"I wish I knew. I mean, for sure. The psych-docs say no. The Grdznth
agreed to leave at a specified time, and something in their cultural
background makes them stick strictly to their agreements. But that's
just what the psych-docs think, and they've been known to be wrong."
"And the appointed time?"
Tommy spread his hands helplessly. "If we knew, you'd still be in L.A.
Roughly six months and four days, plus or minus a month for the time
differential. That's strictly tentative, according to the math boys.
It's a parallel universe, one of several thousand already explored,
according to the Grdznth scientists working with Charlie Karns. Most of
the parallels are analogous, and we happen to be analogous to the
Grdznth, a point we've omitted from our PR-blasts. They have an
eight-planet system around a hot sun, and it's going to get lots hotter
any day now."