face and complimenting me for my choice around his mouthfuls. Three more arrived and the reunion was really going. They kept coming in a steady stream and soon it was clear no more were coming. I asked one of them why there was nobody older than fifty.
"No one knows," he answered. "Except him," he pointed to an old man sitting to the side. He was much older than anyone else there. "The problem is every time we ask him why we will stop coming he just laughs and says nothing. In fact, we don't even know why he came at all."
"I'll talk to him," I said. "Just to see."
Sure enough the old codger did nothing but chuckle. Even when I said he looked like an embalmed Orangutan all he did was show his gilded teeth. I gave up and went for a plate of coconut shrimp in plum sauce.
"Alright, everyone grab a sandwich," someone yelled. "We are going to have a toast for the fifty two year old. Its his last year here. Next year he won't be coming and he will figure out why, lucky dog. Any way, we bid you goodbye."
"Goodbye," cried everyone and they jammed their whole sandwich in their mouths.
After we had got our sandwiches swallowed a me about five years older than myself leaned over to me, "This was great idea of ours, I still remember when I had it. I thought I was a genius and so I was and so are you. The best part is every new year we get to come back and eat free food." I hadn't thought of that.
After that I settled down to just listening and it was quiet interesting.
"Oh yes, two years ago," said one to another. "That was when I was addicted to mountain dew."
"You mean in seven years I'll have a dog? I hate dogs."
"I'm not supposed to tell you how you'll break your leg."
It went on like this, the elder in a conversation always rubbing in how much they could tell if they wished and the younger always rubbing in how many more experiencing they were going to have. Suddenly I heard footsteps outside and my door opening. I froze, unable to move in my fear. Round the corner and into the room stepped my landlady. Her jaw dropped and I think her heart stopped as well.
"Well, looks like the party is over," said someone, and they started disappearing like a hundred light bulbs with individual switches and you are flipping them one at a time as fast as you can. Soon me and my landlady were alone.
"What's the matter?" I asked, and my voice cracked.
Her mouth moved but nothing came out.
"You look as though you have seen a ghost."
She pointed behind me and I turned and saw that old Orangutan still sitting in his spot and grinning.
"What, there isn't anything there," I managed to force out.
The old mutt chuckled in a breathy voice and vanished. My landlady squeaked and raced out into the hall. I stuck my head out and yelled after her retreated figure, "Careful what you drink on new year's eve."

