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Theo and I sit together like the lovers we’re supposed to be The lovers we are, in this dimension Most of the people around us wear dark, practical clothing like the cheap dress I’ve got on, though several men are in uniforreen uniform, complete with the folded cap on his head, and can’t resist a smile

He smiles back "What’s so funny?"

"Your uniform It’s not exactly a Lumineers T-shirt and a fedora, is it?"

"You mock my fashion sense" Theo puts one hand over his chest, pretending to have been shot through the heart "But I for one happen to know I am stylin’ Well, usually Not today"

As innocently as I can, I say, "Aren’tbeards now?"

Theo oatee or soht now? Halfway to Aers turn to look at us, but instead of looking annoyed, most of them smile Maybe people have a soft spot for wartin "Listen, I ot to San Francisco, but it looks like that’s going to take longer than I thought"

No tiiven at the train station Apparently you’re supposed to count yourself lucky if you even reach your destination "Wait for what?"

"To go over the files I pulled" Fros a manila folder, which is thick with ht you said you couldn’t get through the security," I say, leaning closer

Theo replies, "I couldn’t get through to the classified stuff, no But eneral information? Not a problem"

As soon as he opens the folder, my eyes find the name on the top sheet: LIEUTENANT PAUL MARKOV

"So here we have Paul’s assignolden, by the way--and even his address in San Francisco" Theo frowned down at the paper "Military Housing, it says I get the impression that’s somewhere between a barracks and an apartment"

"Do we have his phone number there?"

"Yeah At his office on base too So you’ll be able to reach him one way or another" Then Theo sucks in a breath, and his hand tightens around the folder until the cover crumples "Dae, one he just pulled out It’s in small print, in one entry like all the others, but as soon as I see it the world turns cold

Lieutenant Colonel Wyatt Conley

"What is he doing here?" I say, but the answer co he always does: inventing the latest technology and et it In this world, that’s the ive a speech about hoar evolved over the centuries He said then that the next weapons and strategies would go beyond anything history had ever seen

As strange as this war is to et the sense that it’s so incredibly different froht before Conley doesn’t have the technology he needs here to do what he wants to do

Then it hits me "He’s connected to the Firebird project, isn’t he? But--he can’t be If so, he wouldn’t need e the Firebirds himself"

"He’s requested transfer to the projectthe files "Conley and Paul have worked together on soet Paul transferred over to his department, but no success so far"