The Uninvited

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But it is untested ground.It’s Tuesday 18th September. My laptoptells me the forecast is for more rain, andhighs of twelve degrees. After two hours’work on the hermit crab with Dvor?ák onthe speakers I’m interrupted by Skyperinging.Caller: Ashok Sharma, Phipps &Wexman. Time: 08.18.That’s early, for Ashok. I’m tempted toreject it, but I can’t. Working from homewas a right I campaigned for after thingsdeteriorated with Kaitlin. Ashok agreed inthe end, on condition that I staycontactable at all times. I turn downDvor?ák and press answer. Ashok’slooking tired and dishevelled and a shadepaler. I focus on the door handle which is
visible behind his left ear. I don’t do eyecontact, but I have ways of hiding it.‘You there bud?’‘Yes. Working on the hermit crab.’ Ihold it up to show him.‘Cool, man. Look, things are turningweird on us. It’s happened again.’‘What has?’‘Just had another case like Chen’s.Sabotage followed by self-harm, take two.<strong>The</strong> world of finance this time. Employeeof Sverige Banken, the Swedish bank.<strong>The</strong>y’re the client.’I settle the hermit crab back on the desk.‘Go on.’‘Guy called Jonas Svensson.’‘Ashok, Ashok, Ashok. Scandinavianlanguages have a soft J. So it’spronounced Yonas.’
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For Clare Blatchford ReesAn inspira
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CONTENTSPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2C
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PROLOGUEMass hysterical outbreaks r
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she’d put it to her father’s fa
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pewter glint of the Atlantic. I’d
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Taiwan working flat out on the sabo
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The TV showed a semi-detached house
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existence. Ever since the High Ener
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stepson aiming his catapult at anot
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attracted you to Hesketh when you f
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the package called Hesketh Lock and
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some of the ‘normal social graces
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of the country, or even abroad, to
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evidence of dark forces: demons, sh
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selling tofu, lychees, starfruit, s
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cross-culture specialist, who has a
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aid triggered further investigation
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several hours, kept awake by coffee
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The next morning I was at the timbe
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though my Chinese was unfortunately
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computer. It all added up, and he a
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Martin Yeh sighed. ‘If I had been
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police asked me the same thing. And
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The loading of the trunks and the s
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His face mask hid his features. I
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drying up from the wood dust.‘The
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He shook his head. ‘It’s bad. L
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the concrete prairie. I like to be
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and paint-colour charts (here I use
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do what they want.’ As he spoke,
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He took a deep breath. ‘The spiri
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they are all dead. But they are ali
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Chen seemed absorbed in his ownthou
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the city. Up here, we were right on
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shaking the black-stemmed bamboos a
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with gold. Hell notes. Each leaf of
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leg. I would have bent it to form a
Page 77 and 78: The laugh came again. ‘Sure, I wi
Page 79 and 80: settled it on the marble slab betwe
Page 81 and 82: ‘I made it,’ he said. ‘That
Page 83 and 84: ‘Do you fear that there will be a
Page 85 and 86: sandalwood. I recognised it instant
Page 87 and 88: it from me. I need to know why.’
