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by Harry Turtledove


  “I already told you I wouldn’t,” Peggy said. “You can ask Herb if you don’t trust me. We may be divorced, but he’ll still tell you I don’t gossip about anything important.”

  “There is no need. I believe you,” he said. She knew she would go on feeling good about that for days.

  She walked out to the front door with him. If any of the neighbors saw him and asked her questions about it … She didn’t know exactly what she’d say, but she did know it wouldn’t be anything that involved super-duper bombs.

  Einstein went down the walk to the cab. The driver saw him coming and tossed his magazine aside. Einstein got in. Peggy wondered if he would make like an absent-minded professor and forget which pocket he’d used to stash Herb’s address. He didn’t, though; he found it right away. The cabbie started up the engine and drove off.

  “Wow! I mean, wow!” Yes, Peggy was talking to herself more now that she lived alone. But if a surprise visit from the greatest physicist in the world didn’t rate a few words, what the dickens would?

  She wanted to call Dave and tell him who’d knocked on her door. But he’d be at work—and telling him would count as gossip. Einstein had been smart to warn her. She wanted to tell everybody she knew.

  Einstein had been smart? Peggy laughed at herself. Einstein was smart. Being smart was what made him Einstein—well, being smart and that silly hair. He might not have lost Herb’s address, but he sure hadn’t found a comb any time lately.

  How many smart Jews had Hitler chased out of Germany? Peggy didn’t know, but she was sure it wasn’t a small number. Countries needed people like that. Now America had them and Germany, even this maybe-new Germany under the Salvation Committee, damn well didn’t. Served the Germans right.

  “Ha!” Peggy said. She knew the person she could call. She hustled back to the phone and dialed. If he didn’t answer, no harm done. But he did. “Herb?” she said, “Listen, you’ll never guess who I just sent over to your place …”

  BY HARRY TURTLEDOVE

  The Guns of the South

  THE WORLDWAR SAGA

  Worldwar: In the Balance

  Worldwar: Tilting the Balance

  Worldwar: Upsetting the Balance

  Worldwar: Striking the Balance

  Homeward Bound

  THE VIDESSOS CYCLE

  VOLUME ONE:

  The Misplaced Legion

  An Emperor for the Legion

  VOLUME TWO:

  The Legion of Videssos

  Swords of the Legion

  THE TALE OF KRISPOS

  Krispos Rising

  Krispos of Videssos

  Krispos the Emperor

  THE TIME OF TROUBLES SERIES

  The Stolen Throne

  Hammer and Anvil

  The Thousand Cities

  Videssos Besieged

  A World of Difference

  Departures

  How Few Remain

  THE GREAT WAR

  The Great War: American Front

  The Great War: Walk in Hell

  The Great War: Breakthroughs

  AMERICAN EMPIRE

  American Empire: Blood and Iron

  American Empire:

  The Center Cannot Hold

  American Empire:

  The Victorious Opposition

  SETTLING ACCOUNTS

  Settling Accounts:

  Return Engagement

  Settling Accounts: Drive to the East

  Settling Accounts: The Grapple

  Settling Accounts: In at the Death

  Every Inch a King

  The Man with the Iron Heart

  THE WAR THAT CAME EARLY

  The War That Came Early:

  Hitler’s War

  The War That Came Early:

  West and East

  The War That Came Early:

  The Big Switch

  The War That Came Early:

  Coup d’Etat

  The War That Came Early:

  Two Fronts

  The War That Came Early:

  Last Orders

  About the Author

  HARRY TURTLEDOVE is the award-winning author of the alternate-history works The Man with the Iron Heart; Guns of the South; How Few Remain (winner of the Sidewise Award for Best Novel); the Worldwar saga: In the Balance, Tilting the Balance, Upsetting the Balance, and Striking the Balance; the Colonization books: Second Contact, Down to Earth, and Aftershocks; the Great War epics: American Front, Walk in Hell, and Breakthroughs; the American Empire novels: Blood & Iron, The Center Cannot Hold, and Victorious Opposition; and the Settling Accounts series: Return Engagement, Drive to the East, The Grapple, and In at the Death. Turtledove is married to fellow novelist Laura Frankos. They have three daughters: Alison, Rachel, and Rebecca.

 

 

 


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