The first stone bathed us in tangerine light and communicated something which Hannah later described as “an alien Gaia experience”. We were one with the planet of Epiphany, escorted through a series of natural wonders◦– mountains and waterfalls and rift valleys◦– by a pair of venerable Elan. For a long time we ceased to be ourselves, all thoughts of life on Chalcedony banished, as we absorbed the unspoilt natural beauty of the alien world.
We tottered from the stone when the light dimmed, a little drunk with the experience. Hannah looked at her watch. “My God, David. We were in there an hour!”
I shook my head. “I’d’ve guessed fifteen minutes…”
Hannah stiffened. She was still holding my hand and I felt her whole body tense. “What…?” I began.
Then I saw what she was looking at, or rather who.
Darius Dortmund had stepped from a plinth across the dome, and was approaching a neighbouring stone. He was accompanied by an Elan. At first I thought the alien was Heanor, the Ambassador. But this one was smaller, and he seemed older, stooped, with threadbare patches on his shoulders and back.
“Who’s his friend?” I wondered aloud.
Hannah shook her head, watching the pair as they stepped up to a plinth and were instantly surrounded and concealed in a nimbus of emerald light.
“Come on,” I said, leading her towards the next plinth.
“David, look…” I followed her gaze. Dortmund was stepping away from the plinth he’d approached perhaps fifteen seconds ago, the alien at his side. Without pause they moved onto the next stone and were absorbed in a ball of citrus light.
We stood and watched and twenty seconds later the pair emerged, only to hurry on to the next plinth.
“Strange…” Hannah said, more to herself than to me.
I shrugged. “Maybe that’s all the time he needs to appreciate what the stones offer.”
Hannah pulled a pretty frown. “That’s not what’s strange, David. What’s odd is why, considering his disparagement of the exhibition, he should want to experience it at all?”
“Well, maybe he’s not only a megalomaniac but a hypocrite as well.”
We moved to a vacant plinth and stepped into a glow of brilliant white light.
For a timeless period we were bombarded by the emotion of love◦– alien love◦– which we found was very much like the terrestrial version. Two young Elan approached us, stared into our eyes, and communicated something of their feelings for each other; I was transported back to my youth, my first love, then to later life and my infatuation with my wife, and then Carlotta… I felt what the aliens felt for each other and drew appropriate correspondences from my own experience. I was overwhelmed, swept away with the heady, drugged euphoria of true love, and my senses were still reeling as we staggered from the plinth clutching each other.
“David,” Hannah whispered, “let’s not do any more. I need a drink. A strong one.”
We left the dome and crossed to the bar overlooking the water.
I returned with drinks from the bar. Hannah was fanning herself. “Whew… that was quite something.”
I gazed at her like a lovesick schoolboy. I could only nod.
I took her hand and gazed out to sea. What I felt for Hannah surprised me, considering the short time we had spent together. I knew what I’d felt for her before tonight’s exhibition, but the experience of the last stone had done something to accelerate and emphasise those feelings. I counselled caution. I told myself to take it easy; I did not want to suffer the grief that accompanied my last foray into romance… Which was ridiculous, of course, as there was no way my head could dictate to the desires of my heart.
I gathered from Hannah’s silence, as we drank and stared at the sequinned play of the waves below, that she was similarly affected.
We looked at each other. At the same time we spoke each other’s names, then laughed. I said, “I’m sorry. It’s just… that was quite something back there. It’s odd, I feel as if I’ve known you for months, years…”
She beamed with relief. “Thank God, David. Oh, I thought you were going to say you thought it was going too fast, that we need time to think about things.” She stopped. “Oh, shit!” she hissed the last word with venom, and I followed the direction of her gaze.
Dortmund and his alien friend were crossing the patio towards us. The off-worlder was clutching his customary scotch, the alien a tumbler of juice. The pair paused before us and Dortmund nodded coldly.
“Allow me to introduce Fhen,” he said. “Fhen, this is Lieutenant van Harben of the Mackinley police. And David Conway, the Opener of the Way…” He said this with something approaching a sneer.
The alien dipped on his bi-jointed legs. “I am pleased to meet you both. I have heard of you, David Conway.”
I was looking at Dortmund. He was staring at Hannah and his eyes never left her face.
“Fhen is my… my aide,” said Dortmund. “My guide to all things Elan.”
The alien said, “We met when Mr Dortmund was on Epiphany three years ago.”
“I went with the intention of experiencing the Epiphany Stones in their natural environment, untainted by…” Dortmund’s long fingers flicked a dismissive gesture over his shoulder towards the dome, “by such meretricious human… interference.”
“And what did you think?” I said.
The off-worlder shook his head. He was gazing out to sea now, perhaps aware that his attention to Hannah had been excessive. “To my great annoyance, I was not allowed access to the hallowed chambers.”
Hannah said, “Hence your interest now? I thought it odd that you should show so much enthusiasm tonight, when last night you were so dismissive.”
His gaze locked onto her again. “My criticism of a so-called work of art does not preclude my detailed study of it, Lieutenant.”
Fhen said, “Matt Sommers has created something which humans might experience, though it cannot be said to rival the effect of the stones in their natural setting.”
“The very fact that humans are human”, Dortmund said, “precludes their full understanding…”
I was about to say something along the lines that surely his understanding, being only human after all, would likewise be diminished, but Dortmund swept on, “Anyway, I am not here to discuss the pros and cons of the installation. For the period of my stay in Mackinley I have rented a villa in the hills overlooking the straits. I’m holding a little soirée there in a few days◦– details yet to be arranged◦– and I hope that you might attend. I promise”, he went on, “not to discuss the installation.”
Hannah did not flinch under his unwavering regard. She nodded. “That would be pleasant,” she said. “Wouldn’t it, David?”
I raised my glass in agreement.
Dortmund gave one of his rictus smiles, devoid of all sentiment. “Excellent. Fhen will be in touch with the details. Now,” he said, “come, Fhen…” He nodded to me, inclined his head at Hannah, then turned on his heel and entered the dome, the Elan trotting faithfully after him.
Hannah watched him go, looking puzzled.
“Why the hell does he stare at you like that?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I wish I knew. I’d like to think it was just because he was an arrogant, overbearing man, but I don’t know…”
We had one more drink, then left the exhibition centre and caught a cab. Outside her apartment in central Mackinley Hannah turned to me and said, “It’s been a wonderful night, David. Thank you so much.”