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`Sir Henry has his own agenda. No doubt he has discovered by now that Scotland Yard has never heard of us.

Time is running out'

Extract from Observations and Analysis, A Journal: After reporting our findings to Doulton, the Doctor and I watched as he gave a brief address to the soldiers at Corra Linn. He announced plans for another sortie to the bottom of the river. 'Her Majesty ordered me to learn more about this so-called gateway. We must not let the unfortunate deaths of Lieutenants Ashe and Kempshall deter us from this task.

Rather than ask any of you men to face whatever dangers might lurk at the bottom of this river, I shall go myself. A good leader leads by example and I should like to be remembered as a good leader.'

His rousing words brought three cheers from the men, particularly those who had just arrived with us. I noticed the other soldiers seemed less enthusiastic, but dutifully joined in. After Doulton had dismissed his men to begin making preparations, he approached us, full of bullish confidence.

The Doctor tried to dissuade the general.

Ì must ask you to reconsider this course of action. The area around the rift is dangerous and must be treated with extreme caution. Also, and I apologise for pointing this out, but you are no longer the youngest of men. Such a dive could place an intolerable strain upon your body.'

`Nonsense, man! I'm fit as a fiddle,' Doulton insisted.

I suggested the Doctor could go in the general's place, but Doulton would not hear of it. Ì have never asked anyone to do something I was not willing to do myself,' he said, 'and I am not about to start now I will make the dive. However, you may accompany me, Doctor, to ensure nothing goes awry' It seemed the general had brought a second diving suit with him - that was what the tall wooden crate brought by train contained.

Ì dive in an hour,' Doulton told us. 'If you wish to come with me, Doctor, I advise against tardiness'

We spent the intervening sixty minutes inside the TARDIS.

While I set about repairing the ship's most important systems the Doctor was lashing together an electronic device no bigger than the palm of his hand. 'It's not perfect but should be enough for the job,' he said eventually.

`What job?'

`This is a force-field generator. When activated it should create a temporal bubble around the general and myself. This will enable us to pass through the rift without disrupting the dimensional buffer, preventing the weakness from spreading.'

I explained about reconfiguring the controls so I could keep watch over the rift during their dive. 'I might even be able to monitor your progress, if that generator gives off a strong enough temporal signal. I've also wired in a kill switch, in case of any more energy surges from beyond the rift.

All that seemed to please the Doctor. 'There's no telling what I'll find on the other side of the rift. You know what to do if I don't make it back and the rift starts to expand?'

`Panic?' I joked, trying to cheer him up. It brought a weak smile to his lips.

`Best leave that to the military, they're the experts'

I put joking aside and gave him my real answer. `Get everyone evacuated from the area, then move the TARDIS

to a safe location while monitoring the situation here'

The Doctor nodded. 'Hopefully it won't come to that but you never know. Judging by Kempshall's experience, time operates differently on the other side of the rift. It may flow at a different speed, or may not have a linear progression at all. So don't worry if it takes longer than you'd expect for us to come back up'

I handed him a plastic tube filled with green, viscous liquid that I had uncovered in a storeroom while looking for tools.

'Shake it violently for a few seconds and the contents begin to phosphoresce. Should give you some illumination down there'

* * *

It was noon when the Doctor and Doulton plunged into the Clyde. They quickly sank to the bottom of the river, weak sunshine overhead soon lost to the darkness. The Doctor pulled the tube of phosphorescent liquid from a belt tied round