Grady Cotter has a lot of things on his mind: his laser lab (which is close to obsolete), his grant money (which is rapidly drying up), and his career (which is on a fast track to nowhere). The last thing he wants to deal with is a crazy, suicidal philosopher named Darrell. But when their paths cross, Grady finds that Darrell has put an intriguing new twist on some typical paranoia. Darrell's wrong, of course; Grady knows that time marches forward, entropy increases, and meanwhile is lab isn't going to build itself. But then why does Grady feel like he's become part of Darrell's delusions?