And to think he could have just avoided all this by putting the fella back on the time machine and sending him away. :)

Depends… the temporal mechanics of the situation are already screwy (Future-self marooning Present-self in Future-self’s past). He might just remain stuck in the void in his own continuity.

The particulars of this could go into a discussion much longer than a 1,024 character limit, though. ;)

I had an inkling of what the twist was going to be, but you pulled it off really well all the same.

Life’s a circle – explained :)

Recursion is weird like that. You have to enter it before you can exit it.