Ethan Ward has spent enough time on patrol to know how the desert distorts distance. Heat, glare and faulty equipment can explain almost anything, until he sees a human-shaped figure beside the fence and something else moving across the open ground in a way no animal should.

In the nearby town, reporter Maya Ward is following a pattern no one wants connected: brownouts, midnight convoys, trembling windows, delayed supplies and witnesses who describe black vehicles disappearing from empty roads. Her editor wants proof. The installation offers silence. The town keeps finding ordinary explanations.

Inside the facility, systems analyst Dr Adrian Hale is rewarded for solving problems he is not cleared to understand. Every correction stabilises another fragment. Every successful integration feeds a structure whose full purpose remains hidden from him.

Three people encounter separate pieces of the same disturbance. None of them knows what the others have seen. Around them, military procedure, newsroom caution and scientific compartmentalisation continue to turn contradiction into routine.

The facility remains secure.

The town remains calm.

The system insists it is working.

But the anomalies are no longer isolated, and the closer each of them looks, the harder it becomes to believe that nothing has already crossed the boundary.

Prior Condition is Book One of The Open Gate, a slow-burn science-fiction horror series combining dimensional science fiction, institutional suspense, psychological unease and the consequences of secret experimentation.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Store Description

We first started out as ?The Paperback Exchange,? a chain of physical bookstores where we would part exchange your beloved books for new stories to transport you to faraway places. However, as shopping started to evolve to online shops and marketplaces, we bid our stores goodbye to become ?PBShop.? This transition has only allowed us to blossom as we now ship thousands of titles to book lovers across the globe. We pride ourselves in being a community of local book lovers which allows our passion and devotion to shine in everything we do. In 2020 we not only celebrated our 20th birthday but our 1st birthday as being completely employee owned after becoming an E.O.T in September 2019. We are proud to be different and embrace standing apart on a book mountain by working from a virtual inventory which allows us to provide thousands of books that may be difficult to get for your bookshelf or your studies. Working with a number of different suppliers allows us to explore other avenues such as puzzles, sheet music and even stationery so we really do have something for everyone. Life is about being versatile in all realms of existence. If this is your first visit or you are a returning customer, we would like to welcome you to the PBShop family, for there is no friend as loyal as a book. We are a company who put our customers at the centre of everything we do as we understand the importance of reading because once you learn to read, you will forever be free. There are a whole lot of things in this world of ours that we are yet to explore, which is why we will forever inspire curious minds.

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Pbshop.co.uk Ltd
Unit 22 Horcott Industrial Estate, Horcott Road, Fairford, GL7 4BX, United Kingdom

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Returns Policy
We ask all customers to contact us for authorisation should they wish to return their order. Orders returned without authorisation may not be credited.
If you wish to return, please contact us within 14 days of receiving your order to obtain authorisation.

Returns requested beyond this time will not be authorised.

Our team will provide full instructions on how to return your order and once received our returns department will process your refund.
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Books are shipped from UK warehouse. Delivery thereafter is between 4 and 14 business days dependant upon your location - please do contact us with any queries you may have.

Shipping rates within U.S.A.

Shipping rates within U.S.A.
Order quantity	7 to 14 business days	7 to 14 business days
First item	US$ 0.00	US$ 0.00

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