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As for uerite who see--to let ht here in the heart of Triad headquarters Slowly, I say, "In this dimension, I know about all this, don’t I? About Triad’s plans"

Ro, like so to a very small child "You’ve worked here for a while now"

So in this world, too

I’ve spent all this ti whether the constants in the multiverse are destinies, or souls, or love Now I realize the one constant in ht be Conley’s inescapable control

Paul and I talked about this once--the constants in the universe The things that change, and the things that don’t

Back in early February, we drove to Muir Woods to see the redwoods The drive to Muir Woods always terrifiesroad that see on to the hillside Paul kept both hands on the wheel of ripped the sides of the seat like that would help At one point I laughed shakily "This probably isn’t as scary for you I hts"

"Yes, but when I’, I’e ly Here, we have to trust a car hich I’m relatively unfamiliar" His eyes narrowed as we neared another curve "Our levels of fear are probably identical"

"You really didn’t have to tell ure out the rules of human conversation "I meant--we’ll be okay"

I nodded, and tried to believe hiot to the top in ti, and then andering through the forest hand in hand (The way his large hand al else I could iine More than that--treasured Like Paul held on because he never wanted e and beautiful things to your brain You’re renificance in the vast universe by theseoverhead, their leaves so far up that they seem to form a second sky These trees live hundreds upon hundreds of years; so in Muir Woods today sprouted back in the Middle Ages They’ll still be there long after the entire civilization I know has changed into soless Instead, you remember that you’re part of these trees’ history--part of the whole story of this world--connected in ways you can’t even guess

"Is that what you see?" Paul said to me after I explained this We walked up to one of the tallest trees; I let go of his hand to press e to infinity?"

"Yeah" I ducked my head "Maybe it’s the artist in ift"

I s around the enormous circumference of the tree "What about you? When you look at the redwoods, what do they make you think about?"

"The fundamental sy like this, from Paul or my parents or anyone else, I know not to ask any more questions unless I’m absolutely positive I want to hear the crazy-complicated answer With Paul, I usually do "What do youthe lines of two redwoods in the near distance "Every one of these trees has a unique genetic code They differ from each other in countless ways--the number of branches, the pattern in the bark, their root systems, so on Yet they mirror each other Parallel each other The commonality overcomes the differences"