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The contingent had set forth several days earlier from Aldershot, travelling into London before taking the train north to Scotland. The journey had been a fractured, stop-start affair. Finally, the men had been forced back on foot for the last miles.

Lieutenant Reginald Ashe appeared beside Vollmer on the hillside overlooking the village. 'Remarkable, isn't it?' the lieutenant said cheerfully. He was several years younger than the sergeant but still outranked him, thanks to a rich family.

Ashe's commission had been purchased for him, once the horrors of the Crimean War had passed. While Vollmer had been earning his rank in mud-strewn trenches outside Sebastopol, young Ashe had been playing sport on the fields of Eton. All the boyish enthusiasm in the world wouldn't keep Ashe alive for long if he ever saw combat, the sergeant had decided. He was developing a healthy contempt for the lieutenant, but kept such feelings to himself. It didn't do to get on the wrong side of officers, they would just take it out on you in other ways.

'Yes, sir,' Vollmer replied. 'Can't say as I've seen anything like it before.'

'Quite.' Ashe looked about himself. 'Well, where do you think we should make camp for the night? How about down in the village itself?'

The sergeant shook his head slowly. 'I don't think so, sir.'

As he appeared crestfallen. 'Why ever not? Looks like a lovely sort of place, very friendly and welcoming. Be good to get a night's sleep in a proper bed.'

Indeed, sir, but maintaining discipline with the men is easier when they have fewer distractions. A village full of comely young female mill workers is also likely to be a village full of temptations, if you follow my meaning.'

'Yes, yes - I see what you're suggesting.' Ashe rubbed a thumb across his chin. 'So, then - where do you suggest?'

'Perhaps best if we find a sheltered site up here in the hills for now. It'll be dark within an hour so the sooner we make camp the better. Tomorrow we can move upstream to the falls and establish a more permanent presence.' Vollmer advised.

`Right-o! I say, this is proving to be quite an adventure, isn't it?'

The sergeant smiled as best he could before replying.

'Yes, sir. Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll fall the men in and get them to work on making camp.'

'Good show. I'm going to venture into the village and make contact with the natives. The last thing they'll be expecting is a contingent of Her Majesty's finest settling in the hills above them. Best I give the head man some idea of why we're here.'

Vollmer seized this opportunity to put a question of his own for once. 'Why exactly are we here, sir?'

'Dashed if I know. I simply received word to establish a presence beside the Falls of Clyde. Once we're in place I've got sealed orders to open about our next task. Apparently we can expect additional equipment within a day or two. Ashe shrugged. 'Other than that, your guess is as good as mine.'

Probably better, the sergeant thought. 'Very good, sir.

Well, I'll go see to the men.'

`Right-o!'

Vollmer gritted his teeth, snapped to attention and gave a precise salute before marching away. Right-o! What in God's name were they teaching officers these days? The sooner somebody outlawed the purchasing of commissions, the better!

* * *

Extract from Observations and Analysis, A Journal: Precise landings of the TARDIS are not always to be relied upon, except for their tendency to evoke some perverse irony. Indeed, the Doctor's ability to pilot this vehicle through time and space is almost as erratic as the machine itself.

Getting the TARDIS to land at a particular locus can either be simplicity itself or an almost unobtainable goal. From the moment Tegan stepped on board she wanted to get back to London in 1981, but it took a temporal anomaly to achieve that. It was a surprise to both herself and the Doctor when we accidentally arrived at Heathrow - precisely where we had been trying to go.

Having recently left that site, we found ourselves on course for almost the same point