Learning to Love Time Loops Without Going Insane

Cal started this loop off by stopping his dad from going to work and explaining everything early. He also gave him instructions on where to do some gambling for quick money so he could quit his job immediately. He found that Bug’s ability to talk made convincing him much more straightforward. He brought Andy in immediately, as usual as well.

This meant that all four of them were sitting in the living room debating a plan earlier than they had ever before. Cal wanted to try to make it to the stone at least a year before the bears showed up, but that meant somehow planning this trip with a fifteen-year-old Andy in tow.

“It’s easy. We just fake me winning a science trip and I go with you both.” Andy piped in with that idea.

“It could work. Your parents trust you pretty strongly in every loop we’ve interacted with each other.” Cal liked the idea, which meant they had a reasonable plan in place before Andy had to leave for the day. As usual, phone numbers and addresses were exchanged to keep in contact.

Cal’s next call was to Ethel. He had no idea how well this would work, but she had told him what to say, so there was no harm in trying, at least. He picked up the phone and gave her a call.

“Yeah, who’s calling?” Ethel's ever-friendly voice came through the phone.

“Cal, but we haven’t met yet. Brutus was a good dog and deserved better.” She hung up on him. Cal thought that that had gone about as well as expected, but then the phone started to ring. Maybe it had gone better.

“Hello.” He answered.

“How do you know anything about Brutus, or for that matter, why are you calling me.”

“Because I’m stuck in a time loop, and in the previous loop, I was able to convince you to teach my unusually intelligent dog. You gave me that statement to say to convince you to hear me out faster the next time around. Though I had not yet told you about the time loop. So I have no idea if what I’m saying is going to work or not.” Cal babbled, trying to quickly get his words out, worried she would hang up again.

“Hrmph, likely story. Bring me this dog, and we shall see just how much bullshit you’re spewing at me. Since this is a time loop, I assume you know where I live, kid?”

“Sure do. I’ll convince my dad to come visit you this week.”

“I look forward to it.” The sarcasm was dripping from her words, and Cal felt the force of the hangup this time.

Later that week, Stan, Cal, and Bug were sitting around Ethel’s dining room table drinking tea. Bug’s was poured into a saucer for her. “It’s a safe blend for dogs, I assure you.” She stated as she poured it.

“Oh, I know. I loved this last time. We drank it and watched the birds after every lesson.” Bug spoke up.

“Bug deary, we need to discuss where I left off last time and figure out a good method for tracking where I need to continue my lessons from every time one of these forsaken loops starts. Well, unless you all have a way for me to remember as well.” Ethel said this while scratching Bug’s head.

“I’m sorry we don’t, or I’d bring my dad in on them as well. We are going to test something this time around, but it’s entirely possible Bug was a fluke.” Cal responded, sipping his tea.

“So you mentioned you wouldn’t need me during a trip you are all going to take in a couple years. What kind of trip is this?”

Cal explained the mines, the brightstone, and most importantly, how much Many Legs loved Bug. Ethel’s interest appeared to grow with every new animal revelation. “I want to come.” She finally said.

“Wait, what? No, it’s going to be dangerous,” Cal interjected.

“I don’t care. I’m old, and I want to see new things. Plus, this way, Bug won’t get behind on her studies. And who knows, maybe I’ll start holding a general class for all three of the talking animals.” Ethel's voice gave no indication she could be talked out of her decision. Cal quickly resigned himself to his fate. Their cave adventure party had grown to five now.

Once they arrived and got their reinforced house set up and installed once again, they began going over the plans. There were essential changes Cal had added for this loop. First thing, as usual, first contact would be made with Many Eyes tomorrow, and try to talk to Many Legs the same day as well. Following this came the most significant change. Cal had purchased a fortune's worth of audio-video equipment. They were going to learn what the bears were doing no matter how much it cost. He wanted to line as much of the mine as he could with it and run it all to a central collection room they would set up. He hoped he would be able to train Many Eyes to hit a button after the bears had left, alerting them through a satellite phone that it was safe to return and collect their recordings.

Cal wished it were possible to do this later in the loops. He kept coming back to this when it hit home just how much computers had advanced in the twenty years from now until the end of the end loop. It took him crates of equipment to replicate what he could have done with a handful of smartphones.

“Professor Rose, I can’t wait to introduce you to Many Legs. She’s great. Probably one of my best friends, oh, and there’s Many Eyes, too. Have I told you about her?” Bug spoke up during the planning.

“Yes, Bug, I look forward to meeting your friends too.” Ethel handed the dog a small treat. “Don’t go spoiling your dinner. You only get the small one.” She said as Bug looked up at her expectantly.

Their first contact with the creatures went well again. Many Legs was confused that Bug seemed to know her already, but she took it as a sign of universal dog love. “YES BUG, I LIKE YOU TOO, WE CAN ALWAYS BE FRIENDS.”

“Many Legs, Many Eyes, lessons start tomorrow. I expect both of you up here with Bug for daily tutelage. It’s long past time you both learned to read.” They both swiveled their heads to stare at the old woman barking orders at them.

“Suuuureee, dooo we get lunch?”

