whatever you do, do not break the loop

You’re sitting in your apartment, scrolling through your computer, when suddenly the screen flickers. A version of yourself appears on the monitor, standing by the trolley tracks. He explains that there is a two minute delay between the two computer screens, making him you, two minutes in the future. For a moment he looks back at the track nervously, before stating “Go downstairs to the lever and pull it, You’ll save five people. Trust me, the loop must continue.” You hesitate but follow the instructions, heading out of your apartment and down the stairs to the tracks.

When you arrive at the lever, there’s another screen beside it. On the screen, you see yourself two minutes in the past, still sitting in the apartment, just as you were before. The trolley is speeding toward five people tied to one track. Remembering what your future self told you, you pull the lever, diverting the trolley toward a single person on the other track. The trolley decapitates the single person, as you hear another trolley heading towards the track, aproximately two minutes away.

Now, you’ve become the future self standing by the lever, watching yourself on the screen back in your apartment, just as before. You glance back at the remains of the person once tied to the alternate track, horror washes over you—it’s you. Somehow, in this twisted loop, you are the one bound to the rails, meaning you're future self must've tied himself to the track after explaining the scenario to you. The version of yourself in the apartment is waiting for your instructions, just as you had waited.

If you tell your past self to pull the lever, you’ll ensure your own death, but the five people will be saved. If you tell them not to pull it, you’ll survive, but those five will die. To continue the loop, you must tie yourself to the track, just as your future self did before you. But there’s another terrifying consideration—breaking the cycle might save your life, but it could also unravel the timeline itself. Your future self had warned you that the loop must continue, but is that really the right choice?

Now, you must decide: do you sacrifice yourself to keep the loop intact and save the others, or risk breaking time itself to preserve your life?

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inspired by "Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes", a Japanese low-budget comedy-scifi, about a man who finds out he can communicate with a version of himself two minutes in the future through his computer screen. It escelates in complexity at a really satisfying rate,