Page 89 and 90: should not ask.’‘Later she regr
Page 91 and 92: too.’ I meant it.‘We will say g
Page 93 and 94: As the taxi drove off, I looked bac
Page 95 and 96: oof had lost a few tiles, and a dea
Page 97 and 98: starting these miniature contained
Page 99 and 100: the surface in tiny bubbles likecha
Page 101 and 102: ‘I know your mum has already talk
Page 103 and 104: to do. So I cleaned it up. A few mi
Page 105 and 106: toothpaste.Sometimes we pretended w
Page 107 and 108: Taiwan whistle-blower?’Sunny Chen
Page 109 and 110: said? Sunny Chen. Your factory-mana
Page 111 and 112: don’t feel anything.But I do feel
Page 113 and 114: feelings: they are a component of t
Page 115 and 116: ‘Ashok. Just tell me.’‘Er, Je
Page 117 and 118: She is generally considered to beex
Page 119 and 120: here and there, white blobs in a mu
Page 121 and 122: publicity generated by a disgruntle
Page 123 and 124: The French term un acte manquédesc
Page 125 and 126: CHAPTER 3Sometime at the end of the
Page 127: Taiwan report. Chen’s suicide mea
Page 131 and 132: the matter in hand, so I say, ‘I
Page 133 and 134: applied it. Last Christmas he sent
Page 135 and 136: doodling a bunch of amoeba fucking,
Page 137 and 138: over.’I was doing a tricky blintz
Page 139 and 140: stuck through their combs where the
Page 141 and 142: Station in Copenhagen, where I chan
Page 143 and 144: The morning after my arrival in Sto
Page 145 and 146: confused.’‘Is there no explanat
Page 147 and 148: not Japanese and nor is Lars Axel,
Page 149 and 150: If I am on to something, my blood f
Page 151 and 152: invent, and get messy. He is a fan
Page 153 and 154: choose it a name.’ He is very kee
Page 155 and 156: woodlouses.’ His voice has change
Page 157 and 158: field of study and secondly because
Page 159 and 160: dog. But she would like one. I ask
Page 161 and 162: established a definitive momentum m
Page 163 and 164: ‘No, but I’d like to,’ I tell
Page 165 and 166: interrupted sex with the demographe
Page 167 and 168: her smile, and led to her questioni
Page 169 and 170: applying for. She told me she wante
Page 171 and 172: By now I have studied Sverige Banke
Page 173 and 174: CHAPTER 4When Ashok skypes me in th
Page 175 and 176: ‘Swiss-German. Attending a UNconf
Page 177 and 178: a state of enlightenment. Was thiss
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Svensson is probably in her mid-fif
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violent. Never. He’s become anoth
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happened at the bank.’‘So sit d
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‘The fucking . . . creature. It
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doctor buzzes an alarm. ‘You fuck
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follow. Outside, others are chasing
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on his mobile phone. Within seconds
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Svensson and what followed. When I
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combination with other things, have
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get it over with.’ They look at e
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else the image freezes. So I say,
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Then I text Ashok asking for thedim
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Men attacking institutions that the
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fingers across the bicep, and a thu
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gum in his mouth. Numerous studies
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neurophysiology of self-deception.
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fears which dominated the lives of
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they had done.The Venn diagram in m
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significance, on some level. ‘Som
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would be catastrophic for farming -
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‘Well, enjoy the rest of your lif
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‘And what kind of fucked-up weird
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He’ll shout, ‘Jesus Christ, Hes
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she once claimed to find endearing.
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the car and we put the dead body in
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grow and then we eat the plants,’
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is Afghan, so I try out a few words
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day here, so at 8am local time I co
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only travel in one direction. But n
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shown that there are dimensions tha
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At 10.30 I am heading upwards in a
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the rest are erecting and dismantli
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ig muscled arm to show me ‘the wo
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lady, Halla. Very traditional. Can
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they feature as recent additions to
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overloaded now. I rock harder and h
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child he stops licking his arm, he
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Later, when I am being interrogated
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him. I didn’t push him.’ I say
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matter as you’ll be dead. But som
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e shouting.I don’t usually shout.
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construction elevator. Its slow sha
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against my faith. And it’s not in
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and he crumbled something into it.
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with three daughters. One said she
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de Vries then Mazoor could solve th
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it seemed. And I heard her too. She
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observes them, then looks up at me.
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To the mother-root, when they haveb
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epresentations are highly accurate.
