He thought about her standing in the garden at the Tabernacle before he asked her to come here with him. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. God, she was beautiful. Her shoulders—so pale, and that blouse with lace and flowers that sat just above her breasts. She’d held his gaze. She felt something too.
Sweat trickled down his face; he wiped it away with the heel of his hand. He walked out onto the lawn, whistling to the dogs to accompany him, an offer taken up by only one. The night brought on a breeze, but it didn’t cool him, so he wandered down towards the stream with the old dog ambling behind.
Noah looked up at the star-filled sky. They all seemed so far away, and he took no comfort in the fact he would soon be returning to them, not while she was here. He wanted her with him tonight, to wake beside her tomorrow morning.
Loosening his shirt, Noah walked off into the night, not noticing the old dog no longer followed him, preferring the comfort of his blanket to trying to keep up with the long strides of his master.
Noah was up and dressed when Alice emerged from her room early next morning. The trees were still swathed in early morning mist, and the first rays of the sun, pushing through the haze, brought the promise of a beautiful summer’s day. Alice, looking fresh and dainty in white, joined him out on the terrace. He’d had a dreadful night—or maybe a wonderful night—filled with thoughts of how it would be to hold her in his arms, thoughts that kept him awake and restless.
She caught his expression.
“What’s amusing?”
“Nothing,” he assured her. “Do you want breakfast before we go out? I’ve poured coffee for you, and the Providore brought chocolate pastries. We can eat out here where the animals won’t disturb us.”
Alice’s green eyes widened at the thought of chocolate pastries; she didn’t even need to say, ‘thank you’, her look said it all. She took a pastry in one hand, held her coffee in the other, and turning to him, smiled as she sat down, one leg tucked under her.
“You’ve heard of Stonehenge?” he asked, pulling up a portable registry and sitting beside her.
“It’s a formation of stones,” she said, quickly swallowing a mouthful of pastry and pointing a finger at the registry. “Lots of theories about how it came about. A bit like the pyramids, lots of theories there too,” she said thoughtfully, putting her breakfast on her knee in a very un-Alice like way, and dusting her hands. “Some say the pillars at Stonehenge are a burial ground. Have you heard that? And no less than 60 individual skeletons found there? Some of the bones date back around 3000 years, lending weight to the evidence it may have been a burial site. Archaeologists also found bronze age tools and remains of an ancient village. In 2080, they found some metallic implements they couldn’t analyse or determine a purpose for. I don’t know much about it, but it would be interesting to visit. Have you been there, Principal Ryan?”
She picked up her coffee and sipped, eyes on him, waiting for an answer.
This girl before him, who looked like Alice, but who sounded different, direct in her speech, with no signs of shyness but rather thoroughly sure of herself, unmistakably, was not Alice. This had to be Alexis Langley.
In the few seconds it took for him to ponder the shift, she changed.
“Did you say something about Stonehenge, Noah?”
He looked for signs that Alexis Langley’s personality was reburied, but everything about Alice reverted to her usual self, her demeanour, her voice.
“Yes, would you like to visit there?”
Alice knew little of Stonehenge, she hadn’t got as far as ancient history in her studies, she’d heard it was just a pile of rocks in a field somewhere in England, possibly not too exciting, but if he wanted to show her, then she would go. She followed him outside, taking a moment to linger at the rose garden while Noah fetched the horses. Alice, still dismayed by their height, sighed, not at all sure she was experienced enough to ride such robust animals.
“They’re awfully big, Noah.”
“You can take this one; she looks like the one you ride at home. Come on,” he wouldn’t be dissuaded.
He lifted her up easily onto the horses back. It was a long way down.
“She’s called Fleet. We call her that…” Noah began,
“…because she runs very fast?” Alice chimed in, any semblance of courage deserting her as she clung to Fleet’s mane.
“No, it’s a misnomer, it’s the opposite of what she is. And this is Bay, my father’s favourite.”
They headed off toward the hills. As Noah promised, Fleet was remarkably placid, and Alice soon felt more comfortable. Noah told her the history of the area, its old name, Wiltshire, and how, in ancient times, it was considered an area of paranormal activity.
“Paranormal as in ghosts?” she asked.
“UFOs more. Unidentified Flying Objects, crop circles, lights in the sky. They all perpetuated the myth that Stonehenge wasn’t man-made but built by aliens as a kind of homing beacon.”
“And it wasn’t?” It wouldn’t have surprised her if it had.
“No, of course not.”
“You said no-one knew how it got there.”
“That’s right.”
“But it wasn’t aliens.”
“No, not aliens.”
“How do you know?”
“I suppose we don’t know for sure.”
“Oh, OK. What are crop circles?”
“Elaborate designs which appear in crops during Spring and Summer, it’s said they’re created by extraterrestrials too. Local people have reported strange lights out in the fields at night, but not one of those stories has been corroborated. A field can be clear at sundown and a circle there in the morning. They’ve appeared for hundreds of years, common in the 20th and 21st centuries, but less frequently now, some say since the arrival of the A’khet.”
“I see. How elaborate are the designs?”
“Very elaborate, I’ll show you on a registry when we get to Stonehenge. If there are any around, we can bring the shuttle for you to get a better look.”
