There was a month when I was eight years old that I lived twice, which technically pushed my birthday a month earlier since I had lived a month longer. I didn't actually change it, but sometimes the discrepancy bugs me when I fill out forms. Other times I feel quite smug since I'm lying to the government and they can't possibly tell.
Double January began both on January 28th and January 1st, and while it wasn't the most chaotic of my misadventures with time travel (just ask
Michael Halifax-Wilcox), it was one of the more interesting episodes of my life at the time. Most people remain unaware of it.
January 1st - Take 1
New year, new plots and plans. A bit cliche, but I knew what I wanted to do with myself and my minions. This was the moment I decided to pursue bioengineering more specifically, and to do that I needed equipment. The first planning session for Project CROW (Capturing Relevant Objects Warily) was held that very morning. By the afternoon, I had crafted a laundry list of the items I would need.
January 1st - Take 2
It is not very difficult to figure out that one has not in fact changed location but time. It helped that the scientists at the lab had been watching the countdown that evening, which distracted them enough that I was able to dash away without being identified.
I never did manage to recover the teleportation device, which was a shame. Even if it didn't do exactly what I'd intended, temporal displacement is a rather spectacular failure of function, and also the design of the device was truly special. Nowadays there's too much to do and I don't take the time to make my gizmos beautiful as well as operational. First and last time I made something into a mechanical bird as well as what I had thought was a functioning teleporter.
(See
Author's Note: Double January for the rest of the story)
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