Once upon a time there were three crabs - red crab, blue crab, and hermit crab. You might know them from their attempt to play volleyball. Well, this is the story of them trying to build... a time machine!!!

When we last caught up with our crab friends, they were trying (and failing) to play volleyball and instead enjoyed a delicious cheese fondue (see, "The Crabs Try to Play Volleyball"). This time they have a new idea. 

First, big fan of the idea. Second, what's a time machine?

Hey, gang, maybe we should build a time machine!

Hmm, tricky question.

A time machine is vehicle that can move between points in spacetime. But the idea is untenable. The problems suggested by the resulting inconsistent causal loops created by a time traveler are irreconcilable. Unless of course any so called "time travel" is actually travel between parallel universes...

I don't think so, but we should ask hermit crab. We always want to be inclusive.

Is it wrong for us to work on this project without hermit crab? 

Hey buddy, I could be wrong, but it seems like you aren't into this project. You are welcome to join us but if you don't want to can we all meet up later for lunch? 

No problem. It's 10 am now. How about we meet at noon for gazpacho?

Yum!

And so red crab and blue crab began gathering the tools and materials they thought they might need to construct the time machine.

And then they gathered even more things they thought they might need.

And even more things!!!

They added so much stuff it seemed the spacetime continuum had been breached!

And that is when things got weird...

I mean really weird.

Look! Jed and Tia, Jed's literary agent and editor, showed up!

Sweet!