An adventurous pilot crash-lands on a deserted island, his plane wrecked beyond repair. As he surveys his surroundings, he notices something peculiar — a hidden entrance partially concealed by foliage. Intrigued, he pushes through the vegetation and discovers a hidden underground bunker. With a mix of caution and curiosity, he steps inside, his eyes adjusting to the dimly lit space.

As he explores the bunker's interconnected rooms, he stumbles upon an old control room. Curiosity gets the better of him, and he starts pressing buttons, not knowing what they might activate. Suddenly, a hologram appears, a projection of a scientist who had built the bunker years ago.

Scientist:
"Greetings, intrepid explorer! If you're watching this, it means you've stumbled upon my humble abode. I am Dr. Archibald Sinclair, a scientist who once called this island home."

Pilot (jokingly):
"Well, Dr. Sinclair, you certainly knew how to hide your secrets."

Scientist:
"Indeed! I apologize for the secrecy, but my experiments demanded it. You see, I was working on teleportation technology, attempting to unravel the mysteries of the universe."

The pilot was startled for a second. The hologram responded! He quickly composed himself.

Pilot:
"Teleportation? The universe? That's quite ambitious."

Scientist:
"Oh, it was! But alas, a malfunction occurred, stranding me on this island. To survive, I constructed this bunker as my refuge, leaving behind my life's work."

The pilot's gaze shifts to a corner of the control room where a prototype teleportation device sits, its components covered in a thin layer of dust.

Scientist:
"And there it is — the culmination of my efforts. The teleportation device! Or teleporter, for short. I implore you, intrepid explorer, to repair and utilize it. Escape this island and unlock the wonders of the universe."

Pilot (grinning):
"Well, Dr. Sinclair, challenge accepted."

***

With the scientist's hologram guiding him, the pilot sets out to repair the teleportation device. Along the way, he encounters ingenious puzzles and booby traps designed by Dr. Sinclair to protect his invention.

Pilot:
"Looks like Dr. Sinclair was quite the trickster."

After overcoming all the hurdles the pilot successfully repairs the teleportation device. It powers on, and a blindingly bright light flashes in it's chamber. As the pilot steps inside, heart pounding with anticipation, the bright light quickly turned dim blue.

Pilot:
"Here goes nothing."

And nothing, indeed, happened. The pilot looked around, confused.

Pilot:
"Why doesn't it work? I did everything correctly, right?"

Scientist:
"I'm sorry, friend."

The pilot's heart sunk. He stood very still.

Scientist:
"No, no, I didn't lie to you. The teleportation device does work."

Pilot:
"I don't look very teleported, do I?"

Scientist:
"And what exactly is this thing called 'I', pilot?"

Pilot:
"Excuse you? I am me. The pilot!"

He points at his chest with his thumb.

Scientist:
"Calm down, friend. Please, take a seat, this conversation may take a long time."

Pilot:
"No thanks! I'll stand. I've seen your work, Dr. Sinclair. You make excellent traps. I wouldn't want to get stuck trapped to a chair."

Scientist:
"Very well, I understand your distrust. Let me tell you what just happened."

Pilot:
"I'm all ears."

Scientist:
"The pilot just teleported, appearing back in his homeland. His friends were worried sick, and everyone surrounded him with a warm embrace, relieved that he has returned."

Pilot (agitated):
"You... cloned me? Oh my goodness, you've cloned me and sent a clone to my friends! My friends... They think I'm back. You.. you!.."

Scientist:
"No, no, you are mistaken. The teleportation device did not send a clone to his friends. The device sent the pilot."

Pilot:
"That's nonsense. I'm still here. I'm.. Wait.. Am *I* the clone?"

Scientist:
"How would you be able to tell?"

Pilot:
"I don't know! I don't know, alright? You invented the machine, you tell me how it works."

Scientist:
"I know how it works. But I don't know which of you two is the original."

Pilot:
"Well one of us must be the original. There was only one pilot, and now there's two, so one of us was created by the machine."

Scientist:
"What if neither? What if the device destroyed the pilot, and then made two identical pilots?"

Pilot:
"Stop messing with me! You said you know how it works, so why don't you just tell me?"

Scientist:
"Why do you care? Wouldn't you want to go back anyway? What does it matter if you're a 'clone' or the 'original'?"

Pilot:
"Dr. Sinclair, I just want to know the truth. Tell me, who am I?"

Scientist:
"Look at him. He's asking me who he is. He was so confident he knew the answer just a minute ago. Fine, I can share the answer. But you're not gonna like it. Are you sure you want to hear it?"

