"A secret that goes beyond simply you and I, and into the fabric of the universe." Here he goes. If anyone is an ideal test run for this, it's this sympathetic, open-minded, educated girl. Right. He leans in and lowers his voice.

Time travel, he'd decided, was a bit...too much. So he starts with a smaller truth. "I'm from Barrayar, yes - but not this version of Barrayar." He looks at her, his face serious enough - no hint of irony or mockery or pranking on it. "The world I know is another version of this one. From another dimension. That zapping from there to here - it wasn't just a change in location. It was a change of realities."

Fifty-fifty odds, he thinks, on her just laughing in his face. No...seventy five-twenty five.