Shakthi is a Ph.D. student in physics and her professor has told her to locate a specific article from the 70s in the library. However, hidden in the aisles of the library she sees an elderly man eating pages from a journal. Which turns out to be the exact article she was supposed to find. This leads her down a path where she uncovers a decade long feud between two men over a disagreement on a specific Einstein theory.

Without revealing too much the story goes into time travel territory. It is full of scientific jargon that at least feel authentic, the university setting is convincing and both young Shakthi and the older feuding physics professors are well rounded colorful characters. The time travel stuff is clever and not overly convoluted as it can often get with time loops, but the first half of the story is held down a bit by a good amount of exposition and Shakthi mostly serves the observer role until much later.

Overall a fairly good read in the style that can only be found in Analog.

Read in Analog September/October 2023
Rating: 3