Can someone help me out here? *Spoilers are likely*

[mc6415]

Well I was wondering, with this new parallel universe it was said by prime Spock that it changed the moment Nero appeared, that would be when it attacked the Kelvin, however this would mean that the first contact that was seen in the film First Contact was the one that occurred in both universes, however would this not imply that Picard and co somehow managed to co-exist in both universes, and that them going back in time to stop the Borg was actually them crossing into a parallel universe? As they'd have passed from the one that prime Spock came from to a time where both universes existed at the same time in the same state, does this make Picard the first person before prime Spock to go to two different universes? I hope that made some kind of sense, this has been playing on my mind for a while and I can't make sense of it.

[Kirk]

Don't we have a Trek XI thread already?

Anyway, the best way to go about this question is to not think about it. The writers didn't, why should you? Plus, temporal mechanics makes my head spin.

[Shadowknight1]

Kirk's right, the easiest way to come to any conclusion about this conundrum is to just not think about it.  Time travel is always confusing, no matter what universe.

[MLeo]

Simple, the parallel universe appeared the moment Nero travelled back in time, so anything before the split (branch) is the same universe.

Picard'n'co travelled from one branch back into a "parent" branch that happens to be the same for both, and then back to their own branch again.


In a similar fashion, Nero would not exist because he travelled back in time, because of his actions, he would not exist.