BIG BOUNCE ALTERNATIVE
I would just like to point out that Big Bounce models, also known as the Ekpyrotic universe or Cyclic cosmology, can produce the observations discussed in Ethan’s story without an acausal beginning of the cosmos, and with less smoke and mirrors.
Don’t take my word for this. See “Pop Goes The Universe” by astrophysicist Abraham Loeb and theoretical physicist Paul J. Steinhardt.
Here is a link to the article: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/sciam3.pdf
Also see published papers by Neil Turok and others, that can be found at Arxiv.org.
For decades we have needed new ideas in cosmology, and these alternative models of the CMB, “early” universe, late-time acceleration, etc. may be showing us a promising path to a new and far less exotic cosmological paradigm.
Robert L. Oldershaw