Something Fishy by Hilary MacLeod Page A

logical explanation. Maybe a repair job of some kind, although Newton didn’t look like a handyman.
    He seemed absorbed in the steel structure, and didn’t notice Ian approach, until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
    It was as if Ian had lit a fire. Newton jumped back, and stared at him, appearing to come to from some semi-conscious state.
    Ian would not have been surprised at a blast of anger. Instead, Newton smiled. Softly.
    Very strange.
    Newton’s complexion was not ruddy, but freshened, pinkish, and there was life in his eyes.
    Ian could only assume it came from the strange communion he’d observed. The communion with the turbine tower.
    â€œLike to see the batteries?”
    It was like being asked to see his etchings.
    Ian was stunned. It was the last thing he’d expected after the brush-off he’d received every time he’d approached Newton.
    â€œYes. I’d enjoy that.” He wasn’t sure whether he would or not, but followed Newton into the dome, the place where Hy had almost been killed the year before. An unusual house, built for an unusual person.
    As Ian had expected, the batteries to store the energy captured by the wind turbine and solar panel were ringed around the perimeter of the dome.
    Newton became quite animated as he explained how his system worked, as if the batteries were energizing him. Ridiculous, of course…
    They ended up having a perfectly normal conversation, over a cup of tea that chased away Ian’s unscientific imaginings.
    â€œWhat’s your field?”
    â€œThat’s immaterial. I think it’s obvious that my interests are the new energies – wind and solar power. Although I should say current, not ‘“new.’” They’ve been here longer than we have. I should say ‘newly exploited.’”
    â€œYou think it’s exploitation?”
    â€œNo, that’s just a term. A term you could apply to other energy sources. A lot of exploitation goes on in the oil fields.”
    â€œYou’re an environmentalist, then?”
    Newton frowned. “Nothing of the sort. Solar and wind make sense. The sun and the wind are bountiful, and they come as a harmonious package. Oil’s running out and it’s politically problematical.”
    â€œThat is an environmental position.”
    â€œYes. It doesn’t make me an environmentalist.”
    â€œYou say you’re not, yet…what did you say your field was?
    â€œI didn’t.”
    Whatever had spurred Newton to invite Ian in had worn off. His skin was greyish again, his eyes without light.
    â€œIf you’ll excuse me…” Ian scraped his chair back. “I must leave. Thanks for the tea.”
    Ian left the dome thinking exactly the same thing he had been thinking on the way in. Very strange .
    â€œYou’d think he’d created wind power.” Ian polished off the glass of Chardonnay and grabbed Hy’s for a fill-up.
    â€œHe talks about ‘my studies, my conclusions, my research.’ Wind and solar. He’s planning a whole bank of panels along the cape.”
    â€œPeople won’t like that.”
    â€œEspecially Paradis. He’s already pissed off about that trailer.”
    Ian was still fuming about Newton.
    â€œHe won’t say what kind of scientist he is.”
    â€œDoes it matter?”
    â€œNot really. It seems ridiculously evasive. He says he’s not an environmentalist.”
    Hy looked out the window at the turbine.
    â€œYou coulda fooled me.”
    â€œYou could look at that two ways…as a form of energy that’s easy on the environment, wind power could be a good thing.”
    â€œBut then there’s the human element, the effects on our health.”
    â€œAnd it’s a big problem for birds.”
    â€œIt seemed like a good thing at first, a real environmental option, then all these problems.” She shrugged. “Rock and a hard place.” She smiled