Coiler Prevention

By the way, I should mention my name isn't really Lockspring Twellet. But you can't know my real name and Lockspring Twellet is inscribed upon the Coiler so it seemed a good name to give. I wonder if Lockspring Twellet was its creator, it is signed just like a piece of art.
Anyway, it wasn't long after I stepped off the bridge that I noticed someone tailing me, and pretty good too. I rounded a corner and stepped into a doorway and waited. Soon this guy came sneaking around the corner and I jumped on him and took him down. As soon as we hit the ground I saw his face and let out a few words of which I am not proud. It was me.
"Hello," said the man I was holding down. "I'm from your past."
"What?" I said, letting him up. "I don't remember this. You must be from after me."
"Oh no," he said, a look of worry spread across his face. "How could you forget? How will I forget?"
"What are you talking about," I demanded. "You are obviously from the future."
"No, I am from your past. One year to be exact. What diabolical fiend would wipe my memory of this trip and why."
"Shut up," I said, grabbing him by the shirt and pointing to his head. "Look, gray hairs. Do you see any gray hairs on my head?"
"A few."
"It means you're from my future."
"Ah...well...okay fine. I'm from five years after you."
"Why are you here?"
"Well...uh...to tell you not to give any money to that man coming toward us."
"I am ashamed at the thought that someday I will lie as bad as that," I said, tightening my grip. "I should knock you back to whatever time you came from."
"Hold up," said a voice. I turned and the man who was coming down the street had addressed us. I looked at him and then at the guy I was threatening and they were the same, only this new guy had a few more grays on his head.
"Spectacular," I said, sarcasm rolling my eyes for me. "What do you want, why can't you geezers leave me alone."
"We need your Coiler," said the oldest.
"No way," I cried. "I just got finished lending it out and it is way too confusing. Don't you have your own?"
"Oh yes," said the middle me, and they both produced theirs.
"Then why do you need mine."
"Well, its kind of complicated. We can't explain."
"Then I'll see you later," I started to walk away when the first one grabbed and tried to stop me. I turned and let him have it in the gut. Maybe it was stupid because someday I'll get that same punch in the gut, but at least I'll know I deserve it.
Anyway he went down but next thing I knew I woke up laying on my face. That old one had given it to me from behind, the rat. I sat up and in front of me sat the Coiler. There was a note on it that said, "Thanks, all done."
My head ached so I walked back out onto the bridge and breathed deep. Suddenly I realized I could change time. Those guys were from my future so I knew I had had the Coiler then, but there I sat on the bridge with full capability of chucking it in. But I had it in the future so I knew I wasn't going to throw it. That thought alone made me pull my arm back. It hung there just a moment's hesitation and then I let it fly. Down it sailed and as it fell I second guessed myself. I had just thrown away the most powerful thing in the world just to prove I could.
Far below me there was a splash and the regret was replaced by a sense of power. I had changed events that already were and already will be if that makes sense. For a few days I went about with this sense of prestige when all at once it hit me that I was a complete fool and had done the most incredibly stupid thing ever. Oh well, it was too late. Maybe I could start living like a normal human being again.
Just then there was a knock on my door and when I opened there stood the two old geezers who had mugged me and taken my Coiler. "What do you want?" I said, as nasty as I could. I didn't realize at first what them being there meant.
"Just wanted to return this," said the oldest and handed me a Coiler.
I stood dumbfounded as a donkey. "But I thought you already returned it."
"Nope," said the other. "That was just a fake one we made for you to throw in the river. You see, being older and therefore much more experienced than you we knew what was..."
"Can it," I interrupted. "You mean the whole point of your trip here was to steal the Coiler to keep me from chucking it in the river?"
"Yep."
"But if I was going to throw it in how would you have it to come back and keep me from doing it?"
The oldest one spoke, "You see, you naturally think that because you're first you are more important. But we are equal and we can affect you nearly as much as you affect us."
"But I come first in time," I argued. "My actions obviously dictate your habitat."
"Actually no. Time is just the way we perceive reality. If we experienced it all at once our minds would probably explode, or implode, or collapse, I'm not sure which. We simply inhabit individual moments of reality in a steady stream and we call it time, see?"
"Wonderfully, beautifully, delightfully, clear. Now will you go away if I promise not to throw it in anymore bodies of water."
"Aren't you going to invite us in?" asked the middle one. I slammed the door in their faces.

The Coiler Thief

Today another weirdness happened. I was walking along when suddenly someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and who should it be but me.
"Who are you?" I asked idiotically.
"You from two days in the future. I need the Coiler."
"What," I fumed. "Did you lose it?"
"Sort of."
"How on earth did you lose something so valuable?"
"Shut up, you'll find out in two days."
"Oh, will I?" I scoffed. "What do you need it for."
"I need it to go get the Coiler that I lost."
"You're kidding."
"No, I'm not kidding. Look, this is embarrassing enough without telling you."
"I'm you though," I cried, "What's to be embarrassed about."
The me-in-two-days bit his lip and glared. "I came back to today to get something you lost and while I was here it was stolen and the guy who took it went to next week. Now I need it yours to go to next week and take mine back, but I promise I will bring it back tomorrow."
I laughed, "No you won't. If you give it back to me tomorrow you would have it already so you wouldn't need to borrow it in the first place. You can just wait for next week yourself."
"If I have to wait then we have to wait together and you know how exasperating I can be."
I grunted and handed over the Coiler. There is no way I'll ever spend a week with a me bent on irritation. Once that jerk got hold of it he disappeared and I didn't here from him for two days when he finally showed up with a Coiler in each hand and gave me one before disappearing again. It was just in time because I'd found I'd lost my wallet with a couple hundred dollars in it two days before and I was going to go back and follow me until I saw me lose it.
Everything was going great, I found my money right away, when suddenly some guy stepped up to me and put a gun to my head. "Give me the Coiler," he said and I could tell he thought he was something like Humphrey Bogart.
Since I knew already that I would get it back I gave to him without much fuss. I did ask him how he knew of it but all I got in reply was some phrases that had nothing whatever to do with the situation at hand.
After he disappeared I ran to catch up to the past me and asked him for his Coiler so I could catch the thief. Well, you know how that turned out.
When I found the man in the next week I got my Coiler back. I won't tell you how but I'll say it wasn't pretty. He didn't lose his life but he lost at least one finger and maybe a few other items of similar value. After giving the Coiler I took from me two days ago back to me, I went back to my proper time, though by that time I wasn't sure what it was. I stood on a bridge turning the Coiler over in my hands, pondering the weirdness. I was sorely tempted then and there to chuck it in the river. But I didn't, I kept it.

