I shake my head. “No. For this world’s safety, and so I can get my own Paul back home, we have to make Wyatt Conley believe we’ve sabotaged your work. But maybe that doesn’t mean we have to actually do it. Could you and Theo create a simulation?”
“A simulation of what?” Paul says.
I don’t really know. “Whatever it would look like if your computer networks were destroyed. If your data were erased by a virus. If we had something like that—then, when Conley checks, he’ll think you guys are defenseless, when really you’ll be building your first Firebirds even before I get home.”
Paul looks even less convinced than before. “You can do that?”
Theo, realizing it’s time for him to step in, nods. “With your cooperation. And also, that Lieutenant Colonel Wyatt Conley who keeps trying to work with you? You have to find a way to keep that guy one hundred percent out of the loop. Our Conley could get inside him, learn what he knows, and find out we faked the whole thing.”
Even though I can tell Paul has begun to believe us, he still doesn’t agree. “This could be a trick. Maybe you’re going to lead me in the wrong direction, tell me things about the Firebird’s construction that aren’t true.”
“Do you really not get it?” I could smack him upside the head. “I love my parents. I love my sister. And I love you. Do you think I’d ever leave you guys defenseless in the middle of a war, if I had any other choice? Well, as of this morning, I thought of another choice. So let’s take it together, okay?”
“We’re not the same,” Paul says again. “Your Paul and me.”
Shaking my head, I smile. “You are, in ways you can’t even begin to imagine.”
“Enough relationship talk,” Theo says. “You taking the deal or what, buddy?”
Paul hesitates one moment longer before saying, “Come with me.”
We spend the rest of the day on base; Theo’s military ID and my status with my parents make it easy for Paul to get us access. For the next few hours, Theo and Paul get caught up in mega-dense scientific talk, while I drink awful fake coffee and watch them at work. Even here at the base, things are done low-tech when possible; Theo scribbles math equations on a chalkboard, occasionally brushing his hands free of yellowish dust, and Paul uses an honest-to-God slide rule. Theo’s natural affection for Paul slips out from time to time; I can tell Paul both notices it and has no idea what to do with it.
So far as he can, Paul pretends I’m not even there. At first I think this is because he hates me for what I did last night. As time goes on, though, I start to wonder. The way he finds himself watching me, then suddenly turns away, awkward and unsure—it’s not unlike the way Paul looked at me back at home, when we’d started to care about each other but didn’t yet know what to do about it.
This Paul’s feelings for his Marguerite are too strong to be pushed aside. Even when he’s angry. Even when he’s hurt and scared. He still loves her.
Will she ever fall in love with him, too?
They keep talking science. They set the Triadverse virus loose on a data backup that should pass for the real thing. They get to where they work together almost as smoothly as Theo does with my Paul back at home.
Finally, around two in the afternoon, Theo sits up straight and says, “You’ve got the data, now. Another few days of review, and you’ll be ready to build.”
After a long moment, Paul says, “Thank you.”
That cost him; I can tell. So I say, “Thank you for giving me another chance. I know I didn’t deserve it.”
He looks up at me, and for one instant I glimpse the disappointment there—the hope he felt so briefly last night before it was snatched away. Despite what he must be feeling, Paul holds the Firebird out to me. As I take it, he says, “I knew from the data that you were telling me the truth about—about most things. It made me think you might be telling the truth about it all. If there’s a version of me in trouble out there, I’d like to think someone was coming for him.”
“That sounds more like the Paul Markov I remember.” Theo grins in relief.
To Paul I say, “We’re going to bring him home. But he’s not only out there. He’s here, too.”
He looks down at his chest, as if the splinter of my Paul’s soul might be hidden inside his own heart.
I step closer to him. “No need to tense up like that. It’s not going to screw with your head or anything.”
“Theo says the retrieval method is the same as a reminder,” Paul says. “Reminders hurt, and now I have to take one. How would that not make me tense?”
Theo leans against the nearest wall and shrugs. “You have to admit, he’s got a point.”
“Hold on.” I slip my own Firebird around my neck, then press Paul’s against Paul’s chest. Even through his uniform jacket, I can feel the warmth of his body under my palm. When I raise my eyes to his face, he’s looking down at me, and I know we’re both remembering how we stood like this last night, just before we kissed.
Or maybe what I see in Paul’s gray eyes is that splinter of my Paul. The one I really love.
I hit the combination Conley taught me in Italy. Paul shudders from the flash of pain, but he makes no sound. The Firebird seems to vibrate in my palm. There it is—the faintest little flicker of heat, the proof that I’ve recovered the second splinter.
“We’ve got him.” I breathe out heavily, then grin at Theo.
He grins back. “Two down, two to go.”
Paul is by far the least enthusiastic of the three of us. “I don’t feel any different.”
“You don’t?” I would’ve thought my Paul’s soul would affect his more. Yet this Paul is already a scientist, already in love with me. Maybe he and my Paul are too much alike for him to feel the impact. “Well, it worked. I promise.”
“You promise a lot of things,” Paul says flatly.
I don’t want to leave this universe when he’s angry with me. Is that childish? Even selfish? Probably. Yet I want to heal the wound I caused—just like I want to heal all the others. “We’re okay?”
“You unlocked the final secrets of the Firebird. So we’re even.” Paul doesn’t smile as he says it. “Next time, consider asking for what you need, instead of treating me like a fool.”
That stings, but maybe I deserved it. I keep my voice gentle. “Hang in there, all right? With your Marguerite, I mean. You never know when things might change.”
“Hey. I’m standing right here,” Theo protests.
“Sorry, Theo. I just meant— Paul, I told you there was such a thing as destiny. It brings us together, over and over again, dimension after dimension. Destiny won’t let you down.”
“I wish I could believe that.” Paul stands up and walks to the door. Apparently emotional sharing time is over. “One of the men on security detail can show you two out.”
“Why out?” Theo takes his Firebird in hand. “Marguerite and I can pop out right here. Then you can explain to our other, slightly lesser versions exactly what the hell is going on, because, trust me, they’re gonna want to know.”
Paul opens the door. “I don’t want to watch,” he says quietly. “I’ll come for you both immediately. But when you—go back to the way things were—I don’t want to see that happen.”