Part 23 (1/2)

'You think?' Wilson echoed. 'But you're not certain.'

The Doctor took a step towards him. His face was suddenly dark, his eyes deep with anger. 'Of course I'm not certain,' he shouted. 'How could I possibly be certain? But with every moment you delay I get less certain.'

Wilson's voice was more controlled, but it was still shaking with emotion. 'But if we blow the dam, the water in the reservoir will flood the entire area. It won't just be confined to the old river bed.'

'Exactly!' the Doctor shot back.

'Brans...o...b..*sub*Edge is below the level of the river bed,' Brookes pointed out. 'Ambleton isn't much higher. The people there haven't been evacuated. You could cause untold damage. Even loss of life.'

The Doctor shook his head in astonishment. 'Listen to yourself,' he said emphatically. 'Cause damage?' He waved at the fiery trails blistered across the landscape beneath them. 'Just what exactly do you think is going on down there?' He stepped up to Brookes, apparently undeterred by the fact the man was a good head taller than him. 'This isn't some isolated incident in the darkest reaches of the Empire which we can ignore and it will go away. It doesn't stop here, you know.' He grabbed Brookes's arm and turned him suddenly so the captain was looking back towards the church. 'What's happening down there will not stay stay down there. Like the water, it will spill out and inundate the surrounding area. But the water will reach its limit and dissipate. down there. Like the water, it will spill out and inundate the surrounding area. But the water will reach its limit and dissipate. That That won't. It's hungry for more, and it's getting hungrier by the moment. It will expand and feed, in a never ending cycle until the blood*red map of the British Empire is a burning fire of destruction. And even then it won't stop. Not until this world is consumed and charred and burnt out.' won't. It's hungry for more, and it's getting hungrier by the moment. It will expand and feed, in a never ending cycle until the blood*red map of the British Empire is a burning fire of destruction. And even then it won't stop. Not until this world is consumed and charred and burnt out.'

There was silence after this for several moments. 'The fact remains,' Wilson said eventually, 'that we could be making the situation worse.'

'Worse?' the Doctor screamed at him from point blank range. 'You said there might be some loss of life. Well, already people have been killed. They are being being killed. They killed. They will will be killed. How can it possibly get worse?' be killed. How can it possibly get worse?'

Wilson looked away. 'You may be right, Doctor,' he admitted. 'But whatever action I take I shall need to justify to my superiors.'

'You know I was right about evacuating the place...' the Doctor reminded him.

Wilson nodded. 'But I really don't think I can take the sort of extreme measures you're suggesting now without orders.'

The Doctor snorted in derision, and turned to s...o...b..ld. His tone was both sarcastic and at the same time sad. 'The military machine,' he said. 'No room for individual ideas, no room for initiative. No room for humanity.' He shook his head. 'I'm going to find Nepath,' he said abruptly.

'Nepath?' s...o...b..ld was surprised. 'Why?'

'I may still be able to talk some sense into him. Perhaps there's another way to stop this. If so, then it seems I need to find it.'

s...o...b..ld nodded. He could understand the Doctor's exasperation. But he also sympathised with Wilson's position. 'I shall stay here,' he told the Doctor. 'Perhaps I can persuade them.'

The Doctor nodded. One side of his mouth twitched upwards into a sad, almost pathetic expression. 'Thank you,' he said. 'And if there's nothing else you can do, you can at least pray for them.'

s...o...b..ld smiled weakly in reply. 'I shall do that anyway,' he said. 'And for you.'

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully at this. He seemed about to say something, but instead clapped his hand on s...o...b..ld's shoulder, gripping it for a moment. Then he turned and walked away. Into the darkening smoke.

Nepath was in a dream world. A dream come true. Patience was at his side as he had always known she would be, leading him out into the fiery world. The smoke hung low in the sky, and beneath it the burning raged across the landscape.

The whole moor was alive with flame and steam. Pools of molten rock bubbled up around them, sending showers of fire into the air as the bubbles burst. Columns of smoke and flame seemed to hold up the very roof of the world. The sunlight was filtered, amber, diffuse, bathing the surreal world in unreal light.

His eyes were alive with the visions of the flames. He could feel the excitement of watching the fires dancing, the raw power, like never before. His whole body was tense with it. He could see the beauty of the flames, hear the joy of the fire, taste the sulphur. 'Now I have it all, he breathed.

