AJ looked at him for a long moment. Seeming to come to a decision, she gestured for them to take a seat in a soft searing area beside them, underneath the library floor.
"Four months ago, a body was discovered. Seemingly petrified, the young woman was in the middle of the street in broad daylight. Witnesses swore they'd seen her walking around minutes before she was found, but nobody knew how she'd gotten there."
"Petrified?" Asked Clara.
"Frozen, if you will. Caught in a state of suspended animation, her basic brain functions were still working even while her higher functions weren't. For lack of a cure, she was placed in the coma ward. She had no family, no close friends and so she was mostly forgotten about by everyone. Until a week later, when an elderly man was discovered by his wife, in his home in the same condition. Six days later, a middle aged housewife, mother of five was found in the park. Six days after that, a four year old in her back garden. Another six days, a university student in his dorm room. Five days, a politician in his office. It continued, striking randomly and gradually speeding up until it was affecting a hundred people a day. That was when the high council ordered a curfew, not that it did much good. The patients were transferred over into special wards, but they soon filled up.
"The news was going crazy, people were panicking. They called it 'The Luna Disease'. So the high council sought assistance from Dr River Song, a well known time traveler and expert on most things alien. While everyone else was running around trying to find a cure for the patients, she and a small team of specialists worked on why it was happening. They discovered there were actually creatures living among us. Only some people could see them, most can't; they discovered it seemed to be time travelers or people who believe in the extra terrestrial who could see them. People who see the universe differently to everyone else. The council then declared the planet was off limits to all. Nobody leaving, nobody entering. Then suddenly, one month ago the attacks stopped. No warning, no explanation. After a week, the high council lifted the curfew and restrictions, and refused to listen to our warnings. Dr Song was sent back to the stormcage facility, and the teams were disbanded. When another body was found two days, the council dismissed it as simply one that hadn't been found before. But of course, it wasn't."
"These creatures- did you identify them?" the doctor asked.
"No. The best we could work out was that they're very distant cousins of the weeping angels." The doctor flinched as she said this.
"Ok then. So… we need to get River back out of Stormcage, find the creatures, identify them and work out why they stopped, save the entire colony and get River back in time dinner!" he stood up suddenly and headed towards the tardis, but was stopped by AJ grabbing his jacket and bringing him to a halt.
"Nuh uh, old man. You're going to wherever it was you were before you landed here, and forgetting this." Clara held back a giggle at the expression on the doctors' face.
"What?! But, I…" he spluttered. "How old are you?!"
"I'm older than I look. And you're going to intersect your own time stream if you're not careful, and I'd rather not have to deal with a paradox or the end of the universe today. So go away."
"No." the doctor crossed his arms sulkily. "I'm nearly one thousand years older than you. You can't tell me what to do!"
He waited for the usual shock factor that came with that statement, but AJ simply raised an eyebrow and crossed her own arms.
"Leave. Now."
"Shan't."
"Oh, for gods sake you two, act like adults would you?" they both turned from their glaring to face the woman at the door. River walked in with a look of amusement on her face.
"River." The doctor didn't look surprised at her appearance.
"Hello Sweetie." She walked over to him, swinging her hips as she did so. She reached up and brushed her lips against his chastely, causing him to blink slightly in surprise.
"I was just wishing for you." He told her, but regretted it when a slow smirk spread across her lips.
"Oh, really?" He blushed.
"Riiiver, not like that. Although-"
"Okay, guys before this gets really gross can I cut in?!" AJ interrupted hastily, looking slightly green.
"Sorry dear. Right then, have you got them up to date?" River asked, swinging the bag she was carrying onto the table and settling herself on a stool. AJ nodded in response, and River looked pleased.
"Wonderful. Sweetie, where are we?" she slipped her diary from an inside pocket and the doctor did the same. Looking bored, AJ wandered over to one of the tables and began to sort through books on there. After a moment's hesitation, Clara followed her.
"What are they doing?" she asked quietly.
"They're both time travelers, so they never meet in the right order. They're syncing their diaries so they know where the other is in their shared time stream, and that way avoid any spoilers."