The Coiler

The Coiler

My name is Lockspring Twellet and I have found the Coiler.
There it was just sitting in the British Museum, and I don't know where the heck they got it. Obviously they didn't know its value, because it wasn't even behind glass. After waiting about three weeks for the room to clear I slipped it into a dark hiding place that I will not describe too thoroughly walked out. If you don't think I could simply walk out of the museum with an artifact then you clearly don't know me. When I finally got some privacy I pulled it out and examined it.
"When should I like to see myself first?" I wondered aloud, then an idea occurred to me. I told myself it would be a bad, unnatural plan but I could not resist. Holding the Coiler to my mouth, I whispered, "Day of death."
I was standing in a little cabin, the change happened so fast I didn't even see it. Through an open doorway I saw a cluster of people huddled around a bed. Curious, I stepped closer.
"Ah," said a voice, "I am here."
An old man lay on the bed and I realized with a shock that he was referring to me. "I knew I would not pass until I arrived."
The rest of the people looked at me nervously, "Sorry I'm late," I said, and grinned.
The old man chuckled and snickered, then he chortled which evolved a laugh. After subsiding into and giggle, he caught sight of my puzzled face and burst into full volume cachinnating.
"So some day," I said, "I am going to be an insane old man who laughs at his past."
The man laughed even harder, "That’s what I said too," he wiped tears from his eyes.
"Of course that’s what you said because you were me and I'm saying it now."
"Now sonny," he hardly contained laughter, "I know this stuff because when I was young I had to tell some darned old fool the same thing."
"I suppose he was us too," I sighed.
"Oh yes, and he told that to another before him who told another before him who told another before him who told another before him who told..."
My mind reeled the thought but I had to argue. "But we are all one and what we do, or have done in your case, only happens once."
"Of course," the old man sighed, "It looks like I'll have to explain it just like I explained it to me when I was young. Imagine a time line alright, now imagine someone drawing a line down it and that represents our stream of consciousness. The point of the pen is the moment that we call present, yet the line left behind is there no less. It progresses at a rate that we cannot stop and can change only vary slightly, you know time flies when you’re having fun. The pen moves faster but it travels the same amount of time. You understand so far?"
"No."
"Yes you do, I remember. Now imagine the drawer of that line gets a funny sense of humor and starts jumping it all around. First you’re progressing along nicely and then suddenly the pen gets taken back aways and a new line gets drawn over the old one. The two points of consciousness are no less equal and yet they overlap. For example you think you are the primary you and I am just an old you, but it is not true. There is a you for every moment but since they are all you there is only one. You and I are one. You've heard people say they could never be in two places at one time, well now you can. And you can also be in the same place twice like right now"
"I don't understand."
"Neither do I but I knew I had to say it because we told me when I was your age. Now think of this, when you were young do you remember a nice man helping you find your mom when you were lost in the grocery store."
I racked my memory, "Yes I believe I do."
"Good, I knew you would. Guess what, he was us."
"What?" I cried. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure 'cause I've been him already and you haven't."
"But we are one, how can you be something I am not if we are one."
"You are him and he is you, you just haven't been him yet." I was still trying to work this out when old me went on, "Listen, if I recall correctly I die here pretty soon so I have one last thing to tell you."
I leaned closer and he put his mouth near my ear. The first time I couldn't make out what he said and he had to repeat it, "Senility sets in around seventy eight but don't worry, its fun. Oh and don't trust that Thornton girl, she's no good."
"I have a question, how many times have we had this conversation."
"Once."
"But that can't be. This is your second time and I'm going to have it again when I'm your age."
"No no, I've only had this conversation once but I've had it from both sides, you have only had it from one. When you’re my age you will have it with you right now so it won't be happening again, it will just be happening. Clear?"
"Yes,"
"Liar." A look, almost frightened, suddenly came upon his face. Then he laughed. "I'm going to die when I finish speaking, the pen will be lifted never to draw on this time line again. Now it is time to go and partake of the many adventures that the Coiler will take you on. You have much to look forward to, take my word for that." Then the elderly me turned away and never spoke again.
I stood straight and looked around. The group of people stared at me as though I were a monster from the past. I gave a brief wave and a grin, then told the Coiler to take me back to the time I left, and disappeared.