“But if it’s not aliens who create them, who does?”
“That hasn’t been established, but each one is investigated.”
“Why can’t it be aliens?”
“I believe, with our technology, we would detect any activity by an extraterrestrial race.”
“Stonehenge has been investigated too, hasn’t it?”
He conceded that to date, no-one had ever proven who or what built Stonehenge or who or what made crop circles. They certainly made a talking point for sceptics, some of whom still questioned the possibility of life on other planets, despite the presence of the A’khet, and with full knowledge the military had contacted other civilisations.
As they reached the top of the hill, Stonehenge—standing like a cathedral, stately and majestic—rose from the remnants of the early morning mist. Alice felt its timelessness. A guardian of the ages, it had witnessed centuries of mankind; their successes, innovations, wars, plague, and yet, there it stood, unmoving.
“Noah, it’s amazing. Can we get closer?”
“Yes, as close as you like.”
She cantered off, glancing behind once to make sure he was following. But after an initial burst of energy, Fleet slowed, and Noah overtook her easily. He arrived a good few minutes before her, and he helped her down from Fleet’s back. As soon as Alice planted her feet on the ground, she was off, running her hands over the stones, leaning against them and closing her eyes, not minding their dampness, absorbing their history.
Despite the early hour, a few other people also visited the stones, but Alice was too enchanted to notice them. Once again, she asked herself how she’d missed the magic of history? It could have been an all-consuming passion, a light in her previously deadly dull world.
“They’re remarkable, aren’t they?” Noah looked up at the stones, they’d been part of his childhood, but they still filled him with awe.
“Noah, I can’t believe this is in your b
ackyard!”
“I assume you mean garden. We used to come over here as children, but we always respected the stones. To us, they’re a monument, to what, or to whom, we’re not sure, too many theories to choose from, but they’ve stood for thousands of years, so they’re of significant historical importance. I respect that. All of us respect them.”
“Tell me more about the stones, and your crop circles.”
“Well, come over to the pavilion, and we’ll check out the registry. It’s pretty comprehensive, and certainly, research has been added since your time.”
The pavilion and registry was devoted to the plains area. Alice didn’t know what information was added, and none of the research was dated, but it didn’t matter—she’d no prior knowledge to compare anyway, the whole idea of the stones fascinated her.
Noah also showed her images of crop formations, flicking through several jaw-dropping pictures until eventually, she looked up at him.
“I don’t believe it’s possible for any human to carry out such a feat, during the night, in the dark, even with all the advanced technology of today, and not make mistakes,” she shook her head. “Got to be aliens.”
“Over the years,” he grinned at her simple appraisal, “people imitated the circles, but as they did, the designs became more complex, almost as if the original designer was aware, and made it harder for them to be reproduced—rather a fanciful theory.”
“Someone intelligent then?” Alice was prepared to believe it. “More intelligent than the counterfeiters?”
“Perhaps. Or a hoax.”
She pointed to the registry, calling out a display of part of one formation.
“That’s not it. See here? The structure of the wheat in crop circles is altered, but at some point, scientists discovered how that change could be duplicated. After this discovery, the molecular framework of the wheat exhibited a new change, one that confounded science again,” she sat back and wagged a finger at him. “Whoever is doing it, always stays a step ahead of the hoaxers. What’s your answer to that, Mr Astrophysicist?”
For the second time this morning, he witnessed a shift in her personality. Her arms were folded, a small smile played on her lips, her head tilted to one side, waiting for him to comment.
“Where did you learn this?” he didn’t have a response, he was too busy being perplexed by the sudden change, so it was all he could think of to say. Her information was hopelessly out of date, even though she appeared to believe it current, and science had long moved past looking for answers in the crop itself.
“I read it,” she said. “There are several dissertations and treatises on the matter of crop circles. Investigations like phototropism, germination and innumerable others I can’t think of right now were carried out. I haven’t read too much, but research indicates each stalk stopped growing at the point the circle was created. Did you know not one crop event was documented during the plague years? That’s nearly 80 years without a formation. The first new one, when I was at school in Sydney, caused quite a stir—but I think that one was in Chile, not here in England. I’ve never personally seen one, and I must admit, I would be intrigued. That computer would have records,” she pointed casually to the registry, then suddenly raised her arms and grabbed her hair, twisting it into a knot, looking around as she did so.
Computer? Noah frowned, watching her.
“What are you looking for?”
“A hair band, I was going to tie my hair out of the way, it’s too long. Never mind.”
She released her hair, allowing it to fall in a messy glob of red and gold around her neck, the movement struck him as natural and familiar, but it heralded a shift, and Alice again returned to questions about Stonehenge, her old-fashioned discourse on crop formations forgotten. This time, he made sure not to be caught out and negotiated her change of personality more easily.
When the registry finished its summary of Stonehenge, they found the location of two crop circles. He promised they would fly over before they left. She seemed preoccupied with the idea and talked about them all the way back to the house, convinced they were from what she called, “outer space”, and not using any of her earlier, more sophisticated language.