"What's spoilers?"
"For the future. Foreknowledge of the future is dangerous. Knowing you'll do something because someone told you, means you then have to do it. And if you then don't do it, or change it, you could tear a hole in the universe. Better to just avoid them all together."
"And that's why the doctor can't know you're his daughter?" AJ gasped, the books slipping from her fingers with a series of thumps as she stared at Clara in horror.
"You alright, AJ?" River called out to her from across the room where she sat with the doctor.
"Er… yeah, everything's fine." AJ called back shakily. River turned back to the diaries and the teenager spun back to Clara. "No, I'm not." She stuttered. Clara grabbed her fingers in reassurance.
"It's ok, I've known since England. And I haven't told him yet, have I?" AJ cast an anxious glance at the laughing couple.
"It's too early in both their timelines to know who I am." AJ told her softly as she and Clara both watched them.
"But.. I thought your mother…?" AJ shook her head sadly.
"She… left on an expedition a few months ago. She didn't come back." AJ said emotionlessly. Clara, however, wasn't fooled and the girl's clenched fists proved her right. She slipped her fingers through hers and squeezed gently.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered. AJ squeezed back with a sheen of tears in her eyes.
"So am I." she murmured. They both watched the pair, who had finished diaries and were standing pouring over documents and simultaneously flirting.
"You know, I thought them looking at me and not knowing who I am was going to be the most painful thing I'd ever have to go through. But… knowing when I do I can't go home and hug them like last time? That hurts more than anything else."
Oblivious to the teenagers' confession, the doctor and River carried on their flirting and laughter, and the look on AJ's face made Clara's heart break.
"Right, so, distant cousins of the angles. Same weaknesses?" the doctor asked.
"They have weaknesses?" AJ asked, feigning surprise, shaking off her earlier emotions.
"She has a point." Agreed River. "Different strengths though. AJ, is there still surveillance on the suspected base?"
"'Course. Had to set up a camera but it's been live broadcasting for weeks. Hasn't caught anything though." AJ replied, reaching behind her and pressing a few buttons on a keyboard, bringing a screen on the wall alive to show a cave nestled in a cliff.
"Are we sure this is the only entrance?" River asked. AJ shrugged.
"I looked over old surveyors plans, and there weren't any but they only explored the main tunnels. Didn't look in any of the side ones." She told her. "Computer, run creature recognition on current tape."
"Working." Clara looked impressed.
"It has voice commands?" she grinned. AJ looked at her quizzically.
"Well, yeah. This isn't the twentieth century." Clara frowned, but before she could say anything else the door opened and teenage boy flew in.
"Li! You here?" he called loudly, skidding to a stop when he saw the group. "Oh, sorry. Hi Dr Song, Doctor. Sorry to interrupt, but they found another three bodies down at Luna Beach."
"Oh heck." AJ muttered. The boy looked grim.
"Yeah. It's not pretty- there's probably gonna be an emergency meeting called in the next half hour, so you might want to hurry." The doctor looked confused.
"Apart from the obvious, why is this such a problem?" he asked.
"Because we're in the middle of summer, and Luna Beach is one of the most popular and busy tourist destinations there is. Meaning the press is going to have a field day, and the high council s going to try and pass the blame onto us." AJ supplied as she whizzed around the room, throwing seemingly random items into a bag.
"Not to mention the fact that these creatures just took out three people, unnoticed, in the one of the busiest areas of the colony. They're getting bolder." The boy was copying AJ, obviously familiar with the chaotic office.
"So… just a normal day at the office then." Clara said sarcastically, passing over the items AJ pointed out to her.
"Pretty much." The doctor agreed. The boy looked over to her.
"Hello. I'm Peter." He introduced.
"Clara." She smiled at him.
"Come one you two. And Peter, she's too old for you, so don't even think about it. No offense Clara." AJ shot him a grin, grabbed their hands and dragged them out, with River and the doctor on her tail.
"I'm supposed to do the dragging around." The latter complained sullenly.