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Conor nodded. "Thought so." He looked at Jack, and held out his left hand. "Conor O'Neill."Jack looked at him in disbelief. He felt first entitled to at least one nervous breakdown or a psychoticyelling spree or-Conor's hand was still extended.Jack swallowed, and took it in a brief handshake."Jack Traven."Their hands were a perfect fit. They both felt it – the distinct weird of two left hands meeting itself, thetactile recognition of same skin, fingers, grasp; they broke off the handshake and lapsed into awkwardsilence.**Conor brushed his left hand with his right; half-folded his arms, unfolded them, stuck his hand into hispocket. Jack was staring at him with an uncomfortable wariness. Conor looked away, to the floor,suddenly hit with the contradicting sensations of being the only one in the room and not really beingthere himself. He backed against the sofa, felt its comforting presence against his back and palm of hisright hand that told him that, for the moment at least, he still existed and was probably not an illusion.He took a deep breath. Still alive. Still real. Still breathing."Okay," he said, in a half-mutter mostly for his own benefit. "Okay."Conor gripped at the sofa, the soft leather folding under his fingers, and finally deigned to look up again,his eyes not quite focusing. "Um. Uh... so... uh, what do you... what do you know about this place?" heasked Neo."It's a hotel," Neo said after several seconds of hesitation.Conor raised an eyebrow."They're bringing people over," Neo continued, encouraged by the visual gratitude. "People fromdifferent universes. Who are fictional here, in this one.""Why?" Jack asked.Neo looked uncomfortable. He didn't like being stared at and asked questions. He glanced at Ted,hoping for inspiration. Ted looked back at him in a most unhelpful way. "Money," Neo said finally."Sex. Murder. Just... yeah. Things like that. This... guy up on the top floor just now told me-""What guy?" Conor asked."His name's Adwin. He's the... brother of the one who invented the machine that brought us here.""You know him?"Neo nodded. "We've been here before." He gestured briefly at Ted, who appeared to be reluctantlyfalling asleep on the sofa.Conor narrowed his eyes at Neo. "You've been here before," he repeated."-Not here, exactly," Neo said, really wishing that everyone would stop staring at him because it wasmaking him nervous and less capable of constructing coherent sentences. "This universe. But, uh, wegot out, in a... time machine that could travel to alternate universes-""You've been here before?" Jack interrupted. "Why?""I think we were one of the first experiments. To make sure the machine worked. And then we gotrescued, and it probably pissed them off a little so they got us back.""How did you get rescued?" Conor asked.