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"Alf, are you serious? Have you really got no recollection of the last
three weeks?"
"Absolutely none. When I woke up on the train yesterday I thought I had
only been out for a few hours, since that's hoow long the blackouts
usually last. But my problem seems to have got dramatically worse."
"That's not the only problem you've got buster. If you're Alf, then who
have I been sleeping with for the past three weeks? And what are you
going to do about it?"
As if by magic, Apex appeared. Well, it was magic actually but neither
of our heroes would be ready to accept that yet, so we'll pretend it
wasn't for the moment.
"I think I might be able to answer that one Ms Cartwright."
Jackie's answer was predictable. "Who are you?"
"I'm the man who's going to explain to you. My name is Apex. Now Mr du
Plex, look into my eyes."
"Why?"
"Mr du Plex, Alf," Apex was trying to exude cordiality which he wasn't
used to, "you have recently gone through a very traumatic experience and
I need to ascertain how much damage you sustained."
"How did you know about that? Hey, you were on the train from Liverpool
the other day ... er ... week! What's going on? How did you know I would
be in Edinburgh? What have you been doing to me?" Alf stood up sharply,
knocking his chair over. Despite the noise this made, Jackie noticed
that the other occupants of the breakfast room didn't seem perturbed.
Alf was becoming hysterical.
"Look at what you did to my hand!" he screamed, waving his bandaged hand
in Apex' bemused face. The magician's eyes rapidly shifted hue in
glistening rainbows and any hint of joviality left his features.
"I played no active role in last night's activities, or in your arrival
in Edinburgh. Up to now I have observed, but the time for action is
nearly upon us. Now calm down or you will lose control."
While the stranger tried to control the excited Alf, Jackie looked
around the room. The apparent inattentiveness of the other diners had
disturbed her and she looked around for a cause. A sudden realisation
struck her.
"Uh, Alf ... I think we ought to do what this man says. Look at all the
other people..."
Alf looked at Jackie with a wild surmise, then cast his gaze about the
room. Nobody was moving, not a sound did they make. They were frozen.
The light from the room seemed to have subtly altered, becoming greyer,
more insubstantial. Alf's mind made a sudden intuitive leap worthy of
the most contrived plots: "OK, so you can obviously control the flow of
time. You appear to have us where you want us."
"Don't worry, I am not going to harm you. From your outburst, you seem
to be suffering some temporary emotional damage but that seems to be the
extent of it. I think you will be able to stand the strain.
"Now, there is someone I would like you to meet. If you will both just
close your eyes and count to ten..."
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