007 The Gogs discover the perils of ice

Jerusalem's eyes rolled with contempt as he soared overhead with crow-like finesse. Below and in the far distance he could see nothing but trouble. "I have a bad feeling about this, Samson," Jerusalem predicted. But Samson--who was perched at the top of his favourite beech tree on Uncle Bartlow's west flank--wasn't listening. Samson had enough bad feelings of his own to contend with. "If I move the bishop forward that damned queen will take it," he muttered to himself, hopelessly searching for a way out of the impending checkmate.

Samson searches for a way out of the impending checkmate

Meanwhile, Dianne and the Gogs were also oblivious to Jerusalem's concerns. Things had been going rather well. Over the past few days Dianne had learnt to use the palmtop and she had had a good chance to study the professor's map in some detail. Dianne had impressed all the Gogs with her aptitude for navigation and knowledge of computers. And Megg had quickly learnt to follow Dianne's directions.

By now the Gogs were well north of Cambridge. They had just bypassed the small hamlet of Sutton Gault when Copley, who had crept ahead of the rest, stopped dead in his tracks. "What's that?" he asked in horror. Ahead, the rich black fenland soil was anything but black. "Oh no," murmured Dianne as she reached the stationary Copley. "The rivers are covered with ice." "Ice?" questioned Copley, a little unsure of himself. "What's ice?" And before she could stop herself, Dianne blurted out "frozen water". That was it, she had uttered the dreaded W word and all the Gogs started yelling "water" in unison.

"Look here, Dianne, we're not going anywhere near water, frozen or otherwise, and that's that," asserted Copley as the hubbub died down. "We must go round." But Dianne knew that going round wasn't an option. Before them stretched three frozen rivers, one after the other, and in between--where the rivers had burst their banks--a vast sheet of ice covered the submerged fields.

Indeed, to everyone's dismay Dianne saw the ice as a good thing. "Let's just cross the ice, it's frozen solid," she said in a reassuring tone. But none of the Gogs would even entertain the thought, and it seemed like their journey might end there and then.

Finally, Copley screwed up enough courage to take a tentative step out onto the shining surface. But his black wellington boots were not suited to the slippery conditions and, although one foot was still on terra firma, he slipped. Heading pell-mell towards the middle of the first river on his bottom, Copley was anything but happy. "Heeeelp," he wailed at the top of his voice, like a distraught banshee.

Eventually, well out of reach of his family, a panic-stricken Copley slowed to a halt. "This is all your fault," he nervously cried back to Dianne. "And you can stop laughing," he yelled up at Jerusalem, who by now had swooped down to gloat over the realisation of his earlier dire prediction.

Copley tried to stand up, but he just couldn't seem to get back onto his feet. "No, Copley, don't stand up, the ice might crack," shouted Dianne, wondering whether the ice would support the flailing Copley after all. "You mean that I could plummet to the centre of the earth?" quizzed Copley, recalling the Professor's words of warning about the fragility of the earth's crust. "No, silly. You'd only fall in the river and being such a big hill, you'd just get wet feet," explained Dianne. But this did little to reassure Copley. As far as he was concerned, either way he was doomed. "Get me off of here," he cried. But the rest of the Gogs stood helplessly along the edge of the bank. Not one of them had even a glimmering of a clue about what to do next.

How will the Gogs rescue Copley, will they manage to rescue him at all?

Find out in the next episode.

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