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And you wouldn't want to die on a nice day like this for no good reason, would you?' As his voice trailed away, he could hear the distant sounds of a helicopter engine. He pointed to the sky. 'You've got two minutes. Run.'

The three men looked at each other, then back towards the Doctor. As one, they sprinted into the shadows of the road, and out on to the fields.

Benton stood rooted to the spot, watching the Doctor walk towards him as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. 'What was all that about?' asked the soldier.

'Part rationalism, part hypnotic suggestion. I've always been quite good at that sort of thing. As I am at saving your life, seemingly.' His final words were drowned by the noise of the incoming helicopter. A tall, dark-moustached soldier dropped to the ground just before the helicopter landed. He carried a Browning 9mm pistol in one hand, and was followed by four heavily armed UNIT soldiers.

'Ah, Lethbridge-Stewart,' said the Doctor amicably. 'I'd appreciate it if you could have a few of your stout fellows get my car out of that field. Poor old thing.'

'Doctor, what on Earth happened?'

'A minor incident, Brigadier, nothing more.' said the Doctor.

'Sergeant Benton!' barked the Brigadier. 'Report!'

'Sir,' said Benton, snapping to attention. 'Some five minutes beyond the base we were attacked by four men, one of them armed. He shot at the car, hitting the tyres. The Doctor fought off this man' - he pointed to the prone figure of the Doctor's first attacker - 'and the other three... escaped, sir.'

The Brigadier inspected the man on the ground, and then stood up, shaking his head. 'We won't get much out of him, I'm afraid. He's dead!'

'That's impossible,' said the Doctor, horrified. 'I barely touched the man.' He knelt down, checked for a pulse, and then stared closely at the man's face and lips. 'Cyanide capsule,' he said flatly. 'He'd rather die than be captured.' He felt a moment's anger and slapped his palm on to the ground next to the body. 'I abhor needless death, Brigadier!'

'I agree, Doctor. And your death would have been particularly unnecessary.' replied the Brigadier.

'Don't be a fool, Lethbridge-Stewart. If they had wanted me dead they could have killed me at any stage. They could have shot me, instead of Bessie's tyres. No, they were trying to kidnap me. ‘The Doctor paused and looked into the shadows of the road as if the answers lay there. 'I wonder why...'

'I for one don't intend to give them a chance to satisfy your curiosity, Doctor. From now on you will be accompanied at all times by at least three armed men.'

'That's ridiculous!' protested the Doctor.

'You say that about most of my decisions, Doctor,' said Lethbridge-Stewart, turning back towards the helicopter as if the

conversation was at an end.

'And I'm usually right,' commented the Doctor under his breath

as the Brigadier clambered into the cockpit.

'I think we saw history last night,' said Billy Fleming. 'A vision of what's to come.' He gestured in the direction the lane was taking them. Susannah smiled the same spaced-out smile she'd had since

about 7.30 that morning. 'The Great Gig in the Sky.

That's what

they'll call it.'

'And, man, we were there,' said Billy. 'Right in the centre of it'

Chuck nodded, deep in thought. 'I wonder what that sky thing was - literally, I mean, because I don't want to deny the validity of the subjective experience...'

Billy and Susannah glanced at each other and smiled.

Both thought Chuck odd, but over the last couple of days they'd grown

to like him. He was an American, slightly older than their nineteen or so years, and had claimed to be into the music more

than the drugs. His detachment - his desperate attempts to force his 'square-peg' character into the round hole of the festival scene - was charming rather than embarrassing.

'It was, like, the ancient gods coming out of the stone circles and having a party' Billy started coughing, which at least interrupted his free-form interpretation