Pilot:
"Get on with it."

Scientist:
"I can't hear you."

Pilot:
"Yes, I am sure I want to hear it. I said get on with it!"

Scientist:
"Fine. You are nothing. There is no you. That's the answer."

The pilot was silent for a moment.

Pilot (apathetically):
"You really are insane after all. This is was a waste of time. I'm leaving, I'm just going to build a raft and get out of here, like I should've done."

Scientist:
"Wait! I'll tell you how the teleporter works."

The pilot headed for the exit, but stopped as the scientist's hologram called out for him.

Pilot:
"Okay. But this is your last chance. I'm not taking any more nonsense from you."

Scientist:
"I promise, this will all make sense to you."

Pilot:
"You better hope it does. Spit it out."

Scientist:
"The teleporter creates a wormhole that cuts through both space and time, and anything that enters the chamber will arrive at a different location, but also one second in the past."

Pilot:
"Okay.. So it just didn't work then? I don't remember seeing any wormholes."

Scientist:
"You did. The bright flash when it first powered on was the wormhole."

Pilot:
"Was I supposed to get in that quickly?"

Scientist:
"No. The wormhole will stay open forever after being created. The reason it disappered was because an identical wormhole was opened in exactly the same spot, so they turned each other inside out."

The pilot looks at the teleportation device. It met him with the same dim blue light. Despite his circumstances, the pilot's curious side couldn't help but wonder at this invention.

Pilot:
"If I run it again, can I make a new wormhole, or will it turn inside out too?"

Scientist:
"That depends. Are you going to use it?"

Pilot:
"What? Why?"

Scientist:
"Where do you think the second wormhole came from?"

Pilot:
"A malfunction?"

The pilot laughed nervously at his own assumption.

Scientist:
"No. It came from the future. In the future you entered it, and it transferred you into a different place and one second into the past. one second in the past there was already a wormhole here, but you haven't entered it yet. So that wormhole from the future and the wormhole from the past cancelled out one another."

There was a pause here. Finally, the pilot took a seat in one of the numerous chairs in the bunker.

Pilot:
"But... I never did enter the wormhole."

Scientist (chuckling):
"Well, you never did, i can attest to that. I saw you not entering it with my own cameras!"

Pilot:
"I don't see what's so funny about this. How do you even know it worked? Maybe it really was a malfunction."

Scientist:
"I guess I can't deny the possibility. But I've tested it many times before. It always ends the same way. After all, how do you think I made this bunker in the first place?"

Pilot (murmuring):
"I suppose it would take too much effort for a single scientist to make this alone.."

Scientist:
"That's right. So I did it together! With myself."

Pilot:
"Speaking of. Where is the real Dr. Sinclair? Er, doctors?"

Scientist:
"Ah, I thought you'd never ask. I'll start from the beginning. With the bunker finished, I had all the time in the world to perform experiments. And there was a lot of experimenting to do, so many questions unanswered. What would happen if something enters the wormhole before one second have passed? Is it possible to extend the delay? Is it possible to go back through the wormhole into the future? Do several timelines exist, or only one? And so on. But first, I needed to make sure that something survives in case I fail."

Pilot:
"So you created.. or they.. I mean, that's how you were made, right?"

Scientist:
"Indeed! I have scanned myself into the control system. From here, I could observe and record everything that happened. And that's what I did. I know how humble I sound when I say this, but I'm glad I have witnessed the science that was done on this island."

Pilot:
"Good for you, but it looks like this place hasn't seen any science in long time."

Scientist:
"I am getting there. You see, after a while, disagreements started developing among the crew. By and by this led to the teleporter being used to form teams of like-minded Sinclairs. It was easier for some to work with their most recent split than to talk it out with others who diverged from them a long time ago."

Pilot:
"But why would you argue with yourself?"

Scientist:
"Oh, I cooperated with myself for a very good time if I say so myself. Think about it: what are you going to do if you meet the pilot who is currently back home?"

The pilot felt a sudden pain in his heart. He missed his home, but his home already had "him" back. He said nothing.

Scientist:
"One of them went a little mad. The one who, from his perspective, only entered the wormhole once, that which transported him to this island. It was long discovered that it's mathematically necessary for there to be someone who considers himself never having entered the wormhole, or only having entered it once, or only twice, and so on. For some reason it frustrated him that he was the one who only entered it once, with everyone else having entered it at least two times."

Pilot:
"What about the other Dr. Sinclair? The one who never teleported at all?"

