Within Without: A Nyquist Mystery by Jeff Noon

Author:Jeff Noon [Noon, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857668981
Amazon: 0857668986
Publisher: Angry Robot
Published: 2021-05-10T16:00:00+00:00

WHEN GREGOR MET ALICE

The bar was on Spendthrift Close, just off Spendthrift Avenue, east of Spendthrift Central. It was called Molly’s Hideout, a back-street dive with a fug of cigarette smoke and the stench of cheap alcohol. It was early as yet, just gone seven o’clock, and it was easy enough to find a table. A waiter came up to Nyquist and he ordered a beer, and drank half of it while looking around at the other customers. They were a mixed bunch, men, women, young, old, but all of them with the feel of serious imbibers. Most were in pairs or trios, some on their own. No one was talking that much, at least not to each other. But as he concentrated more fully, he noticed that most of the people present were whispering to themselves, even the ones with a friend or partner present. This constant low-level murmuring had been his companion on the walk over here; the people of Escher were not often silent, and en masse, in the stillness of the room, the noise of the other voices was obvious. The hidden voices. Nyquist found that he was doing the same without realising, and at first he did his best to stop himself, to hold back this secondary language. But it happened so many times that he gave up. And now he sat at the table, sipping his second beer, softly speaking, the words so quiet he could not hear them, he could not even know what they were saying, or what they meant; they were not his words.

These are not my words!

Had he spoken out loud? Shouted, even? He looked around anxiously. But no, nobody was looking at him. He was just one more person alone, another whisperer. He wondered which of these people would be able to help him. He scanned one face after another, seeking a friendly look, or a secret gesture. There was neither. He took the copy of Metamorphosis from his pocket and started to read, thinking this might act as a signal.

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