Everyone heads off to bed, realising that there is not much they can do without being able to see. Sophie follows the Doctor up to his room. The Time Lord lights a candle in the room, and Sophie sits on the corner of the bed. "Doctor, I know you know more than you're sharing. What is going on?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," he mutters, sitting next to her on the bed.

"Don't pull that crap with me, Doc. I know you. Arguably, I know you better than anyone else. So what is going on, Doctor. I'm not Ace, and I'm certainly not bl*dy Brigadier Bambera."

The Gallifreyan sighs, "It's a bit of a long and complicated story."

"I've got plenty of time. If I'm gonna help, I gotta know what's going on."

"Oh, very well."

The Doctor tells her everything that's happening in great detail. By the time he's finished, it's the wee hours of the night. Sophie curls up on the bed in his room, and falls asleep rather quickly.

She wakes up to a loud bang, and finds the Doctor standing at the foot of the bed. "What the h*ll, Doc. Can't you wake people up like a normal person?"

"No," he states, and turns on his heel.

"Are we heading to the dig site?" she calls after him. He raises his hand above his head in a thumbs up.

Sophie grumbles after the Time Lord, but rolls off the bed, following him, Ace, and Warmsly out of the hotel.

They trek a little ways to the UNIT convoy, where the archeological and dig site is located. "And you excavated all this yourself?" the Time Lord asks, as they walk onto the dig site. There are a few large holes dug around the area.

"Labour of love, really," Warmsly smiles fondly.

"Impressive," the Doctor nods.

"And I did have some help from Shou Yuing."

Sophie looks around the dig site, "And where exactly did you find the scabbard?"

He points to a flag directly in front of the group, "By that marker."

"How long did it take?" Ace asks, as she jumps down into the pit with the marker.

"Oh, about ten years so far," he shrugs.

"Ten years?" her eyes widen.

"Archeology is a precise and delicate skill. History has to be eased out of the earth one painstaking layer at a time."

"I still think ten years is a bit of a long time." Ace squats down in the trench, and uses the archeology brush to move aside some dirt, revealing a carved stone embedded in the soil. "What's this?"

Warmsly leans down, and gazes at the markings, "Ah, now that's a bit of a mystery. No one's been able to decipher the carving."

The Doctor leans his head onto his umbrella, "It says, Dig Hole Here."

"Extraordinary," Warmsly turns to gaze at the Time Lord, "What does it say that in?"

"Old High Gallifreyan," Sophie states.

"And my handwriting," the Doctor mutters, "Ace, we need a hole."

The girl produces a canister of Nitro Nine from within the pocket of her bomber jacket. She waves the canister, and gazes up at the Doctor, "Right. How long?"

"Er, sixty seconds should be long enough." The Doctor turns away, and ushers Warmsly in front of him, Sophie just following him without question.

"Long enough for what?" Peter asks, nervously.

The Doctor starts to move a bit faster, and Sophie glances back to watch Ace. The Time Lord continues to talk with the archeologist. The woman watches as Ace sprints away from the explosive canister, and jumps down into the nearby trench, just as the explosive goes off, throwing a load of dirt into the air.

The Doctor looks up, his hat having rolled off his head, and into the loose soul of the trench they had ducked into. "Ace?" he asks, annoyance ringing his voice.

"I think the timer needs work."

He sighs, and grabs his hat, "One of these days we're going to have a nice long talk about acceptable safety standards."

Sophie rolls her shoulders, and climbs to her feet, offering Peter a hand, "Like your safety standards are ever any better."

"I take great care," he argues.

"Says the man who's died six times."

The Doctor rolls his eyes, and leaps to his feet, pulling Ace up with him. "Six deaths is perfectly reasonable."

"No, it really isn't. You know what a reasonable number of deaths is? Zero."

The Doctor smiles at her, and starts off toward the new hole in the ground. Sophie follows after him. The group stop at the pit, and peer down into the massive hole.

"What's down there?" Ace asks, looking over at Warmsly.

"Don't ask me. I've only been excavating this site for ten years."

"With a bit of luck, a tunnel," the Doctor grins.

"A dark, mysterious one?" Sophie asks, leaning on his shoulder.

"Probably."

"Leading to unknown dangers?" Ace adds.

"Indubitably."

Sophie smiles, and uses the large pile of dirt next to the whole as a slide, and heads down into the pit. The Doctor and Ace slither down behind her. Ace looks at the tunnel in front of the trio, and grins, "Oh, wicked!"

The Doctor looks up from the tunnel to meet Warmsly's eyes, "Peter, Ace, Miccy, and I are going to investigate this tunnel. You stay here and guard it. Don't let anyone come in here."

The Doctor starts off into the tunnel, Ace and Sophie trailing after him.

"What am I supposed to do, lecture them on archeology?" Petet calls down.

Sophie sticks her head out of the tunnel to answer him, "Yes." His face shows confusion, but she just heads right back into the tunnel, following the Time Lord and his companion.