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'Are you sure?' Leela asked. 'You said you did not know where we were.'

She was still watching and listening for predators but apart from the small scuttlings and twitterings that would be expected in a place like this she had heard nothing, and all she had seen were tiny, timid flyers and small, nervous tree-climbers. Although she knew there were always larger creatures that fed on such smaller ones there was no sign of anything big and threatening in the immediate area.

That was before I smelt the air and felt the sun,' the Doctor said.

Leela frowned. 'We are standing in the shade.'

The Doctor ignored the contradiction. And look,' he said, gesturing towards the bushes, blackberries and rose hips.' He pointed up at the trees.

'Finches and squirrels. We are in the northern temperate zone.' He strode to one of the bushes and picked a fat blackberry heavy with juice. 'And the autumn is just beginning. A magical time.' He ate the berry with lip-smacking relish. 'Try some of these. They're almost as good as jelly babies.'

Leela shook her head. I do not like jelly babies,' she said.

'I promise you they're not poisonous,' the Doctor said, picking more. 'Trust me, I'm the Doctor.'

'I trust you, Doctor,' Leela said, making no move to join him but looking instead towards the distant buildings. 'Are we going there?'

'A pleasant walk in the afternoon sunshine?' The Doctor smiled. 'I think so.'

'If you know where we are, do you know what it is?'

I haven't a clue. But that's half the fun of it wouldn't you say?' the Doctor said, and before Leela could speak he went on, 'No you wouldn't, I know.'

Shall we go then?' Leela suggested, frowning. 'We do not know how soon the darkness will come.'

'Soon.' The Doctor ate another blackberry and stared thoughtfully into the middle distance. Making up his mind he said, 'There's something I need to do first.' He went back to the TARDIS. 'I'll only be a moment,' he told Leela as she moved to follow him.

Leela scowled. 'You forget how much time passes.'

'I'll be quick, I promise.'

'Such promises mean nothing,' Leela sulked, 'and you are never quick.'

'Wait out here and keep watch.'

'This is not a good place.'

The Doctor smiled. 'This is the only place,' he said enigmatically, and went inside.

He crossed to the console and examined the telltales again. There had been something very positive about the way the TARDIS had come here, something that was not really reflected in what he had seen outside. He might not know exactly how to fix her but he knew her moods and music intimately. She had come here as though this was the only place she could be. The question was why? The answer was probably unfathomable, but sometimes it was possible to get an idea of what might be happening from the time it took the console indicators to reset themselves.

He checked them all carefully. Only one was out of phase. The time-line flux adjuster showed a very small residual overlap. The temporal anomaly was fading fast but it was there. Somewhere close by, the Doctor realised, there must be a tiny fault in the fabric of the multiverse. 'Well spotted, old thing,' he said. 'While we're here you can draw on the auxiliary power banks,' as he talked he set the controls, 'and use your probability compensators to overlay that spot and strengthen that weakness.' He finished the adjustments and pressed the switch. 'A stitch in time,' he said,

'saves something or another.'

Stepping out of the TARDIS he said to Leela, What does a stitch in time save, do you know at all?'

'No,' she said darkly. 'I do not. Can we go now?'

'Soon.' The Doctor was not quite ready to leave. He wanted to be sure he had not destabilised the TARDIS. First I thought we should familiarise ourselves with our surroundings.' He pointed to some small trees. Those, for example. Do you know what they are?'

'Of course I do not,' Leela said. 'How would I know? And why would I care?

Can we go now?'

It could be important,' the Doctor