NOTE: in an attempt to turn my 4th grade students on to th' lovely world of time travel and set th' stage for their eventual discovery of Douglas Adams, I took th' liberty of adapting one of my fav short stories.
The Seventh Voyage of Ijon Tichy
Adapted from THE STAR DIARIES by Stanisław Lem
Ijon Tichy had traveled through space many times, and he liked to think that very little could surprise him anymore.
He was wrong.
On his seventh voyage, while drifting peacefully through the dark and silent stars, something very small—and very unlucky—happened. A tiny meteor struck his rocket. One not much larger than a lima bean.
It didn’t make a dramatic crash. There was no explosion, no fire, no flashing lights. In fact, it was such a small bump that Tichy almost ignored it.
Almost. Because the meteor had hit the worst possible place: the steering controls.
At first, Tichy simply tried to turn the ship. Nothing happened. He tried again, a little harder this time.
Still nothing.
Then, slowly at first, the rocket began to spin. ichy frowned. “Well,” he muttered, “this is inconvenient.”
The spinning grew faster. The stars outside his window stretched into long, shining lines. The rocket whirled like a top, faster and faster, until Tichy had to grab onto the edge of a control panel just to stay upright.
And then something truly strange happened. Time… slipped.
Tichy didn’t feel it the way one feels a bump or a turn. It was quieter than that. But suddenly, standing in the middle of the control room, was another person. Tichy blinked.
The other man blinked back. They stared at each other for a long moment. Then, at exactly the same time, they both said, “Who are you?”
They also both answered at once: “I’m Ijon Tichy.”
There was a pause. A rather long pause.
“Well,” said Tichy, clearing his throat, “that’s impossible.”
“Clearly not,” said the other Tichy. “Obviously I’m you, but I’m the you from about 5 hours ago.”
It did not take long to figure out what had happened. The spinning rocket had somehow looped through time, bringing a version of Tichy from a few hours earlier into the present. This was confusing—but manageable.
At least, it was manageable for about five minutes. Then the rocket spun again. And another Tichy appeared. Now there were three of them.
The newest one looked around in surprise. “What is going on here? Why aren’t the controls fixed?”
“That,” said one of the older Tichys, “is exactly what we are trying to determine.”
The rocket continued to spin. And with every strange twist through time, another Tichy arrived. Soon there were four. Then five. Then six. The control room grew crowded with identical space travelers, all talking at once.
One Tichy insisted they should fix the controls immediately. Another argued they needed a plan first. A third claimed the controls had already been fixed—because he was from the future and had done the repair himself—though no one could see how. One of them tried to take a nap in the corner.
“Gentlemen!” Tichy shouted—though he was not entirely sure which one he was anymore. “We must remain calm!”
“Agreed!” several Tichys replied.
They did not remain calm.
The trouble was that some of the Tichys remembered things that had not happened yet. One of them announced that he was from tomorrow and had already gone outside on a spacewalk to fix the hole in the side of the ship with the help of several of the others.
“That’s impossible,” said another, “there aren’t enough spacesuits for all of us!”
“Well, I just got here from yesterday,” said a third, “and the ship was perfectly fine then!”
“Of course it was! Because that was yesterday before the controls were hit!” shouted another Tichy with a white bandage wrapped around his head.
Someone pointed at him. “Why does he have a bandage on his head?”
Everyone turned. “That,” he said, “is from tomorrow. One of you knocked me into the control panel.”
“Hey,” said another Tichy slowly, rubbing his leg, “is that why my knee hurts?”
This did not improve anyone’s mood.
At one point, one of them pointed at another and said, “In a moment, you’re going to drop that wrench.”
"I am not,” said the second Tichy.
A moment later, he dropped the wrench.
The first Tichy folded his arms. “There. You see?”
This did not improve anyone’s mood either.
Eventually, after much arguing, they all agreed on one thing: the ship had to be repaired. The steering controls needed fixing, or the rocket would spin forever—and possibly fill up entirely with Tichys. So many Tichys, in fact, that they would run out of room. And then they would run out of food. And then—
“…toilet paper,” someone added quietly.
Everyone stopped. They all thought about this. And suddenly, they all became very serious.
“Who will fix it?” one Tichy asked.
“I will,” said another.
“You already tried,” said a third. “It didn’t work.”
“I haven’t tried yet!” the second Tichy protested.
“Yes, you have,” said the first. “From my point of view, you not only tried—you made it worse!”
“Hey, that’s right!” said the Tichy with the bandage. “You knocked me out of the way and I bashed my head!”
“Wait,” said another, “is that why my knee hurts?”
This led to a long and rather heated discussion about time, which did not solve the problem. Everyone began shouting at once. The ship kept spinning. And more Tichys kept appearing.
Some climbed ladders. Some gave instructions. Some ignored instructions. One of them began writing everything down in a notebook, though it was unclear whether this was helpful. One of them tried to get everyone’s attention by loudly saying that he was here from this coming Saturday and there was no food left and someone had better do something, and do it fast. At last, a quieter Tichy—one who had been watching more than speaking—raised his hand.
“I believe,” he said carefully, “that everything we are trying to do… has already happened.”
The others fell silent.
“If that is true,” he continued, “then the solution must already exist. We simply need to do exactly what we have already done.”
There was a long pause. A very long pause.
“That makes no sense,” said one Tichy.
“On the contrary,” said another, “it makes perfect sense. I know, because I’m here from next week and everything is in fine working order.” Someone else then shouted that it if the ship was repaired then why were there so many of them and why was the ship still spinning? Meanwhile, three more Tichys had appeared, one of whom had a long beard and no shoes and smelled terrible.
The quiet Tichy, who may or may not have been the original one, raised his hand and said, “follow me.” Reluctantly, they began to follow this strange idea.
Instead of arguing, they watched what each version of themselves did—and then did the same.
If one climbed a ladder, another followed. If one reached for a tool, another handed it over. If one gave an instruction, the others listened. Slowly, carefully, the chaos began to organize itself. It was as though they were all part of a puzzle, and at last the pieces were fitting together.
Then, quite suddenly— The spinning stopped. The rocket steadied. The stars outside returned to their proper places. And one by one, the extra Tichys disappeared. Until there was only one.
Ijon Tichy stood alone in the control room, breathing hard. Everything was quiet again.
He looked around carefully. No other versions of himself. No arguments. No ladders. No notebooks. He turned to look at the controls. They were fixed. Perfectly.
Tichy nodded slowly. “Excellent,” he said.
Then he paused. Because one small question remained. He looked at the controls again. Then around the empty room. And finally said:
“…Yes, but who fixed them?”
************************** QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION:
Level 1: “Make Sure We Got It” (Comprehension)
What caused the problem on the ship?
Why couldn’t Tichy steer anymore?
What strange thing started happening because of the spinning?
How did Tichy first react when he saw another version of himself?
Why did more and more Tichys keep appearing?
What problem were all the Tichys trying to solve?
What finally made the spinning stop?
🟡 Level 2: “Now Let’s Think About It” (Understanding & Logic)
Why didn’t having more Tichys actually help solve the problem?
Why did the Tichys keep arguing instead of working together?
What made the “follow what we already did” plan work?
Why was it confusing that some Tichys remembered the future?
What does the bandage on one Tichy tell us about time in the story?
Why did everyone suddenly get serious when they mentioned running out of toilet paper? 😄
🔵 Level 3: “Wait… What??” (Paradox Thinking)
If the controls were already fixed… why did they need to fix them?
Who fixed the ship if everyone was just copying what already happened?
Could the problem have been solved without the time loop?
If you met yourself from the future, would you believe them? Why or why not?
Can something happen because it already happened?
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