“He’s a psychic?” I try picturing him flipping tarot cards in front of a beaded curtain.
“No. Remember I told you he used to be a physics professor? He studied wormholes. Time travel.”
I bolt up. “We have to go see him right now.”
Renner seems to like this plan, following me out. “All right. Let’s go see Uncle Larry.”
NINETEEN
Renner wasn’t exaggerating Uncle Larry’s collection of Star Wars memorabilia. When we stepped onto his porch, there was a mat that read WELCOME YOU ARE accompanied by a picture of Yoda’s face. Turns out, he has a second mat inside that says THE FORCE IS STRONG, WITHOUT SHOES.
The living room contains a life-size statue of a Stormtrooper next to a china cabinet filled with delicate action figures and a Death Star made of LEGO. The lamp on the side table even has a Darth Vader emblem spray-painted on the shade.
“Told you he’s a nerd,” Renner whispers as Uncle Larry leads us down a short corridor to his office. He was a little weirded out that we stopped in unannounced, especially given his Dungeons & Dragons meetup in an hour. But when Renner told him we needed his expert advice, he invited us in, so long as we “don’t expect food.”
The Star Wars theme extends to his office. There’s a plaque containing a signed comic book and at least fifteen bobbleheads of the characters along the bookshelf housing what appear to be thick physics textbooks. He gestures for us to take a seat on the worn black love seat.
“So, what can I help you with?” His chair groans as he leans back. It’s one of those hard-core chairs gamers use. From this angle, he looks nearly identical to Renner’s dad, though slightly softer in the belly. I can see the family resemblance in the thick lashes, in the contemplative yet kind expression.
“We were curious about time travel,” Renner tells him, shooting me a look. We already agreed that we aren’t telling him the truth. Larry would immediately call his dad, who would call his mom, who would naturally freak out. This meeting is purely for information gathering.
Uncle Larry’s thick, bushy brows part. “Time travel? Didn’t expect that.”
“You taught physics, right? We figured you might know a bit about it,” I say.
“Time travel wasn’t my exact field of study, but I know a thing or two, yes. What’s your question?”
“Could you, um, maybe explain how it works? A quick 101? Time travel for dummies?” I squeak.
This elicits a rumble of laughter. “No one knows for sure. There are multiple theories. Time travel via speed, via light, gravity, suspended animation, wormholes . . .” My eyes glaze over as he starts to explain quantum mechanics, general relativity, and quantum gravity. Renner nods along, pretending to grasp each concept, though I know he has no clue what the hell Uncle Larry is saying.
I clear my throat at the first opportunity. “Hypothetically speaking, if a hypothetical person traveled into the future, could they hypothetically change an outcome?” I ask, thinking about Nori’s question yesterday morning, about whether we’d been sent to the future to prevent something from happening.
“You’re asking, hypothetically, whether that future would be predetermined no matter what, or if you could change it?”
“Yes. Hypothetically,” I add.
He leans back in his chair, hands folded over his stomach, eyes tilted up as though the answer is on the ceiling. “You’re talking about a reverse grandfather paradox.”
“What’s the grandfather paradox?” Renner asks.
“It’s the theory that history can’t be changed, even if one goes back in time to try to alter it.” He can see we’re both still confused, so he continues. “Take Back to the Future, for example. You’ve seen it, right?”
We both shake our heads. “Nope.”
He shakes his head. “No wonder your generation is so . . . Anyway. In the movie, when Marty McFly goes back in time, he accidentally almost stops his parents from meeting, which would be disastrous because . . .”
“Because then he wouldn’t be born?” Renner ventures.
“Exactly. But according to the grandfather paradox, Marty wouldn’t have to worry because his parents would meet regardless, in a different way.”
I blink. “But how? If he prevented them from meeting?”
“Think of it like a pool table. If you hit one of the balls, it knocks out a particular pattern. If you somehow interfered with the ball’s journey, the theory states that somehow, the interaction with the other balls on the table would force the journey back on its original path.”