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Chapter Ten
Claire invited me round for breakfast. The fact that her flat appeared smaller than mine was solely down to it containing twice as much clutter. Overflowing bookcases and piles of magazines climbed walls plastered with art nouveau posters and moody black and white stills from old films. A large wooden desk holding notes scribbled on jotter-pads and a thin and rather battered machine, what I took to be some sort of mini-computer, was crammed into the bay window. There were newspapers everywhere. Mugs of crystallizing coffee dregs perched on various surfaces.
I took a peek into her bedroom while she made us toast; same deal, half-open drawers and clothes spread randomly over chairs and duvet. A bulging wardrobe’s door hung half off its hinges. Trans-Port Claire’s attitude had seemed neat and professional. I hadn’t seen her at home but she couldn’t have been as sloppy as this. Here was another difference between the two Claire’s despite their identi
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I hesitantly opened my eyes, wary of what I might see. For a moment the dazzling light seemed no different from the Projection beam that had bored into my optic nerve. Had this second jump ended in failure? But then came the realisation that this was a mere sunbeam blinding me. The turgid mess of the Sending Dish no longer clung to my face; now a warm breeze caressed it. There was a bright cloudless sky above and to either side of me grassland, only this time the grass was dry. And it was daytime. Head spinning, I sat up slowly and took stock of my surroundings. The cathedral’s sheer wall and square tower loomed above me just as it had before, the whole unlikely edifice giving the appearance of a pile of vast bricks reconstructed by a five-year-old child. On top of it I could still see the angel pointing across the valley, her solid golden sheen now reflecting natural sunlight. There came an abrupt realisation of something I’d missed in the sheer overwhelming terror of the p
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- THE CAPISTRANO EFFECT Chapter Ten
- THE CAPISTRANO EFFECT Chapter Nine
- THE CAPISTRANO EFFECT Chapter Eight
- THE CAPISTRANO EFFECT Chapter Seven
- THE CAPISTRANO EFFECT Chapter Six
- THE CAPISTRANO EFFECT Chapter Five
- THE CAPISTRANO EFFECT Chapter Four
- THE CAPISTRANO EFFECT Chapter Three
- THE CAPISTRANO EFFECT Chapter Two
