Doctor Who_ The Burning Part 12

Dobbs joined him and together they stared out across the low ground. There was nothing to be seen except the frosted gra.s.s and frozen land. But as he surveyed the ground, Dobbs could hear something, a jingling sound. As he watched, a team of horses crested the low ridge on the far side of the area. Instinctively, he ducked down slightly lower.

There were four horses harnessed together in pairs, controlled by a single rider on one of the front horses. They were pulling something that made tracks through the thin covering of snow. Dobbs could see the mist from their hot breath as they dragged the gun carriage down the embankment and into the middle of the concealed area. They were coming straight towards where the Doctor and Dobbs were hiding. He glanced at the Doctor, but he seemed intent on the scene before them, not at all discomfited by the horses now racing towards them.

The horses stopped two thirds of the way across the area. The rider leaped down and undid the harnesses so that the gun carriage stood free of the horses. Then he remounted and rode the horses back the way he had come. The field gun stood abandoned fifty yards from where the Doctor and Dobbs were hiding. The polished bra.s.s of the gun shone in the early morning sun. The wheels had made barely an impression on the hard ground.

On the ridge behind the gun, more horses were arriving. Their riders dismounted, and grouped together looking down at the field gun. Several of them had field gla.s.ses. A carriage drew up on the ridge and Dobbs saw a portly man clamber out and join the soldiers. Behind him were two other figures Nepath and Lord Urton. The team of horses that had pulled the gun disappeared over the ridge. A moment later a similar team appeared, pulling another gun.

The second gun was positioned on the ridge, beside the observers. Its crew of five artillery men wheeled the gun forwards slightly, turning it so that it pointed across the basin of ground. Towards the ditch where the Doctor and Dobbs were hidden.

'Fascinating,' the Doctor breathed.

'Frightening,' Dobbs corrected him. 'They're going to fire on us.'

'No, no. They'll be aiming for that gun.' The Doctor pointed across the moorland. 'Antiquated muzzle*loading canon, probably left over from the Crimean. Anyway,' he went on, 'I think we've seen enough now.'

'Enough?' Dobbs was puzzled. 'We've seen nothing. Nothing at all.'

'Oh, I think it's obvious what's going on,' the Doctor said dismissively. He turned and looked out of the ditch the other way.

'Not to me it isn't.'

But the Doctor seemed not to be listening. 'The problem is that from the ridge there, with binoculars, they'll see us if we move. I'd rather that didn't happen.'

'Doctor,' Dobbs said with enforced patience, 'will you please tell me what is happening?'

'I think we'll have to wait here anyway,' the Doctor replied. 'So you'll see for yourself.'

As he finished speaking there was a whining sound. It seemed to come from above them, and Dobbs pulled himself up the side of the ditch to try to see what was happening. The Doctor immediately grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back again. A moment later the ground just beyond the lip of the ditch exploded with a thundercrack that deafened Dobbs and sent clumps of frozen mud and gra.s.s flying across him.

'Good G.o.d! I knew it they're shooting at us!'

'Just getting the range. I think they overshot slightly, but they'll have it in a moment.' He cautiously leaned up and peered over the broken edge of the ditch. 'Here we go.'

Another whine, followed by another explosion. This time further back. Dobbs remained huddled in the bottom of the ditch, no longer concerned about the freezing mud round his ankles and shins.

'You really should watch this, you know,' the Doctor told him.

Reluctantly Dobbs joined the Doctor and looked out across the moorland. Smoke from the previous explosion was drifting slowly in front of the field gun. The crater was within fifteen feet of the gun. The Doctor was right the next shot would be a direct hit.

On the ridge, Dobbs saw the flash of light and puff of smoke from the muzzle of the field gun pointing across at them. He held his breath.

In the hollow before them, the target gun exploded in a loud fireball. The wheels were blown outwards off the axle, the gun barrel twisted in the air, broken and bent. The carriage itself was splintered into fragments. For several seconds after the explosion, the gra.s.s under the gun burned with a pale orange flame. The smoke drifted away to reveal the wreckage.

'A good shot, Colonel Wilson,' Grant congratulated him. 'Excellent work.'

