Starplex

Keith lifted an eyebrow. Rude, arrogant — yes, he could see why Jag might like the guy.

"In particular," continued Jag, "I like his ability to encapsulate mental processes into maxims. One of my favorite sayings of his is, "The truth is the residue, lacking in likelihood though it may be, that is left behind when those things that cannot be are omitted from consideration.""

That, at least, brought a smile to Keith's face. What Connan Doyle had actually written was, "Eliminate the impossible, and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," but considering that the words had been translated into Waldahudar then back into English, Jag's version wasn't half-bad.

"Yes?" said Keith.

"Well, my original analysis, that the fourth-generation star that appeared here was a one-of-a-kind anomaly, must now be amended, since we've seen a second such star at Rehbollo 376A. By applying Holmes's dictum, I believe I now know where these two green stars, and presumably the other rogue stars as well, have come from." Jag fell silent, waiting for Keith to prod him further.

"And that is?" Keith said, irritated.

"The future."

Keith laughed — but then, he had a barking laugh; perhaps it didn't sound derisive to Waldahud ears. "The future?"

"It is the best explanation. Green stars could not have evolved in a universe that is as young as ours is. A single such star could have been a freak, but multiple ones are highly unlikely."

Keith shook his head. "But perhaps they come from — I don't know — some unusual region of space. Maybe they had been companions of a black hole, and the gravitational stresses had caused fusion reactions to proceed more quickly."

"I thought of such things," said Jag. "That is, I thought of probable alternative scenarios, of which that is not one. But none of them fits the facts. I have now done radiometric dating, based on isotope proportionalities, of the material Longbottle and I scooped from the atmosphere of the green star near us. The heavy-metal atoms in that star are twenty-two billion years old. The star itself is not that old, of course, but many of the atoms it is composed of are."

"I thought all matter was the same age," said Keith.

Jag lifted his lower shoulders. "It's true that, excepting the small amount of matter constantly being created out of energy, and excepting that in certain reactions neutrons can essentially turn into  proton-electron pairs, and vice versa, all fundamental particles in the universe were created shortly after the big bang. But the atoms made up of those particles can be formed or destroyed at any time, through fission or fusion."

"Right," said Keith, embarrassed. "Sorry. So you're saying the heavy-metal atoms in the star formed longer ago than the universe is old."

"That's correct. And the only way that could happen is if the star came to us from the future."

"But — but you said the green stars are billions of years older than any current star could be. You're trying to tell me that these stars have traveled back in time billions of years? That seems incredible."

Jag preceded his barking reply with a snort. "The intellectual leap should be in the acceptance of time travel, not the length of time an object is cast back. If time travel can exist at all, then the distance traveled back surely is only a function of appropriate technology and sufficient energy. I submit that any race that has the power to move stars around has both in abundance."

"But I thought time travel was impossible."

Jag lifted all four shoulders. "Until the shortcuts were discovered, instantaneous transportation was impossible. Until the hyperdrive was discovered, faster-than-light travel was impossible. I cannot begin to suggest how time travel might be made to happen, but apparently it is happening."

"There are no other explanations?" asked Keith.

"Well, as I said, I have considered other possibilities — such as that the shortcuts are now acting as gateways to parallel universes, and that the green stars come from there rather than from our future. But except for their age, they are what one would expect of matter formed in this specific universe, from our specific big bang, under the very specific physical laws that operate here."

"Very well," said Keith, holding up a hand. "But why send stars from the future back to the past?"

"That," said Jag, "is the first good question you have asked."

Keith spoke through clenched teeth. "And the answer is?"

Jag lifted all four shoulders again. "I have no idea."

As he moved down the dim, cold corridor, Keith accepted that each of the races aboard Starplex managed to piss the others off in different ways.