The next thing Jamie was aware of was the sound of quacking. Shaking the mental cobwebs away, the piper opened his eyes to see a goldeneye duck waddling around the console room of the TARDIS. The Doctor was still lying beside him, stirring slightly as bright, warm sunlight poured through the doors of the TARDIS. Zoe, the Brigadier, and Salamander were also still tied to the console, unconscious.
The goldeneye now quacked even louder, vigorously flapping its wings. The breeze from the wings caused Salamander, who was next to it, to awaken. The former dictator cursed, furiously swatting at the bird, who squawked back in protest.
The row caused the others to awaken as Salamander succeeded in driving the bird out of the TARDIS.
"One moment, we are facing the end of the space-time continuum, and the next, we are being awakened by some pato!" Salamander snarled. "Begone, stupid bird!"
"Why did you do that?" the Doctor asked, awakening in time to see the sight. "We could have eaten that!"
"Doctor!" Zoe chided. "I think we have more important things to worry about right now—like whether or not our plan worked!"
"Considering that we're all alive, I should think it did," the Brigadier stated.
"I think she means whether or not we went back in time enough," the Doctor said, pausing as Jamie used his knife to cut the Doctor free from the console. "I don't really recall much of what happened."
"Aye, ye'd gone into torpor from the cold," Jamie said, as he worked on freeing the others. "I had t' make the final adjustments to the console and time the departure with the Master's."
"Oh. Oh, thank you, Jamie," the Doctor said. "We simply must check on the others; though since we are here, they must be, as well." He stood up now, taking a look at the console display.
"How did I do?" Jamie asked.
"Well, we went back in time three days," the Doctor sighed. "It's six AM, the morning this whole mess started."
"That gives us three days to get to Inverness, then," the Brigadier said. "We'll take it. But where, exactly, are we?"
The Doctor kept pressing a button on the console as the display faded.
"Oh, it's no good—the TARDIS used up all of her power to get us here; she will need to recharge before she is able to be functional, and she won't recharge until the situation with the time vortex is fixed. I imagine the Master's TARDIS will be the same way."
"Then we'll have to get our bearings the old-fashioned way," Zoe sighed.
She stepped outside, followed by the others; the Doctor's body temperature was still not back to normal, so Jamie helped him out. Victoria was aiding the Master in the same way as they left his TARDIS, followed by Benton and Yates. The UNIT vehicle had also been transported; everything had rematerialized along the shores of a body of water.
"We all made it," the Brigadier said, relieved. "Wherever we are."
"Yes, and once we get our bearings, we must move to Inverness as soon as possible," the Master said, as Victoria continued to support him.
Jamie, still clinging to the Doctor, now looked around. The place was familiar, and soon, he let out an exclamation.
"I know where we are!" he said. "I know this place! It's Loch Lomond!"
"Are you certain about that?" the Master asked.
"Aye; I visited here once when I was a wee lad," Jamie insisted. "This is most definitely Loch Lomond."
The Master did not look convinced, but the Doctor certainly was.
"I, for one, am willing to agree," the Doctor said. "Jamie would know this place better than any of the rest of us. If we were on Mount Perdition, you and I would be able to recognize it immediately, after all."
The Master conceded.
"Very well," the Master said. "I must admit, the results were better than I expected. Not only have we gotten three days back, we are more than halfway to our destination. This should give us the time we need."
"Yes, I do think we should be pleased with this outcome," the Doctor agreed. "Of course, celebrations may be premature, but I see no reason not to be proud of ourselves for getting this ploy to work, considering we only had one chance at it."
"Si, we know where we are," Salamander said. "Are we going to stand here and waste the three days we got back, or are we going to get to Inverness?"
"We shall need to get provisions first," the Doctor said.
"I agree; the rain will be upon us soon," the Brigadier said. "It should only be a few hours' drive, but in the event we come across any unexpected obstacles that would delay us, we mustn't be unprepared."
Salamander grudgingly accepted this, and the next hour was spent gathering food and water and storing it in the UNIT vehicle, as well as bringing clothes and covers to help deal with the imminent rain. Recalling how badly the cold had been towards the end, Jamie braved the darkened, dormant TARDIS corridors to retrieve the Doctor's fur coat from the wardrobe. Hopefully, the Brigadier would be right and that they would have this all finished within a few hours.
In the back of his mind, Jamie was also aware of one fact—one that he was more aware of now that the immediate danger had been delayed. And as he shuffled back and forth from the TARDIS to the UNIT vehicle, the Doctor could tell very easily that he had something on his mind.
"Are you alright, Jamie?"
"Aye," the piper said. "It's just starting t' sink in that I'm going home, sort of—I lived just outside of Inverness for the first twenty-two years of my life. But it feels so strange. In a sense, it feels I'm going home, but in another sense, nae really."
"I think I know how you feel; I feel that same mess of emotions every time I go back to Gallifrey to deliver our mission reports," the Doctor sighed. "Home isn't really home anymore, is it?"
"No," Jamie admitted. "And it's nae just because we're going back in a different year. E'en if we were going back t' my time, I'd feel the same way. I left home because there was nothing there for me. And then I got t' know ye better and I ended up finding home with ye—in the TARDIS. But I do still feel a connection to my home, so I'm happy t' go back, e'en if only for a little while."
