Aphelion

I'm not entirely sure what the author intended, either ... my suspicion would be that a self-aware snapshot of his mind was recorded in the book -- an extreme version of traveling in time to steal a souvenir from a someday-famous person -- but his body and mind were left intact (once the initial shock wore off). Version 2 would be that the time-travel / cross-time exchange of information did not erase the timeline that resulted in his fame, but created an alternate timeline (in which he collapsed and died tragically while still in high school, before he achieved much of anything).

The first version makes the most sense -- why bother helping him with his exams if you intend to (apparently) kill him shortly thereafter?

Mr. Fike, can you clarify things for us?

RM