Turning to leave, he collided with Luke in the office doorway. 'Ah, Luke, is Stephenson in his workshop?'

Luke answered without hesitation. 'Nay, sir.'

'I must find him. Is he at the forge?'

'Nay, sir.' Luke's laconic manner disturbed the Doctor.

'Did he give you any idea where he'd be?'

'Nay.'

Ravensworth, too, considered this unusual. 'Not at all?'

'Never said nowt, m'lord.'

The Doctor, who had been studying Luke intently, exited abruptly.

A bewildered Ravensworth glanced at Peri.

'Don't bother to ask,' she said, resignedly. 'I haven't a clue what he's up to.'

The Doctor's destination was the workshop. The taciturn replies had convinced him Luke was lying.

'Primed and loaded.' He referred to the blunderbuss tucked under Stephenson's arm. 'You're expecting trouble?'

'Likely as not. I've had message from Faraday. He's taken shelter in Redfern Dell.'

'Message?'

'Aye, he's been attacked. Now out of road, Doct'

'Luke. He brought you the message.' A statement not a question.

'How did thee know that?' Stephenson found this new acquaintance more and more unpredictable.

The Doctor, typically, ignored the query. 'Stephenson, it's too risky for you out there. Let me go.'

'But Faraday?'

'If Faraday is there, I'll bring him to you.'

Stephenson's resolve wavered.

'I promise.' The coup de grace coup de grace. 'You could finish a.s.sembling your modified steam bypa.s.s.'

'Well then tha' best take gun.'

'Thank you, no.' However, he did have a parting request. 'Stephenson I can't explain. But this is important.'

'What is't, Doctor?'

'Don't trust Luke...'

Luke was indeed a changed youth. jack Ward, aching from tiredness and unable to sleep, was writhing in the chair, yet his son regarded him almost dispa.s.sionately.

'P'raps sleeping draught's t'answer.'

'At least it would sedate them.'

Ravensworth agreed with Peri, but had no means of getting a medicament, short of sending to the town for an apothecary.

'If I had the proper herbs I could make a sedative,' Pert offered. 'Trouble is, I know nothing about the vegetation in this area.'

'I may be of use there. Somewhat of an amateur botanist myself.' Ravensworth selected a thick volume from his bookcase.

Accepting it, Peri consulted the index then flipped through the pages to the appropriate ill.u.s.tration.

'That's what I need. Valerian. Know it?'

' Valerians officinalis Valerians officinalis. Matter of fact, I do. It's an indigenous plant. Grows wild hereabouts.'

''Appen I can a.s.sist, my lord,' Luke intervened. 'Take Miss Peri to collect herbs.'

'Excellent idea. Just be careful where you go.'

Too true, Peri thought. She didn't want to b.u.mp into any of the aggressors who were roaming the countryside.

Lord Ravensworth had no qualms. 'Not to worry, young lady. You'll be in safe hands with Luke.'

'I were thinking of Redfern Dell, m'lord.'

'Couldn't have suggested a better place myself.'

The reptilian embryo's membrane-covered eyes stared fixedly from a jar.

'You saw the apprentice?' the Rani asked the Master, who had come post haste from briefing Luke.

'Yes.'

'He'll get Stephenson to Redfern Dell?'

'Not just Stephenson.' He shuddered with disgust as she topped up the embryo jars with a green, slimy glutinous liquid.

'Don't be enigmatic. It's out of character.'

'I've made doubly sure. He's been instructed to get the girl there too.'

The additional mucus caused the baby dinosaur's pink underbelly to float uppermost.

'Is it entirely imperative for you to do that now?'

grumbled the Master.

'Be patient. Stay calm.'

'I've waited too long for this moment to be calm. If you knew how often the Doctor's gone out of his way to sabotage my plans!'

'Only on this occasion he didn't go out of his way, did he? You contrived to get him here.' She put the mucus bottle in a cabinet. 'Force the TARDIS off course, did you?

Override the guidance system?'

'Can we forgo the nostalgia, and concentrate on the present!'

'With pleasure.' She activated the external door mechanism. On tenterhooks, the Master barged out of the control room first.

The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness had spread its rich mantle over the woods of Redfern Vale. Squirrels were harvesting hazel nuts and acorns. Ruby-skinned apples and russet pears weighed down the boughs in the lush valley.

But it could have been a desolate crater on the moon for all the Rani and the Master saw as they quit the old mine and headed for the Dell.

'Are you sure this plan will work?' he queried.

'I don't make mistakes.'

'If that were true you'd still be on Gallifrey.'

'Experiments are always subject to the unexpected. They can be capricious.'

'Capricious!' he said incredulously. 'Turning mice into monsters!'

'A marginal error. Quickly corrected.'

'The Time Lords didn't think so.'

'Petty spite on the part of the Lord President. Just because they ate his cat.'

'Took a chunk out of him too, I remember! Pity it wasn't the Doctor!'

'That will soon be remedied...' The Rani began the steep climb to the ridge above Redfern Dell.

The glory that burnished the landscape was not wasted on the Doctor. Whatever Earth's imperfections and there were many he knew of no comparable planet; the inspiration of poets, composers and artists. How could anyone want to desecrate it? He lengthened his stride but kept to the byways. A clash with roving aggressors would put everything into the melting pot.

A vague, almost indiscernible presentiment gnawed at him.

' "Will you walk into my parlour? said the spider to the fly",' he misquoted. 'No, I think not...' The Doctor abandoned the path and made a rougher trek through the bracken.

Like a couple of vultures, the Rani and the Master lurked beneath a spreading oak.

'I'd be happier if I could see them.' The Master was chafing at the bit. The vantage point the Rani had chosen limited their view of the clearing below.

'A sentiment they'd reciprocate. We stay here. Out of sight!'

And out of sight they were. Peri, concentrating on looking for the valerian plants, nevertheless gazed up at the great oak cresting the ridge. It was a prime specimen. The botanist's routine desire to cla.s.sify made her speculate on how old it was.

'Best keep moving, Miss.' Luke was subject to no such diversions.

'Okay, okay. I'm coming.' What was bugging him?

She'd conducted many similar expeditions and wasn't about to be hustled by a rookie! She handed him a sample leaf. 'Here. You can't go wrong if you match this.'

'I'm sure I've seen likeness further in't Dell. This way, Miss.'

Vaguely perplexed, she lingered on the outskirts as Luke resolutely led on.

A glimpsed movement at the edge of the Dell alerted the Master. In antic.i.p.ation, he eased forward.

Delight changed to fury. It was Luke.

He must get rid of the oaf before the fool spoilt everything! Impulsively, he drew the TCE a hand chopped it from his grasp!

Before the Master could collect his wits, the Doctor had recovered the pernicious weapon.

Th.o.r.n.y brambles had snagged the Doctor's trousers and shredded his sneakers, but the onerous detour had permitted him to circle the ridge, coming up to the rear of the great oak.

In his frustration, the Master berated the Rani. 'So much for your arrogant superiority!'

'A trait you both share.' The Doctor addressed the Rani.

'I got the message. I'm here. Now what obnoxious fate have you conceived?'

'Why me?' she asked.

'He blames you for the failure.'

Her silence mocked him.

'Not this ' The Doctor flourished the TCE. 'That's too simple. You'll have brewed something more malignant.'