Haut added water to the engine, and a small amount of oil to fire it up. It spluttered and stopped. He examined some parts and tried again. This time it kicked to a steady hum and was running.

‘My God!’ Gram said. ‘It’s what I came for!’

‘Seeing is believing, eh?’ Haut said with a wide grin. ‘There is much refinement to be done. I need more effective and better equipment. But it’s a start.’

Later, after a swim on the beach, Gram asked about security.

‘You saw how hard it is to get up from the road,’ Haut replied. ‘The guards are armed and aware of my need for protection.’

Gram looked up at the steep steps to the villas.

‘But if someone was coming up from the beach here …?’ he prompted.

‘Don’t worry,’ Haut said with a secretive grin. ‘I have certain things up there.’

‘What?’

‘A rifle and a handgun.’

‘But the engine and your models are in the basement.’

‘It has a good lock. They’d have to smash the windows. We’d hear them.’ Haut paused and added, ‘The main guard is down there too.’

‘Huh? A guard lives there too?’

‘Remember, I am a prophet of nature. This island has a spirit. I’m in touch with it.’

Gram appeared uncomfortable.

‘It lives in the basement,’ Haut said without a flicker of mirth, ‘and it’s big.’

*

Mon arrived three weeks later.

‘I love this woman for going to so much trouble to get here,’ Haut told Cavalier. ‘We’re going to marry. We’ve already decided on several children.’

‘If all that happens,’ Cavalier said, ‘your life will have equilibrium at last. I wish you the best with it.’

‘It’s not a matter of “if”. It’s going to happen. You’ll have to come and stay; we have two spare rooms. And you should meet Ryan Gram too.’

‘Is he being helpful to the project?’

‘Oh, yeah. He’s had twenty years’ experience at Tielisten Allan as an aeronautics engineer.’ Haut chuckled. ‘But, in reality, he’s learning a new science: my science and engineering. The model of the elements is a starting point.’

*

A fortnight after Mon’s arrival, she, Haut, Gram and a local Thai woman, Ning, who Gram had met in a Koh Samui massage parlour, were at a dinner in Haut’s villa. Ning prepared pad thai for the four of them.

At one point, just as the meal began, Gram seemed startled.

‘Mon,’ he said, ‘you’ve got Al’s plate. I asked Ning to give him more.’

‘That’s okay,’ she said, ‘in Thailand we share. If he wants more, he can have some of mine.’

They all had white wine and, after a convivial evening, Gram stood.

‘Let’s go, Ning,’ he said with a lascivious look. ‘I want that special massage you promised.’

‘Not on full stomach,’ Ning said, admonishing him.