The Matthews Conundrum — Edward M. Lerner

InterstellarNet: Enigma -- Part One of Five

Historian Joshua Matthews has landed a terrific new position, and with it the opportunity to write the definitive history of the Interstellar Commerce Union. In those annals, he plans to focus attention -- in his opinion, long overdue -- on the improbability that an interstellar community even exists.

But somehow, returning home from the party thrown to celebrate his good fortune, he has lost a month of his life. Everyone is certain he's been away on an epic bender. And so, rather than promoted, he is disgraced, unemployed, unemployable … and unaware just how lucky he actually was.