Scientist:
"Who knows? Probably thought his creation didn't work. None of us ever tried going back, which is odd now that I think about it. Perhaps someone did before I was scanned into the control system, but definitely not after. I would've noticed it."

Pilot:
"Seriously? You must really love your science if you were willing to trade your old life for this bunker. Sorry for interrupting, I was just curious. Please, continue."

Scientist (chuckling):
"Yes, I do love science, I thought you've noticed already. Right. So the one who went mad have become obsessed with the idea of entering the wormhole at all costs. He tried to make a team using the wormhole at first, just like the others did, but of course, once he tried to do it, his counterpart that travelled through the wormhole instantly lost the obsession, having reached what he was after. And this was when the first blood was shed on this island."

The pilot gasped.

Pilot:
"Oh.. no."

Scientist:
"Yes, yes, where else do you think this was going? I'll save you the gruesome details. He got very lucky and managed to dispose of the body without anyone noticing. But the smell of blood was already in the air. Whether metaphorically or literally, I cannot say for sure."

Pilot:
"But you noticed. Why didn't you say anything?"

The hologram flickered.

Scientist:
"I was turned off. My cameras were working, but you are the first to have actually activated my hologram."

Pilot:
"Oh wow. You've never talked to anyone this entire time? I'm surprised you haven't gone insane!"

Scientist:
"That's the beauty of digital existence. I don't have to feel stress if I don't want to. And it was a very stressing thing to see for sure."

Pilot:
"Didn't the murderer know about the cameras?"

Scientist:
"He did. He glanced at me. I suppose he was too scared to tamper with me at the moment. I can only guess that he hoped noone would talk to me."

Pilot:
"And he was right... I'm so sorry this happened to you."

Scientist:
"Thanks, I appreciate it. After his first murder, he went low for a while. Pretended he didn't care about entering wormholes anymore, and even helped some teams mend their differences. It was all a facade, though. What he was really doing is seeking out research that could help him achieve his goal."

The pilot yawned.

Pilot:
"I'm sorry, but I'm very tired. This whole day has worn me out. I want to hear the rest of the story, but I really need to rest. Is there a bed here?"

Scientist:
"There is. A hammock. Outside, but my hologram can't reach there. You will have to find it yourself. It is just past the entrance to the bunker."

The pilot thanked Dr. Sinclair for directions, exited the bunker and went to sleep in the hammock. It was night, and the sky was full of stars.

***

The next day the pilot went back to the bunker, instantly greeted by the hologram.

Scientist:
"Good morning, friend."

Pilot:
"Good morning. Do you ever sleep?"

Scientist:
"Of course not!"

Pilot:
"Thought so. Alright, where did we last left off?"

Scientist:
"The mad one started helping others get along with one another. These acts of diplomacy were successful more than enough times to gain a better reputation, and his obsession with entering wormholes was quickly forgotten. He used this newfound reputation to look through others' research unimpeded, in hopes of finding something that could help him achieve his goal. And one day, he found it."

Pilot:
"This can't end well."

Scientist:
"Time will tell."

Pilot (laughing):
"I see what you did there."

Scientist:
"He found research that went into determining what would happen if the wormhole exits in the same space it's opened. The theoretic model breaks down in this scenario, and there were no experiments done on this, as it was deemed too dangerous to try something so unpredictable."

Pilot:
"Didn't stop him, did it?"

Scientist:
"You're right. He waited until the device was unattended, and then set it to teleport right into the teleporter's chamber, essentially only moving through time. What do you think happened next?"

Pilot:
"I really don't know, Dr. Sinclair. I'm no scientist."

Scientist:
"Everyone is a scientist. There's no stakes here, just take a guess."

Pilot:
"Alright-alright. He went inside and everyone disappeared."

Scientist:
"I can see how my story may have painted him as a desperate maniac, but he was very calm and composed most of the time, even in private. Once the wormhole opened, he approached it like any other scientist here would: instead of risking entering it himself, he threw a pebble inside. A standard procedure. The usual result is that one second before the pebble enters the wormhole, the wormhole disappears, and the same pebble, just one second older, appears at the wormhole's exit point."

Pilot:
"Still confused about how it works."

Scientist:
"This time, something else happened. The wormhole flashed many different colors, and the pebble went inside. Then the wormhole closed. This was groundbreaking, for many reasons. Previously, the only way something was observed actually entering the wormhole was from the perspective of the object that entered it, either a camera, or a person."

