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You can’t remember what caused your first death.
You tripped on the second.
The third you panicked trying to jump up a cliff.
The fourth you just stood there. Waiting. Watching. Casually talking to your peers on your group’s channel. For some reason, being swallowed by the shock wave didn’t hurt as much. Despite the confusion and screams through the feed asking why.
On the fifth, casually talking to your lead coordinator about going insane you were given a frequency to another runner. A runner also going through the same situation. You’ve been told it was possible. But the chances were so slim your teachers said it was unlikely anyone was going to experience it.
Time loop.
It was not perfectly synced. This other runner, Prefect42, has been doing this a few more times than you. They told you to not get lost in the details and try to make sure you and your team make it back on the ships in time. As advantageous as this was, don’t get too carried away.
Because no one knew when the loop would stop.
Prefect42 can’t remember what caused their first death. They drowned on their second.
A few loops later and you were set with a new channel. Full of those like yourself and Prefect42. Everyone remembered in class being told it was possible. But the chances were so slim teachers said it was unlikely anyone was going to experience it.
A time loop.
No one remembers what caused their first death. You tripped on your eighth.
Subchannels were made. Some of the more competitive wanted to challenge others in collecting eggs, plants, or whatever their department was. There was discussion of changing leaderships. To take advantage of the knowledge of what was to come.
Prefect42 begged for everyone to slow down, to not get carried away.
D4ngerousB34ns overburreneded their egg carrier and imploded on their fourteenth loop. They didn’t remember their first loop at all, and would proceed to not remember what happened on their fourteenth.
Other scientists are excited with the possibilities. They themselves had mathed out how slim these possibilities were supposed to be. The kind of tests that could only be done in such a setting. But there was the growing fear and wonder, how long was this going to last?
Some on the channel joked a lifetime's worth.
Eet doesn’t remember their first loop. They shattered their ankle on their twelfth.
New leadership was established. Maps are more accurate than before. But with so many aware, other patterns vanished.
Xinx’s loop stopped at eleven. They’ll never know how their first loop ended.
These loops aren’t perfectly synced to start with.
You went from feeling the comfort and validation of having others that understood your exact situation to wondering if you were dreaming again. That this was all a nightmare and you would soon wake up to find yourself actually starting your job, for the first time, for real this time.
You find yourself collecting your bare minimum before retreating back to the ship, wondering if you would be allowed to stay there.
You don’t remember what happened on your tenth loop. Asking others was only giving you mixed messages, so you stopped. These loops aren’t synced.
Moti doesn’t remember any of their loops anymore. It was weird hearing them excited about the possibilities again though. How they were told how slim the chances were. A time loop! You must be so excited, they said.
They would say this a few more loops before they wouldn’t be informed of it any more.
These loops are not synced. Yet in the comfort of some repeats others were wearing you down.
This specialised channel was only activated a handful more loops before it was deemed best for everyone to just stick to their original groups. If they could not do their job they were to return to their ship. Too much conflicting information and no one was sure if it had anything to do with parallel universes and this was not the time to solve this problem while an apocalypse was happening.
Everyone in the recently defunct channel thought that order was very funny.
The channel would easily get reestablished. Some would report, but most were tired of having to re-establish the old song and dance back to HQ about why this was an issue and no, we tried all of these things already.
But what a special treat, a time loop!
You had to admit you sometimes linked back in to check on others. But for the most part, you just memorised certain individual’s ID feeds.
Prefect42 asks you what you’d like to do once the loop finishes for good.
You say you aren’t sure anymore.
They ask if you would be up to meeting up with them for… well, anything. Something new.
You ask what if one of us doesn’t remember.
They asked if one of us did, would you like to meet up after. Either as something to look forward to or a pleasant surprise.
You sigh. Then say, why not.
As both of you get to your tasks you leave the feeds on. To listen to each other’s background ambience and passing thoughts. Sometimes one of you starts singing and the other joins in.
Who knows when this will end. All the training in the world for this event never covered how to handle this. All everyone else can do is be caught up in the novelty of it.
But in the meantime, we sing about doing the time loop again.