Mathematical beings called the Rathki set up three experimental human colonies, one of which
includes Jinki, a child made of light, and Mr. Quest, a trickster whose job is to generate
random errors. Jinki would rather talk with Mr. Quest than anyone else, because he talks of
interesting things such as Alice in Wonderland, the dangers of recursive wishes on
falling stars, walking through Time, and (most importantly) avoiding pa-ra-dox!
There’s many a reason a light baby mustn’t walk through Time. You shouldn’t, Jinki,
because you’re tied with the human timeline, you’d cause a thing, a great big knot of
a thing like a briar-rose patch, called a paradox. A pa-ra-dox!