Part 24 (2/2)

'Memories,' the Doctor said. 'The past.' He waited while Nepath and his sister drew apart. 'You should look to the future, you know. Not embrace the past.'

'Oh but I am.' Nepath seemed reinvigorated by his sister's embrace. 'We are.' He kept hold of her hand as he spoke. 'A future of flame, of conflagration. Of burning.' His eyes were deep wells of darkness. Behind him the fissure spat red hot trails of fire into the sky. 'Patience and I will hold dominion over the world, over the fire. Together, for ever, we shall rule the burned and burning land.'

'For whom?' the Doctor demanded. 'Not for yourselves, surely. Not for the people who are dying burning in the fires of the Apocalypse. No, you'll do it for an elemental force that had burned away what little was left of Patience Nepath.'

Nepath shook his head. 'You can't distract us now, Doctor. No matter what you say or believe, Patience and I are together once more. Nothing and n.o.body can tear us apart again.' He let go of his sister's hand, gesturing for her to approach the Doctor. 'Least of all you.'

On the high ground overlooking the dam, s...o...b..ld stood beside Colonel Wilson. Across the misty ocean of smoke and fire they could see the red stain of the magma as it swelled and bubbled. It seemed to be spreading sideways, thinning to a line.

'The blast just wasn't concentrated enough,' Wilson said.

'What do we do now?'

He shrugged. 'Get back to Ambleton and collect some demolition charges. Then hope we can get back here through the fire storm.'

'Have another go,' s...o...b..ld said. 'Yes, I suppose so.'

There was a noise. A sudden snap of sound like a whip cracking, or a pistol shot.

'What was that?' s...o...b..ld strained to see. It had come from the dam.

'I don't know,' Wilson said slowly. 'Unless...'

As they watched, a ragged tear was appearing from beneath the thinning red substance that adhered to the dam. A black line ripped out from under it, running across the wall.

'It's cracking,' s...o...b..ld breathed. 'That stuff is trying to hold it together.'

Wilson was nodding. Behind him the soldiers were shuffling, trying to shoulder their way into better positions to see. 'Maybe we weakened the wall. Perhaps enough for the pressure of the reservoir to do the rest of the work.'

As he spoke, a trickle of water ran down from the top of the crack. It reached the edge of the hot liquid clinging to the dam and a sudden cloud of steam exploded from its surface. At once the viscous liquid seemed to flow back towards the point where the water was beginning now to run out in greater quant.i.ty. Tried to smother it, to seal the hole.

But the water was gus.h.i.+ng out now. Pouring forth like a waterfall with enough force to spew out from the dam wall and cascade to the smoking ground below. The sound was incredible a rumbling roar of exploding water forcing its way through the widening gap; the thud and crump of falling masonry colliding with the side of the dam and tumbling to the ground below; the percussive hiss of erupting steam and smoke as the water splashed across the molten rock that tried to force it back.

'Good G.o.d,' Wilson said as he watched.

s...o...b..ld nodded. 'Very likely,' he murmured. 'Very likely.'

The liquid was gelling, forming into a shape. A huge almost human hand was pressing back against the rus.h.i.+ng torrent, splas.h.i.+ng it out and back against the dam as it tried to force itself into the hole, to plug it. At the end of the hand an arm was forming, a body. A glowing ma.s.s that might have been in the shape of Sir William Grant struggled to stem the flow.

But the figure was swamped, overwhelmed by the rus.h.i.+ng tide. It seemed to shrink, its head thrown back screaming as it fought and struggled to cling to the dam. It was human*shaped, human*sized now, receding into itself, adopting a familiar shape. Perhaps using the only memory that remained to it.

Then the dam wall below the figure, below the rush of water, bulged suddenly outwards. Exterior brickwork peeled loose from the bulge, tumbling away as the wall exploded under the pressure. The tiny figure was left clinging to the broken brickwork at the top of the hole, arms working, hands clutching as it struggled to climb away from the roaring ma.s.s of steaming water.

s...o...b..ld caught a flash of movement from beside him. He turned to see that Wilson was running running towards the collapsing dam.

'Where are you going?' he shouted. 'Come back! You'll be swept away!'

Wilson kept running. He was twenty yards along the top of the dam now. s...o...b..ld could see him stumble and stagger as the whole structure moved under his feet. But still he ran.

The figures formed three points of a roughly equilateral triangle. The Doctor; Nepath; his sister. The way that Nepath and his sister circled, the way the Doctor backed away and kept out of reach was like a dance.

'How can you believe there is anything of Patience Nepath left in that thing?' the Doctor asked as he backed away again. He was shouting to be heard. From somewhere in the distance was a rumbling, like approaching thunder.

'She is my sister, I can tell.' Nepath moved to cut off the Doctor's escape route. 'What does it matter to you anyway, Doctor?' he demanded. Now he was shouting too.

'What does it matter to her, more to the point?' The Doctor ducked under an arm as it was thrust at him. A lock of his hair recoiled as it was scorched by her clutching fingers. He staggered back, and ended up standing beside Nepath.

Nepath grabbed the Doctor by the arms, holding him tightly as he struggled. 'You were better off before,' the Doctor shouted at him as he tried to pull away. 'Better off with that blackened husk in the cabinet. At least that really was her. At least then you had your memories and your dreams.'

'What do you mean?' Nepath howled at him. He was pus.h.i.+ng the Doctor slowly forwards, towards his sister's smoking, outstretched hands.

'I mean that now you have nothing. Nothing at all. There is none of Patience Nepath left inside that thing.' He twisted so that his face was close to Nepath's. 'Ask her I dare you,' he challenged.

Nepath did not answer, but he stopped pus.h.i.+ng the Doctor towards her, and held him still.

'Tell the creature to leave her, just for a moment. See for yourself what's left.'

She paused, watching Nepath, waiting for his response.

'a.s.suming you have any say in how that thing behaves, any authority at all master of all you survey,' the Doctor sneered. 'Go on, ask it.'

Nepath snorted and pushed the Doctor forward another stumbling step. 'And what will that prove.'

The Doctor ripped his arm free, turned to face Nepath in a single blur of motion. His other arm came free too and they stood facing each other. Over the Doctor's shoulder Nepath could see his sister. Waiting.

'If that is truly a recreation of your sister, and not just some automaton' the Doctor shouted, 'then when the creature, the substance that binds her together. leaves it we shall see inside the frame that it is built on. We'll see the charred and blackened corpse of your dead sister, Nepath. Just as she was, just as she died. Just as you left her.' He turned towards the figure of Patience Nepath, her hands still extended, her fingers glowing red, her eyes on fire.

'But if not,' the Doctor said. 'You will be left with a sh.e.l.l, a statue, a shape. Or with nothing.' He twisted his head slightly, talking over his shoulder, throwing back an offhand comment. 'Or would you rather not know?' he said.

'That will prove nothing, Doctor,' Nepath shouted back.

'Then why not indulge me?' The Doctor gave a derisive snort. 'Or does it worry you what you might be forced to learn?'

'You're playing for time,' countered Nepath.

'But you have all the time in the world,' the Doctor shouted back. 'For ever, you said. That's long enough, isn't it?'

For a moment Nepath's eyes locked with the Doctor's. Then he turned slowly to face his sister. 'Do it,' Nepath hissed. His voice was barely audible above the roaring that seemed to be getting louder by the moment.

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