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‘Ignore him,' Ace said. 'He enjoys being mysterious, don't you, Professor?'

‘Why don't you go and have a look at the rockface?' the Doctor suggested.

‘Oh but it's raining, Professor,' Ace protested.

‘A little bit of water never hurt,' Janet joined in.

‘Oh. all right.' Ace reluctantly relinquished her position by the fire and the Doctor quickly took her place. As she reached the door she turned and asked, 'Can I take Badger with me?'

Badger jumped to her feet, swinging her tail wildly.

‘Oh, go on,' Hugh gave his permission. 'She likes a good walk.’

'Thanks. See you later.' She went out and moments later the front door slammed shut.

Jane t turned to the Doctor and said, 'So, Doctor, whatever happened to Melanie?'

‘Lovely girl,' Ace said as Badger leapt up at her, tongue lolling. She bent, picked a small stone from the ground and flung. it down into the valley. Badger barked and headed off after it. Ace could just about see the cliff, her destination, though the valley was filled with mist. She got down to the road, climbed over the stone wall and ran carelessly down the wet grass. She skidded to a halt just inches from the end of the field, carving a furrow in the soft earth.

As she reached the wall, Badger rose up from behind it, gave a mighty 'woof!' and dashed into the trees beyond. Ace followed her on to the muddy ground. She gave a look down at her mud-stained legs and wished she'd worn something more sensible. She hadn't realized it would be quite like this, but as she was already dirty she thought she might as well carry on.

She could hear a stream somewhere amongst the trees and aimed for that. By now the ground was level and she could see the cliff rising above the leaves. When she finally got to the stream she found that it ran just a few feet away from the sheer rockface. She jumped across the water and gazed at the wall of rock. At the moment it was far too slippery for any climbing. It would have to have the sun on it for a couple of hours first. She turned away from it and looked back into the trees where she could see Badger's black and white form dashing back and forth.

She had hardly been out of the house for ten minutes and so she decided to have a wander alongside the gurgling water. She walked upstream and slowly the cliff became less steep and fell away from her.

Eventually she saw that she would be able to climb up the valley side and, there being nothing to stop her, she did so.

She had to dig her toes in and lean forward, but the going wasn't particularly hard, even with Badger dancing around her feet. Nearing the top, she found her way blocked by a barbed wire fence. A few feet behind the fence a battered wooden sign announced, 'Trespassers Will Be Shot'.

The barbed wire by itself might have deterred Ace from going any further, but she felt a particular animosity towards people who stuck signs into the ground. She carefully pushed the wire down and slowly eased herself over it, at the last moment giving a slight hop as she had to let go. Badger stood on the opposite side of the fence and barked at her. Ace could see that the dog could jump the fence easily and so she called to her. Immediately Badger started whining and ran off down the hill, her tail between her legs.

Ace shrugged and carried on up the hill. When she reached the top she looked down into the next valley. At the east end there was a house, but apart from the bare slopes, the rest of the valley was filled with trees. Now that she was here she thought that she might as well go down and have a look. She descended the slope and went into the trees.

It was dark and quiet there. The canopy of leaves was thick and seemed to only let through the occasional drop of water. It wasn't that there was no birdsong, but it was strangely muted as though the humid air dampened the sound.

The trees had the feel of being ancient, their very sap drawn out of the past. It wasn't just that they were old and moss-clad, for not all of them were, but they were of the stock that had made up Britain's woodlands many centuries ago. Not