Part 12 (1/2)

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 s.h.i.+ns.

'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.