The provided text is comprised of excerpts from two works by Connie Willis, "Lincoln's Dreams" and an unnamed second source, likely a short story or another novel, focusing on a scientific project involving sheep. "Lincoln's Dreams" features a narrative where a researcher, Jeff Johnston, is assisting an author named Broun with his delayed Civil War novel, The Duty Bound, while also researching Lincoln's dreams and a separate project concerning a young woman named Annie, who is having vivid, chronologically ordered dreams about the Civil War, particularly those related to Robert E. Lee. The second source shifts focus completely, detailing a humorous account of a new cross-disciplinary science project at HiTek, involving researchers attempting to study and train sheep, navigating "Management" bureaucracy and the unexpected difficulties of working with the animals. Both sources feature distinct narrative threads, one revolving around historical mystery and psychological drama, and the other around scientific research challenges and workplace satire.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.