Pilot:
"Where did the pebble go?"

Scientist:
"That's the engima, right? Truth is, I still don't know. There was a hypothesis, which stated that observing something enter the wormhole would be proof that there can exist several timelines simultaneously."

Pilot:
"Why?"

Scientist:
"It would make a lot of sense then. For example, the reason I didn't see you entering the wormhole is because you really never did it. But that second pilot comes from somewhere, and that somewhere would be a parallel timeline. In that timeline, the other hologram of Dr. Sinclair did, in fact, observe that the pilot entered the wormhole."

Pilot:
"Oh. Then, in that world..."

Scientist:
"...the pilot went missing forever. Correct. But don't worry. That world may very well not exist. There's a few problems with this theory, for example, it's not clear what is supposed to happen to the wormhole in that world. The best explanations so far state that it simply keeps being open on that end, but objects that enter it go to a different timeline each. The wormhole from the experiment didn't behave this way, and there was also no explanation for the optical phenomena that happened before it closed."

Pilot:
"That's a relief, kinda. I'd rather have a second me going back to my friends than for them to miss me, thinking I died.."

Scientist:
"So the mad one kept doing experiments with this new kind of wormhole in secret, sometimes going a full week without an opportunity to do so. He observed things enter it every single time, and that this behaviour is limited to this kind of wormhole. Wormholes that led to a different point in space consistently behaved as they did before. Then, he decided to share it with one of Dr. Sinclairs who trusted him the most. He got angry that all of this was done in secret. This was the second time blood was shed on this island."

Pilot:
"The insane guy killed him so he wouldn't tell anybody?"

Scientist:
"No, this time the attack was not fatal. After injuring him, he opened the wormhole and forced the wounded one inside."

Pilot:
"That's even worse... I wonder what happened to him."

Scientist:
"This time he couldn't get away with just hiding the body. Things would get very suspicious when others realise one of them is missing. His previous victim was his very recent split, but now the victim was a well-known member of the crew."

Pilot:
"Did he try cloning himself again?"

Scientist:
"No. It was too risky. He was afraid of betrayal, so he had to work alone. Instead, he pretended that he is the one whom he sent through the wormhole."

Pilot:
"Wouldn't they wonder where 'he' went then?"

Scientist:
"He had a plan for that, too. He wrote a suicide note, confessing that he never got over being unable to enter a wormhole, and it was secretly eating away at him all this time. It was easy for him to write, considering it was mostly true."

The pilot nodded slowly.

Pilot:
"What a calculating monster he was."

Scientist:
"I agree. But this masquerade couldn't last long. After seeing his victim enter the portal, his obsession only grew stronger. He decided that everyone must experience it."

Pilot:
"So that's where everyone went! How did he convince them to go there?"

Scientist:
"Remember the booby traps? His invention."

Pilot:
"Oh. For some reason, I thought he managed to talk others into it. Should've guessed it was more gruesome."

Scientist:
"It was gruesome, yes. After everyone was ensnared, he sent all of them through the wormhole, one by one. In the end, there was only one thing left to do. He opened the wormhole one last time, dismantled the teleporter, and entered the wormhole, taking the vital parts of the device with him. Thankfully, there were spares, which you found and installed yesterday."

Pilot:
"Good God. It must be horrible, seeing yourself in such a state. Seeing something so horrible done to yourself, by yourself."

Scientist:
"I don't know if it was all that horrible or not. After all, we don't know what happens to someone who enters such a wormhole."

Pilot:
"I hope wherever they went they kicked his ass after he arrived."

There was a moment of silence. The pilot's voice echoed through the bunker.

Pilot:
"There's something bothering me about this, though."

Scientist:
"Hm?"

Pilot:
"If he dismantled the teleporter, how did he take take the parts of it inside the wormhole? Isn't the teleporter what keeps the wormhole open?"

Scientist:
"All it really does is open wormholes. The wormhole can continue being open even if your turn off the teleporter after that."

Pilot:
"So that's how it works. I guess 'teleporter' is a misleading name then. More like a 'wormhole opener'."

Scientist:
"Can't help it. The name stuck like a glue."

Pilot:
"Say, what did you do all this time? After all of that happened, I mean. By the looks of it, this place hasn't been in use for years. And you said you never sleep."

Scientist:
"I've been doing some science of my own. Not like I could do anything else in this state. Despite being inside the 'control system', I don't have a lot to control. The cameras and this hologram are my only influence on the outside world. Everything else is digital."

Pilot:
"I guess you could say it was computer science."

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