'Thank you, sir. I will convey that to the men.' Wilson nodded to his sergeant who marched across to the gun team, still kneeling and standing in position round their weapon.

'But I fail to appreciate the significance of this demonstration,' Grant went on, this time addressing his comment to Nepath.

'Perhaps that is because the demonstration has not yet begun,' Nepath told him. He nodded down towards the wrecked field gun. 'Watch.'

Grant shrugged and turned back towards the hollow basin of ground. As he saw what was happening there, he began to understand why Nepath had brought him here.

'Good grief,' Wilson said beside him.

At first it was a twitching, a slight movement of the broken fragments of the gun. But before long, the distorted metal was bending and twisting back into shape. One of the wheels, bent almost back on itself by the blast was slowly unfolding. The other sprang back to a perfect circle. The broken pieces of the gun carriage seemed to flow back together like viscous liquid before reforming into their original shape. The pieces blown further out left dark trails through the covering of snow.

'The material uses the exothermic reaction of the explosion itself, draws on the generated heat of the blast,' Nepath explained. 'That provides the energy.'

'The gun was made of your memory material,' Grant realised.

'That's right. We took moulds from an actual Crimean weapon to which Colonel Wilson was good enough to provide us access.'

'I don't follow, sir,' Wilson said. 'You mean that was not our own artillery piece?'

'A copy. Made from a material mined not far from here in fact,' Nepath said. 'A material treated and refined according to the techniques of the Urdesh sorcerers and wise men.'

Nepath pointed down at the field gun. It was still in pieces, but the pieces were each complete and whole again, laid out across the blackened moorland. 'All you need to do is put it back together. Hardly a difficult task, I imagine.'

'Self*repairing equipment,' Grant said quietly. 'This could save a fortune in acquisitions.'

'Even the ammunition can be reclaimed, a.s.suming it is made to my specifications, and with my materials,' Nepath said. He handed Grant an envelope. 'My terms,' he explained. 'For an initial exploratory contract, exclusive to Her Majesty's Ordnance.'

Grant immediately made to take the envelope. The importance of the deal was not lost on him. Nor was the kudos that would go to the man who arranged it. But Nepath pulled the envelope away.

'I would appreciate the initial payment immediately. I do have certain overheads that must be met in the short term.'

Grant licked his dry lips. 'I'm sure that won't be a problem,' he said. His voice was dry and hoa.r.s.e. He was feeling hot again despite the cold of the morning.

'Lord Urton will accompany you back to Ambleton,' Nepath said. 'You have a train to catch.' He nodded to Urton, who gestured for Grant to lead the way back to the carriage.

'Do you need dropping off on the way?' Grant asked.

Nepath shook his head. 'I shall walk to the mine. It isn't far.'

Colonel Wilson was still staring down at the remains of the field gun. 'Incredible,' he said. 'Absolutely incredible. As an engineer, I...' He turned to Nepath. 'Well, I don't know what to say, really I don't. Remarkable.'

'Indeed,' Nepath agreed with a thin smile.

'It's just a shame you can't do the same thing with people,' Wilson added.

Nepath's smile froze. Grant just caught his reply as he followed Urton back to the carriage. 'Yes,' he said levelly. 'Isn't it.'

'I don't believe it, I really don't believe it,' Dobbs said for the third time. They were still in the ditch, waiting for the soldiers to finish clearing away the pieces of the field gun.

'I gathered,' the Doctor said.

'I just don't believe it,' Dobbs said. He shook his head. 'It's...'

'Unbelievable?' the Doctor suggested.

'Well, yes.' A thought occurred to him. 'Do you believe it?'

'I saw it,' the Doctor replied. He was evidently amused by Dobbs's incredulity.

'So did I. But I don't...' He broke off and smiled. 'Sorry. I suppose I'd better just get used to the notion.' He was silent for a minute. Another thought had come to him. 'I didn't believe in dowsing either,' he said slowly.

'But you do now?'

'I'm more inclined to,' Dobbs decided.

'That's good.'

'Is it?'

'Oh yes,' the Doctor told him. 'If you've seen something happen, however incredible it might seem, it's no great leap of faith to believe in it. But now you're really opening your mind.' He grinned and clapped Dobbs on the shoulder. 'Well done.'