If A’khet exists, she argued reasonably, and the other aliens he’d seen for himself, then surely there must be others? But why draw pictures in fields? Why not make proper contact? Maybe it’s their way of bringing a cake? She dreamed up a whole list of ideas.
Yes, he agreed, when she posed the question, apart from the A’khet, he’d met other beings, and no, didn’t understand why other species might draw pictures and not present themselves in person as humans did, reminding Alice of how their attempt at first contact turned out. It amused him, listening to her try and gain some sense of Stonehenge’s origins and of crop formations. These questions had been asked countless times, rehashed, discounted, put away and brought out again for further discussion, but for her, they were all new, and she treated each concept with a kind of astonished reverence. No doubt, Noah thought with a grin, the registry at her home was in for a workout.
Chapter 24
When they reached the hill above the house, Alice pointed to the stream.
“I’d like to see the woods, are you still happy to take me there?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll race you!”
He took off at speed, Bay’s tail flying in the wind.
Alice tried to push Fleet onwards, but the horse missed the fact she was supposed to be racing, ambling along after her stablemate at a leisurely pace. Alice lost sight of them, but Fleet seemed to know where to go, following the stream and taking Alice into a clearing. Narrow shafts of sunlight slanted through the broad canopy of trees. Dragonflies darted in and out of the sunbeams, their wings lighting like jewels. Noah had dismounted and had already led Bay down to the stream to drink.
He grinned when she arrived.
“I thought I’d lost you. I told you Fleet is a misnomer. I took advantage, I’m afraid.”
Alice swung her leg over Fleet’s neck but stayed seated, as if in sidesaddle, her back straight, breathing in the earthiness of forest, fragrant with loam and leaves and grass. The stream flowed crystal clear.
“Noah, it’s beautiful here,” she breathed.
She tilted her head back, sighing with pleasure, and closed her eyes. He watched as the soft sunlight rested on her face and hair; no-one, no thing, he had seen on Earth or in space ever affected him this deeply. He felt changed by her.
“You are beautiful.”
Alice opened her eyes. Without realising it, Noah had moved from the stream, and was standing beside Fleet, looking up at her. His arms reached for her and silently, she slipped from Fleet’s back. Time slowed, the sounds of the forest became distant, she thought she heard Fleet whinny a greeting to Bay at the stream. Alice slid her arms around Noah’s neck and curled her legs around his body as he lifted her down, moving his hands to her thighs, gripping her and pulling her close. Slightly above him still, she dropped her mouth gently on his, and even when he laid her down on the soft ground, he didn’t let her go, not once breaking their embrace, only moving his mouth from hers to lightly kiss her neck and shoulders. He loosened her blouse, pulling it from the constraints of her slacks, and from somewhere deep inside, Alice felt herself sigh, but whether it ever escaped her lips, she neither knew nor cared. This was more than she’d ever hoped for; the feel of his skin against hers, the strength of his arms around her, the softness of his mouth. The sensations she’d felt as he watched her at the Tabernacle spread over her again, but this time, instead of concealing them, she welcomed them. Noah felt her trembling and hesitated, but she smiled and reached up to touch his face, reassuring him she trembled not from fear, only from longing.
Alice’s skin tingled as his mouth traced a path along her breasts, and she closed her eyes as her body came alive at his touch. Every part of her responded to him, each caress prompting a gasp of delight, as never-before-felt sensations took her bre
ath away. And then it was her turn to discover the deep sensuality of exploring his body with teasing kisses, enjoying the deep groans each kiss, each touch, dragged from his throat.
Nothing was held back for either of them, and there, in the forest, under the trees, they gave in to their desire for one another, and as their bodies intertwined, she held him close, wanting him. With every movement they made together, she felt a blissful tension building, until her head filled with stars, and her mouth opened, sighing a soft, “Ah!”.
She opened her eyes, still gasping. Noah was smiling at her pleasure, but only for a moment. He buried his face against her neck and crushed her against him, and with it came that delicious tension and a new shower of stars before her eyes. She gasped against his chest, allowing her back to arch naturally against him, her hands gripping his shoulders.
Later, wrapped in each other’s arms, Alice gave a quiet grin as she saw how their clothes were strewn on the forest floor. She was here, naked, and she felt safe, the clothes could stay where they were. Her breathing hadn’t yet returned to normal, and her cheek and hair were damp against his shoulder. She moved slightly, and heard a low chuckle in his throat.
“You are so sexy!”
Alice, still in wonderment at what she’d experienced, what she’d felt, smiled. She remembered every delicious moment.
“Trust me” she murmured against him, “I’m just as surprised as you.”
But as her breathing settled, and not yet willing to let the moment pass, she gently tightened her embrace. Noah, understanding, did the same, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head. All these years, she thought. All those damned wasted years, settling for what, Ted? When love, deep love, brought this?
She didn’t feel like a hussy. She felt beautiful, desirable and natural. He wanted her, wanted this, as much as she wanted him.
He brushed her hair back from her face, so he could gaze at her. All his life, he felt sure nothing was missing, but now, a huge space in his heart opened, one only she could fill. There were no new worlds, no star systems, no alien civilisations, nothing out there in the expanse of the cosmos that would ever inspire him more than discovering this truth.
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