[It is getting more and more difficult, the longer Jack is in Luceti, to catch him off-guard. But the stranger does: not by being an angel, or levitating a train, or revealing some terrible secret of the universe to him.

No. What's amazing is that the man is perfectly credulous.]

Er. It . . . seems that way. [He gets his conversational feet back under him with audible difficulty, continuing after a second.] My friend Sam is from a bit after me, and another guy is from after him. Everyone's stories line up, though. It just seems like some of us are from earlier dates than others.