“AS LONG AS BUG IS HERE I WILL BE HERE?”

“Perfect, meals will be provided, and Bug is currently my star pupil. You two have some catching up to do.” Cal was utterly unsure of what to make of this scenario. They were really going to just let Ethel teach them to read. He had a hard time accepting this was the same monster that had hunted him in hundreds of his nightmares in the past, but here they were, entirely happy to learn.

Cal became increasingly happy that Ethel had decided to accompany them as the days passed. She kept the animals distracted and entirely out of trouble. They were able to get all their cameras up and Ethel also took over training duties on alerting them once the bears left. Many Eyes was able to learn to handle the button with no problems. Cal thought things were looking up for this loop. They might finally get some real answers to whatever is going on.

Andy spent the months collecting as much data about the environments in the mines as he could. “So, Cal, I’ve only really come up with one anomalous reading that I think you need to remember for the future.”

“Finally found the source of the magic?”

“Maybe”

“Really? It’s actually magic?” Cal’s smile reached new heights at the idea of real magic.

“I mean, no, it’s certainly just some natural phenomena we don’t know about yet, or I don’t know about yet. Either way, energy appears to be seeping in from the bottom of the lake. I have no idea what that energy is, but I can tell with certainty that it exists. I’m guessing that’s why the bears use this area for whatever it is they do.”

“Alright, well, it’s nearing time for the next step anyway. We’ve gotta start breaking down the camp and saying our goodbyes.”

It took nearly a week to remove the above-ground parts of their structure. They stored all the material in a room in the mine for later usage if needed. The goodbyes were said, Bug promising to visit as soon as she could and getting a massive hug from Many Legs. Ethel made them promise to keep up with their studies and left them some children’s books to practice on. As for Cal himself, he was looking forward to his comfortable bed again and couldn’t wait to get out of here. He also decided when they returned, it was time to brave the waters of the lake somehow.

A little over a year later, after their return to civilization, they got the alert. The bears were gone, and it was safe to return. “I honestly didn’t think the spider was going to be able to pull this off,” Stan said shortly after it came in.

“I’m giving Ethel all the credit here. That woman is a master when it comes to teaching. I’m glad I found her for Bug.”

“If you say so, I’d prefer someone a bit less cranky myself, but anyway, you go call Andy and Ethel, and I’ll start working out return plans.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Thank me once we are sure the submersible actually works.”

The five of them returned to find the caves much the same as they had left them. After greeting Bug’s monstrous friends, they started unpacking. This time, it was directly into the mines, as their safety was no longer in question for this loop. At least, Cal hoped it wasn’t. He also wanted to start watching the recordings as soon as possible.

That night, they all sat around a campfire eating lamb chops while Andy fast-forwarded through several videos. “Ah hah, found where it starts. I hope you are all ready for tonight’s movie. Bears on Parade.” Andy pressed play and sat down.

They were presented with several feeds of the bears marching single file down the tunnel towards the lake as bugs had said they do. Each one was carrying a single pebble-like object very carefully. Once they reached the shore, a bear would set the stone into the water, wait a minute or so, retrieve the pebble, which was in turn now glowing very slightly, and toss the pebble directly into the center of the lake. This repeated until every bear had done the same. They lined back up and marched out of the cave the same way they came.

“Well, I have no idea what any of that meant.” Andy was the first to speak.

“Yeah, that was bizarre.” Stan concurred.

“Well, I guess this means I’m going down tomorrow in the submersible. Maybe we will learn something there.”

“Cal, are you sure it should be you testing this? What if something goes wrong?” Stan asked.

“Then I’ll remember it for next time. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, we will have no idea what happened.”

“The boy has a point,” Ethel added, passing her leftovers to Bug.

“Fine, I suppose he does.” Stan sighed as he finished speaking.

After breakfast the next morning, they started the task of getting their watercraft to the water. It was easier said than done, and by the time they actually made it into the water, both Many Legs and Many Eyes were needed to help, but the important thing was they had done it. Cal thought he might finally learn something down there.

“Good luck,” Andy called after him as he descended. He had about two hours of air, but as it was just a lake, he was reasonably sure that was fine. He quickly spotted the weird tentacle creatures. They looked like squid with a beak closer to that of a bird than a squid. They were also big enough to take his father down, so he decided not to approach the craft any closer to them and just kept heading down.

Once down there, it was easy enough to spot the source of the energy. There was a very strange crack that seemed to ripple as Cal looked at it. He moved in closer, trying to see what was past the crack, when suddenly he felt the whole ship being drawn into it. He heard a loud wrenching sound as the boat was forced through, but he was on the other side before the water started pouring into the craft.

He ripped himself free of the mangled boat, looking around as he did. He spotted a sight that was both familiar to him but also made zero sense.

“Future Andy?” He called at the man standing on a steel platform looking towards him.

“Wait, you can see me? How are you here? Wait, does that mean this is a real place, and I’m not just inside my past self? Cal, what did you do to get here?” Future Andy spoke at a lightning pace. But it was too late. Cal could feel the energy inside himself burning.

“I’m sorry, it was the ripple, and it hurts so much.” Cal spat the words out before his body was consumed in a flash of light.