“I’m being quite sincere,” said Noxon. “My twin is quite ­broken up about it. But he was the one who insisted that we make the decision on this basis—this rational basis—rather than drawing straws. Or making you choose, which would have been arbitrary and cruel to you.”

“Which of you farts in his sleep the most?” asked Deborah.

“We’ve never measured,” said Noxon. “But if you prefer that as a basis for the decision . . .”

“I believe you’d do it,” said Deborah.

“You’re the one who brought relative nocturnal flatulence into the discussion,” said Noxon.

“I had a condition once,” said Wheaton. “I tried eating an Erectid diet, back when we still had some unfortunate and inaccurate ideas about what they ate. Deborah may have an exaggerated idea of the importance of avoiding flatus in her pursuit of happiness. It only lasted a few weeks, but—”

“It lasted nearly a year, despite my begging,” said Deborah. “Noxon, I’m touched, you must understand, but . . .”

“Deborah Wheaton,” said Noxon, “I’m not really proposing marriage to you. Not yet. I know you can’t possibly give an answer now. I’m just saying that our decision rests upon your decision. Unless you are sure, right now, that no man with a mask like this can . . .”

“As I was saying, before you interrupted—and please don’t go back in time and stop yourself from interrupting me, because that might create yet a third Noxon, and I’d have to choose between the rude interrupter and the even ruder correcter of interrupters—”

“As you were saying,” Wheaton prompted her.

“I’m still sorting out whether I’m in love with you or the amazing things you can do. Human females are attracted to power. That’s simply a fact. And so my feelings of attachment to you are suspect, because they began immediately upon my learning of your ability to vanish and reappear, and then to go back in time.”

“Did my saving your life help or hurt?” asked Noxon.

“It complicated matters, of course,” said Deborah. “Now I have to sort out how much of being in love with you stems from gratitude, and how much from girlish awe at a champion alpha male, and how much comes from my enjoyment of your quirky personality and the prospect of having you as the father of my children.”

“Please wrestle with this quandary as long as you like,” said Noxon. “I’ll be content with whichever source of love you decide to go with.”

“Oh, just tell him yes and get it over with,” said Wheaton. “It’s been obvious from the start that you two were made for each other.”

“I’m used to keeping company with a genius,” said Deborah. “An irascible one, but . . .”

“I’m not irascible,” said Noxon. “In fact, I’m downright rascible.”