"Well, that's only natural," the Doctor said. "The Highlands are a part of who you are, just as Gallifrey is a part of who I am."
"Aye, and I would be lying if I di'n admit that I was looking forward t' seeing my homeland again," Jamie said.
"You enjoy our travels through space and time," the Doctor observed. "But home does always serve as a beacon. And in your case, I think you would enjoy it more if we ended up getting stranded in Scotland for an indefinite period of time rather than if we were stranded on Gallifrey."
"Aye," Jamie said. "I would be fine if ye were with me in the Highlands, just living a normal life, e'en if I would miss our adventures. But I know ye cannae stand to stay in one place for verra long; I wouldnae want ye to go through that for my sake. Ye're already going through so much for me."
"Oh, Jamie…" the Doctor said. "I may love to wander, but trust me when I say that I would be happy anywhere as long as you were with me."
Jamie would have replied, but an argument outside prompted the both of them to quickly leave the TARDIS.
The source of the disturbance was soon clear; the Brigadier had removed the cables and vortex manipulator from the engine of the UNIT vehicle in order to prepare it for the journey northward.
Salamander, however, was demanding the return of the vortex manipulator, but the Brigadier had merely pocketed the device.
"Seeing as though you are partly responsible for this mess, you will have to answer for it," the Brigadier reminded him. "And we can't have you using this to make your escape once this is all over."
Salamander muttered something under his breath, in Spanish.
"One thing I have learned about the Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is that he is a most obstinate man," the Master said. "He has no intention of letting either of us escape, so you may as well make peace with that fact."
The Doctor arched an eyebrow; the Master wasn't the type to surrender quietly, and he suspected that this wouldn't be the first jailbreak that the Master had planned—and it likely wouldn't be the last, either.
Any further thoughts about this were pushed aside as the heavy downpour suddenly caught up to them.
"It's only been an hour!" Zoe exclaimed. "Oh, I wonder how far this storm spreads in three days…"
"Regardless of the speed, the time limit of 72 hours remains the same," the Master assured her. "Any oversaturation of the ground will be reversed, assuming we can get to the machine in time.
"In that case," the Brigadier said. "Let's just continue getting ready so we can put a stop to it as soon as possible!"
They had plenty of other things to worry about now; any arguments would have to be put aside.
After everyone had been satisfied with their provisions, the party entered the UNIT vehicle, attempting to dry off as the storm around them intensified. The Brigadier took the wheel as Captain Yates went over a map.
"The quickest way to Inverness would be for us to take the A82 road, past Loch Ness," Yates said.
"Did ye say A82?" Jamie asked, recalling what he had heard over the transmissions during his attempt at contacting vehicle 57. "Nae A9?"
"If we're trying to save time, no," Yates said.
"Don't tell me you, of all people, are afraid of the Loch Ness Monster, Jamie," Victoria teased.
"Of course nae," Jamie scoffed. "There's no beastie that can get the best of me. It's just that I thought the other road would be better."
"Perhaps we should go the A9 road," the Doctor said, realizing that Jamie must have heard it on the communications line.
"But if the A82 road is quicker, wouldn't it make more sense to go that way?" the Brigadier asked.
"The difference couldn't possibly be that great, can it?" the Doctor asked. "And remember, regardless of when we get to Inverness, we'll have to wait until at least six hours before the vortex reaches critical mass—that was the exact point that we used the TARDISes to go back."
"You mean we can't get there early and put the code in?" Victoria asked.
"I'm afraid not, Victoria. It would create a paradox—and the vortex is in a fragile enough state now," the Doctor said. "But there's no need to look so worried; remember, we know the code to input."
"Be that as it may, I would like for us to get there with plenty of time to spare," the Brigadier said. "We'll take the A82 road."
Jamie opened his mouth to protest, but the Doctor placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I feel you'll be vindicated soon enough," he gently assured the piper. "In the meantime, why don't you have a nap? You haven't gotten any sleep for the last couple of days—relatively speaking."
"I was unconscious long enough…" Jamie said, with a wry smile.
"I suppose so," the Doctor mused. "At least have something to eat; you never had any breakfast. Zoe, Victoria—you, too. You should have something. Thankfully, we've got plenty of rations. …Pity about that duck getting away, though."
"After this is all over, I promise to catch ye a duck for our supper," Jamie promised, as the Doctor handed him a sandwich. There was an unspoken condition in his words—assuming we make it oot of this.
The Doctor gave him a gentle, reassuring smile before handing sandwiches to the girls, as well.
As they ate, the Brigadier continued to drive northward along the A82 road. The downpour outside had reduced the visibility of the road to nearly zero, forcing him to progress down the road at a very slow rate of speed. While the Master and Salamander sat in grumpy silence, the Doctor and his companions were deep in quiet conversation.
Suddenly, the Brigadier swore loudly; their vehicle skidding forward on the wet road before coming to a complete stop.
"What is it?" the Doctor asked.
"The road is closed," the Brigadier said, through gritted teeth. "Uncontrollable flooding further ahead."
Everyone in the back of the vehicle now attempted to catch a look through the front window—and at the roadblock preventing any further progress.