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"It was a long ti atShe was staring You both were People don’t look a viral in the eye when it’s about to rip them in half The natural impulse is to look away You didn’t And just like the mirror, it stopped her flat" Michael paused, then said, with deeper certainty, "The more I think about this, the s When a person gets taken up, their first i people feel the saht about that?"

She nodded "It’s true Soo home’ I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard it"

"So a viral is a person infected with a virus, strong, superaggressive But so the transitional phase, let’s say, that o away, not completely It’s just a kernel, but it’s there Eyes are reflective, just like mirrors When they see themselves, the memory rises to the surface, and it confuses theia It’s the pain of re what they’ve becoged "Maybe Maybe I’ out of my exhaust pipe, and it wouldn’t be the first ti, Colonel How old are you?"

"I’m sorry?"

"Sixty? Sixty-three?"

He scowled a little "I’ht, thank you"

"My mistake Ever look in a mirror?"

"I try to avoid it"

"Precisely my point In your mind, you’re the same person you alere Hell, between my ears I’m still just a seventeen-year-old kid But the reality is different, and it’s depressing to look at I don’t see any twenty-year-olds around this table, so I’ I’m not alone"

Peter turned toward his chief of staff "Ford, what do we have that reflects? We’d need to cover the whole gate, and it’s best if we have at least a hundred yards on either side, ht for ametal could work, I suppose It’s pretty shiny"

"How much do we have?"

"A lot of that stuff has h We can strip so on it We also need to reinforce that gate Tell the shut if they have to The portal, too"