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speculations it has led to.‘I bel
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honeybee. Serviced by a million dro
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one. Quite rare, though it’s on t
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This day has not been a good one so
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comes to escort me back to my hotel
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CHAPTER 6There is an explanation fo
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At the time though, there was nocon
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version. Lot and his wife and daugh
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many tribes of Africa. He’d have
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Is she beautiful? Most of my maleco
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‘Whatever it is, now is not the t
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speculation, I have to tell you. As
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glass as I speak.‘With Chen it’
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uprising. And there are other thing
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together?’I grab a napkin and dra
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Care Units for them. Drafted an arm
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A classic distancing technique. You
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‘A small figure,’ I say. ‘Chi
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esults I’m waiting on. It may mea
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entirely new way.’ In addition to
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Victor?’ That familiar cracked an
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Professor Whybray and Naomi Benjami
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‘Superstition was part of Hesketh
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Whybray.‘The girl,’ I say. ‘I
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goodbye and Stephanie presses End C
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their sudden, intense camaraderie a
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I’m overloaded. I stand and pick
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intense pummelling of my muscles.I
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that happen. Kaitlin’s wrong to s
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strain to hear it. ‘Don’t think
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seems slightly drunk. Did she have
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No. I am not OK.I clear my throat.
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it. The hand-print’s too small to
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hold of this and copied it?’ asks
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CHAPTER 8Kaitlin’s house, built i
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carry him through the narrow entran
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when I moved in has disappeared fro
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secretly a pirate ship, he insists.
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‘I say, ond som jooz. Ploz.’A m
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half-chewed crisps, and drops the l
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tissue, but he wriggles out of her
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‘What do you mean, Freddy?’ ask
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Three ways to die. ‘Except there
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He shrugs. ‘You saw the girl with
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Freddy K?’He wipes his nose on hi
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ago. But she is still beautiful and
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another?’‘No,’ says Kaitlin.
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Freddy and Hesketh both want to see
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ottle of Australian Shiraz from the
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huge. It’ll expand and peak. In w
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has flown up around her neck, distu
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I go to the window I see only one p
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make you spaghetti. Out in the kitc
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Stephanie says, ‘My sister says i
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him into another mood. He pulls awa
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desert. Is that what he wants? Is h
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Care Unit. In the meantime there’
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on all children under twelve in the
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At five, Stephanie calls from the h
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plasticine and cracked clay and a f
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‘Yep?’‘It was an accident. No
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Freddy is a collector, and tins are
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world? Somewhere out there, Freddy
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come in and hold the fort? Ashok’
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youngest two killed him.’So Amit
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pouring and stirring are soothing -
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air can be bad for you!’‘No. Ai
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engaged. The net connection hasdisa
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lind!’ he calls after me as I lea
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Professor Whybray - but the line’
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nuts. I don’t know where he got h
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‘Hesketh.’ That reedy, throaty
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swayed by the culture.’‘You onc
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‘Secondary hysteria?’ Is that w
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‘Well the human extinction lobby
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anomalies. ‘Any eye infections am
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living in the cottage on the island
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‘What do you mean, bones?’I rec
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options to choose from on the BBC
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anomalies, this information is unli
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calls again. She sounds exhausted,
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Freddy down,’ I say. ‘You need
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changes often occur in patients who
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information it contains.I’d antic
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of denial, anger, bargaining, depre
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did. In a manner of speaking.’ I
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crap they wanted. There’s no way
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intrigued me.If Freddy and I were g
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the vast orange ziggurat of Sainsbu
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taller, but not much older. Ten per
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signal again. The sign of the eye.
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camera angled at us from the corner
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left with a glass door, through whi
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you can join the others. OK?’‘Y
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telling if it’s peaked. And there
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where he waves at the three supervi
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‘Glossolalia?’‘Except that I
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eaching in his pocket. ‘Phone cal
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I ask, ‘Do you have children?’S
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ecame intimate, we would have to ha
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emarkable,’ says Professor Whybra
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I pull up a seat and glance through
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eyes.’I jump up. ‘That fits!’