'No,' Patience Nepath replied. She took his arm in hers. 'This is only the start of it.'

Together they walked arm in arm across the blistering moor.

He had done as much as he could, though s...o...b..ld was hardly pleased with the result. Colonel Wilson had agreed to send a runner to Ambleton with a recommendation that they blow the dam. He hoped, but did not seem to expect, that the runner would return with confirmation of the orders and demolition charges as well as reinforcements.

In the meantime. Wilson agreed they should make their way down to the dam and be ready to act as soon as the orders arrived. From the lack of enthusiasm in the tread of the soldiers, and the enforced high spirits of both Wilson and Captain Brookes it was obvious that they expected at best to get no reply at all. They were merely marking time; putting off making a final decision either way.

But as they neared the dam, s...o...b..ld could see a figure standing at the end closest to them. He was holding on to the rail that ran along the top of the structure, watching them as they approached. He was a rotund man, not very tall. A distinctive shape, though s...o...b..ld was sure that he had never seen the man before.

'What's he doing here?' Wilson wondered out loud. Evidently he did know the man.

'Brought the confirmation, sir?' Brookes suggested.

'There's not been time to get to Ambleton and back.' Wilson pointed out as they started down the slope towards the dam.

'Perhaps he met your man on the way?' s...o...b..ld suggested. 'Who is it?' he asked.

They were almost at the man now. Wilson saluted, and the man raised a hand in reply. He was wearing black leather gloves that seemed to be struggling to contain his pudgy fingers. 'Sir William Grant,' Wilson said both as reply to s...o...b..ld and in greeting to the man. 'What brings you here, sir?'

'Can you confirm the orders, sir?' Captain Brookes immediately asked.

'Orders?'

Several of the men were unpacking their backpacks. They started to sort the contents on the ground. Most of them meant nothing to s...o...b..ld, though he could see several grenades and pouches of gunpowder.

'What orders are those, Colonel?' Grant went on.

'The Doctor's orders,' s...o...b..ld said. He had a feeling that confidence and determination might be key here. If Grant was in a position to give Wilson the go*ahead, then he needed to be convinced. 'To blow up the dam and put an end to this.'

Grant frowned. 'The Doctor. And just what makes you think that the Doctor is in any position to give orders?' His question was directed at Wilson.

'He does speak with authority, sir.' Wilson s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably.

'Not my authority,' he said. 'Nor her Majesty's.' He turned to s...o...b..ld. 'The authority of the Church, perhaps?'

s...o...b..ld met his gaze. The sun was s.h.i.+ning directly at Grant, and it was difficult to make out his expression. 'The Doctor has my full support,' he said. 'My belief is that he knows what he is talking about.'

Grant gave a grunt of annoyance. 'A strange belief for a man of the cloth to put his faith in. But then the opinion of a second rate priest in a third rate parish in the back of beyond hardly counts as the full support of the Church, does it.' He returned his attention to Wilson. 'Your men will retire to barracks at Ambleton and await further orders.'

'With respect, sir,' Wilson said, 'I really think we should give the Doctor's suggestion some consideration.'

'Do you?' Grant was angry now. 'And since when does the army consider taking orders from civilians, Colonel?'

'I think ' Wilson started.

But Grant interrupted him. 'You don't think,' he said angrily. 'You are an officer in her Britannic Majesty's army. You obey orders. And on no account are you to interfere with this dam, do you hear? We can't afford to have millions of gallons of water destroying the countryside for miles around, to say nothing of the consequent loss of life and livelihood. At the moment this problem is extremely limited, take my word for it. If you go through with this mad plan of the Doctor's, the whole area would be devastated.'

'It is being devastated now,' s...o...b..ld pointed out forcefully. 'Look at it.' He pointed out over the dam into the rising smoke. 'And in any case,' he added, 'what do you care about what happens to a third rate parish in the back of beyond?'

As Grant turned back, the sun dipped behind a cloud. His face was shadowed for a moment as he looked first at s...o...b..ld then at Wilson. And in that moment the flames that flickered and danced behind his eyes were plain for them all to see.

'You will return to the barracks,' Grant said again to Wilson.

But Wilson shook his head. 'I am an officer in her Britannic Majesty's army, Sir William,' he said. 'I don't take orders from civilians.'