DOCTOR PINTER
IN
THE MYTHOLOGY ISLES

Doctor Pinter started back instinctively as a great briny gout of spume splashed across the plexiglass protecting the deck of the hydrofoil. The vessel swayed and shifted, revving its engine. Had he not known better, he would have thought the pilot was having trouble finding his way through the reef. The pink coral churned the normally placid ocean into a dangerous passion which could wreck sturdier craft than this.

His companion on deck seemed unperturbed by the turmoil. He was watching three young women emerge from the lounge. Two wore flouncy flowered skirts which billowed up prettily in the stiff salty breeze from the ventilator. The third was clad in a loose yellow smock, blown like a second skin against her ample form.

"There is a surplus of females in the Mythology Isles, Doctor, if you are interested," he said. "Mostly tourists, looking for adventure."

"I am not interested in the slightest," Pinter replied drily. "While still a young man I decided to have nothing to do with women, in the romantic sense. I regard them as frivolous, emotionally unreliable, and generally unworthy of affection from a man of substance." He gave the briefest and coldest of glances to the trio of females who giggled their way along the deck, reminding himself of the tenet which had guided him through his life of celibacy.

Women change their minds too easily.

"Ah, you are a misogynist. But what of... er... physical desires?"

"That can always be dealt with, by medication if necessary. Luckily I do not need it. I am blessed with a controllable libido."

"A great blessing indeed."

The hydrofoil was now within the lagoon and approaching its docking at the island of Felicity.

"Are you to be here long?" Pinter's acquaintance asked politely.

"A day or two only. I have been asked to collect a sample box of local ores from the Office of Administration. Speaking of industrial matters, I hear Intelligent Molecular have some facilities in these islands?"

"Intelligent Molecular Industries owns the entire island group," the other said with surprise. "Did you not know?"

"No, I didn't. My visit to this planet is fleeting. I am really on my way somewhere else. In any case, I don't know too much about molecular science. I work for Interstellar Metals."

"Indeed? I should introduce myself. I am Girish Catheny, an IMI employee. May I wish you a pleasant stay." Catheny held out his hand.

Pinter shook it absent-mindedly. The hydrofoil surged alongside the wharf and sank on to its hull. A gangway craned out to hook itself on to the dockside. Pinter looked to make sure his luggage was sliding down the nearby chute, then joined his companion in the queue to disembark.

Catheny was thoughtfully observing the girls he had spotted go hurrying ashore with much chatter.

"Um, did anyone tell you what sort of work IMI is doing here?"

"Why, no."

"Perhaps I should mention..."

He hesitated and bit his lip. "Never mind. A bit complicated to explain, really. Enjoy your stay."

Doctor Pinter blinked as Catheny left him and stepped briskly down the ramp. What an odd fellow, he thought. He had heard that these biochemical chaps were inclined to be temperamental. Lacking the hard-edged contact with reality enjoyed by metallurgists such as himself, for instance.

He dismissed the incident from his mind. The sky over Felicity was a dazzling deep blue, and the sound of the sea was in his ears. Felicity had the air of a coastal holiday town. The plazas thronged with gaily clad people. The buildings, constructed from a light yellow stone which sparkled in the sun, were spaciously laid out. Pinter hailed a sky-blue taxi, collected his luggage and rode to his hotel. Once installed in the delicately decorated room, which had a view of the lagoon, he considered how to spend the next few hours. His appointment was not until the next day. An evening of relaxation seemed in order.

A look at the room's information screen helped him make his plans. He was surprised to see how numerous Intelligent Molecular Industries' facilities were - about half the structures mapped were company installations. But there were also inviting promenades along beaches and clifftops, and not only that, a delightful feature for a small island - a freshwater lake, the shores of which were a general recreation area, complete with restaurants, open-air bars, music pavilions, parks and gardens. What better than to saunter there for a while?

A walk inland through serene boulevards brought him to where evening sunlight sparkled on shimmering lake water. Music could be heard, carried from a central island by this natural sound reflector. Doctor Pinter enjoyed the conceit: an island within an island! He entered a bower, where he was served a refreshing drink of light rum and gene-cultured pineapple juice.

Nearby sat a somewhat older man who got into conversation with him. Pinter asked if he was a resident of the island, and was told it was so. "It must be a pleasant place to live," he allowed. "Are you in the employ of IMI?"

"Yes."

"Ah. A microbiologist?"

"Well, no. I am on the administrative side."

Pinter was wondering whether he might tease from his new acquaintance the nature of IMI's work in the Mythology Isles, when suddenly the man became uneasy. He was looking towards the entrance of the bower. Someone had entered, though as the setting sun was in his eyes Pinter saw the figure only indistinctly.

The other rose to his feet.

"Nice to have met you - I must be getting along now."

The older man spoke breathlessly and walked quickly towards an exit at the opposite end of the garden, leaving his drink unfinished. Pinter peered to see what had caused him such consternation.

It was a woman who had entered. At first, with the sun at her back, she was cast in a hazy golden nimbus. She was large-boned and fairly tall, clad in a simple white gown, and she moved with a kind of loose-limbed grace. She fell just short of being plump. Her skin was firm and honey-coloured. Her thighs pushed forward the cloth of her gown as she strode in Pinter's direction, glancing this way and that, and then her eyes fell on him. And to Doctor Pinter there came, quite unexpectedly, a totally new experience: his glance met hers, and a shock went right through him. It was as though he had touched a live electric cable.

He sat mesmerised as she continued to approach. Behaving as though she still had not noticed him, she took the seat recently vacated on the other side of the table. Doctor Pinter's heart began to beat loudly, so much so that he feared it would become audible to others. He tried not to stare at her, to pretend that he was not totally absorbed by her presence. She seemed to glow, to emanate an aura in which she was saturated. Her eyes were hazel, at once lively and contained. Her face had that self-composure which women everywhere tried to emulate, with all their grooming and face-painting, but with her it was innate. He noticed that she wore no cosmetic.

All his fright vanished once conversation commenced between them. He was enchanted by her naturalness of manner, by the ease of her companionship, even as he found himself privately dwelling on the fullness of her bosom and on the soft curve of her belly, both of which the garment she wore accentuated so artlessly. They had talked for no more than five minutes when he asked for her name.

"I am Felicity."

"Oh? The same name as this island?"

"Yes. I was born here."

This surprised him. "Forgive me... you do not seem like someone who has spent all her life in an out-of-the-way place like this."

She bent her head and smiled. "Oh, we are not without culture here in the Mythology Isles."

Doctor Pinter became oblivious of anything beyond the table at which he sat with Felicity. On and on they talked, with never a moment of awkwardness, never a searching for something to say. The sun slipped away, bringing dusk to the island, and he realized that a miracle had taken place.

He had fallen in love.