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world with no adults, no toilets, n
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answer. ‘He’s still Freddy. His
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from life itself. If I am ‘waterp
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CHAPTER 11The practical side of loo
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on his head. ‘Freddy K. Mum’s i
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next to the basin. ‘We were talki
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eyes and it is as if the clock has
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means?’I watch him in the rear-vi
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for a place to settle. Her hair is
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Stephanie together, the images I co
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Stephanie. ‘Thank you, Hesketh.
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she calls after me: ‘I heard toda
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CHAPTER 12‘It was a disgrace,’
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‘believed to be the work of anarc
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a distaste for it. Contempt, even.
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call it the White Death.’ The pro
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e born and then you made us live li
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hand on my shoulder. ‘Good work,
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the unexpected. And then adapt. It
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few, Hesketh. Hold on to that.’We
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‘Hey!’ calls a male voice. I gl
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lessing.’As we approach, a couple
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two worlds can occupy the same spac
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Vries jumped. I say urgently, ‘Pr
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gently tries to prise her off. But
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donning face masks. I call out a br
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‘The reason for that is that supe
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I slide some origami paper from the
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global economy, bang goes capitalis
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its knees. You heard about the arre
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heading back to the Stone Age. At l
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Ashok waves him into a seat and ask
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what Svensson’s autopsy showed. I
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They’re children for ever, like P
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‘Hesketh,’ she says evenly, ‘
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I give the short version.‘So I an
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out what impact this has on our oth
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‘Stop,’ I say. ‘This is now.
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and started writing very fast. So I
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Professor Whybray drops his noteboo
Page 565 and 566:
CHAPTER 14Kaitlin Kalifakidis is de
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Kawasaki rose in an envelope marked
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forced into a wide detour: a burst
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since she organised this event, she
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While the others head for the group
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Mazoor. Mrs Helena Whybray’s. She
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My belief is that when you die, tha
Page 579 and 580:
Freddy starts clicking his tongue.G
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‘No,’ he whispers. Then he stan
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nodding at the door. ‘Go now.’A
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has no power in it. My groin is thu
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‘Where are you?’ I keep my voic
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wearing a necklace like the one Fre
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with no sign of human life. I can i
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shouts, violent elbowing, shoving a
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comprising ten or so kids. Then the
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Then the world shrinks to a pinpric
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which forms a little tent. I don’
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the pillows behind my head.My mouth
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unexplained anomaly of the kidneys.
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CHAPTER 15The next morning I wake i
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pointing upward. ‘That’s lasagn
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another soldier on guard. I show hi
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een cordoned off. Some soldiers are
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notebook and then find Naomi.‘How
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hand-prints in human blood.Freddy i
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The door has a small reinforcedwind
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‘Because there’s one in here.
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She puts a hand on my shoulder.‘Y
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Freddy in the car again. They haves
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of human history has begun.
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after a storm. We’d walk beyond t
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Svensson. Here’s where I’ll exp
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attention - or seemed to, until I s
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pressed him further. Why I kept dig
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the island, he told me. All native
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to me daily, sometimes hourly. And
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There is a lot more in this vein. M
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We are a species in crisis: a speci
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the one I made for Sunny Chen. Irem
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what happens next, Freddy?’ He do
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eality.Once upon a time the Earth w
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‘Stop. It means we want you to st
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think. They’ve come back to stop
Page 653 and 654:
swivelling in my chair and watching
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new course is set. You know that,He
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metaphysics of being. I am not a gr
Page 659 and 660:
you open them out, their intended s
Page 661 and 662:
encouragement.My thanks also go to
Page 663 and 664:
for the Orange Prize for Fiction an
Page 665 and 666:
Also Available by Liz JensenThe Rap
Page 667 and 668:
The Ninth Life of LouisDraxNine-yea
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My Dirty Little Book ofStolen TimeI
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War Crimes for theHomeLonglisted fo
Page 673 and 674:
Click for more information
Page 675 and 676:
a world of compulsive consumption,
Page 677 and 678:
Since the year all British women be
Page 679 and 680:
sister for backup, Hazel Sugden, fo
Page 681:
SydneyA CIP catalogue record for th
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