'Thank you,' Dobbs replied automatically.

The Doctor looked out of the ditch. 'Right, they seem to be done and dusted. Let's go.' He clambered out of the ditch and reached back to help the Professor negotiate the steep side.

As they made their way back to the Rectory, the Doctor described to Dobbs the exhibition he had attended the previous day.

'So you had a good idea what was to happen?'

'Once I saw what they were preparing it was pretty evident,' the Doctor agreed.

'Is this why you came here?' Dobbs asked. 'Because of Nepath and the material he intends to mine?'

'Oh no.' The Doctor paused and reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a dull ball of dark material, similar to a large marble. He glanced at it briefly and replaced it. 'Wrong pocket,' he murmured. 'That was the free sample that Nepath gave me.'

'He gave you some of the material? Why?'

'I can't imagine,' the Doctor said. He was reaching into his other pocket. 'Well, actually I can imagine. But I think I'd rather not. Not for the moment anyway. Ah, here we are.' He pulled a small cube from his jacket with a flourish that would have befitted a stage magician. He held it out to Dobbs. 'Do you know what it is?' he asked. His voice was low and serious now.

Dobbs took the cube and examined it closely. It seemed solid and it was quite heavy. There was no apparent hinge or lid. The machining was perfect. The material it was made from was shiny black, so black that light seemed to be lost in it. The surface was so glossy that it seemed it should act as a mirror, but it reflected nothing other than indistinct shapes of light. It was slightly warm to the touch. He turned it over in his hands, then held it back out for the Doctor to take.

'No,' he said. 'I've never seen anything quite like this. What is it?'

The Doctor sucked in his cheeks. 'I was hoping you could tell me,' he said. It was the first time that Dobbs had heard real disappointment in his voice.

'You don't know?'

'I have no idea.'

'Where did you get it?'

The Doctor started walking again, so briskly that Dobbs had to make an effort to keep up. 'I can't remember,' he said. He seemed embarra.s.sed at the admission.

'Yet you say it is why you are here.'

'That's correct.' The Doctor turned to him as they continued to walk, his pace slowing slightly. 'You noticed that the cube was warm?'

'I did.'

'It used to be cold. Like ice. Then one of the faces of the cube became hot. I felt it through the lining of my pocket.'

'Just one face?' Dobbs frowned. What did that say about the conductivity of the material it was fashioned from?

'But not the same face.'

'I beg your pardon?'

'If I turned the cube, a different face became hot and the previously hot side was instantly cold again.'

'But why? How?'

'I wondered that. Then it came to me. No matter which way I turned the cube, the side pointing in a particular direction was hot. If I angled it, then the edge or corner was hot. Always pointing me in the same direction.' His voice had become distant, almost wistful as he remembered.

'And so you followed that direction? And it brought you here?'

The Doctor nodded.

Dobbs was struggling to absorb this. On top of what he had seen, he could feel his whole scientific belief structure beginning to crumble. 'And you say the side of the cube pointing towards Middletown was always hot?'

The Doctor quickened his pace, striding across the moorland, his shadow stretching out across the snowy surface. 'Burning.' he said.

The faint sounds of the machinery that had already been installed were just audible at the mouth of the tunnel. Harry Devlin was supervising the unloading of a trepanner, a vast contraption built from oily steel, as Nepath arrived. The two horses that had pulled the trepanner on its cart were sweating heavily, stamping their cold hooves on the frozen ground and tossing their heads. They seemed unnerved by the attention of the silent mine workers.

Nepath spared a moment to sooth them, patting their damp flanks and talking quietly to them each as he held the halter and looked into their eyes.

'How is it going?' he asked Devlin when he had finished with the horses.

Devlin's voice was a monotone. 'The equipment is installed. Except for this trepanner, which has only just arrived.'

'So I see. And what progress?'

'Progress is slow,' Devlin admitted. His eyes were wide, unblinking as he spoke. 'We shall need more equipment if we are to reach the depth you require.'

'Equipment is expensive,' Nepath told him. His mouth twitched slightly as he stifled his smile. 'Bur fortunately I expect a large cash injection shortly. We shall arrange others when and if they become necessary. I have several possible customers lined up. But do what you can for now.'

'Yes, sir.'