Flesh and Stone I

Callie's knees buckled and the Doctor caught her before she could fall. Around her, everyone was staggering, unsteady. One of the clerics moaned. Callie's eyes fluttered. For a moment, nothing looked different. The walls of the temple looked the same all around, and she tensed for a long moment before she realized what happened.

"What happened?" Amy asked. River was helping her to her feet.

"We jumped," River answered.

"Jumped where?"

"Up," the Doctor said. "Look up."

Callie looked up and saw the half-formed Angels far, far above them. It was bizarre, seeing them upside down. Chillingly, they were all pointing up, reaching for the humans out of range.

"How?" Callie asked. The Doctor gave her a good look, one that made her feel utterly seen in a way that turned her stomach pleasantly. Once he was satisfied she was okay, he hurried to a circular hatch on the floor, surrounded by lights. He started sonicking it as he spoke.

"The ship crashed with the power still on," he explained. He glanced up at her. "So, what else is still on?"

"How about you just tell me?" She asked. He rolled his eyes.

"The artificial gravity," he said as the hull groaned and loosened. "One good jump, and up we fell. Shot out the grav globe to give us an updraft, and here we are."

"Doctor, the statues," Father Octavian said. His eyes were glued upwards- er, downwards, technically. "They look more like Angels now."

And they did. They were starting to get wings back, their dresses becoming more defined, their facial structures returning.

"They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage," Callie guessed. "It's giving them their image back. Restoring them."

Father Octavian frowned, turning his gaze to Callie. She instinctively shrunk under his glare. "What did the Angel mean, when it said you knew what would happen?"

The clerics, who had been mumbling and muttering amongst themselves, silenced. Amy walked up behind Callie, a hand on the small of her back.

"Callie sometimes knows things," she said vaguely, her voice hard.

"She knew those men would die and did nothing?" Father Octavian was dangerously angry. Callie flinched at his harsh tone, but she couldn't do much else.

"I did what I could," she tried to say, but her words caught in her throat. They felt sticky and untrue. She could have done more, but more people might have died if she had. The thought didn't assuage any of the guilt, and she knew Father Octavian wouldn't believe her. Or maybe he just wouldn't care.

"You should have done more," Father Octavian growled. "Their deaths are on your head."

That much she already knew. The Doctor, though, stood quickly between them.

"Within an hour, the Angels be an army," the Doctor said gravely. "Now isn't the time."

"Father Octavian," River said pointedly.

Callie noticed neither of them disagreed.

Father Octavian grimaced, baring his teeth briefly in an almost animal-like movement. He dropped his gaze, looking back to the Angels, at the ready.

Finally, the hatch popped open. At the same time one of the lights went out with a sharp crack. The Doctor cringed.

"They're taking out the lights," he said. He waved upwards. "Look at them. Look at the Angels. Into the ship, now. Quickly, all of you."

Helping Callie down through the hatch, he jumped in after her. They looked up, where Amy stood, staring down at them. They must have looked sideways to her, like they were walking on the walls.

"It's just a corridor," the Doctor told her. "The gravity orientates to the floor. In here, all of you. Don't take your eyes off the Angels." He nodded for Callie to follow him. Together, they worked on a control panel while Amy, River, and the clerics climbed in after them. Each took a moment to orient themselves.

The hatch closes behind with a resolute clunk. The light up above was dim, but visible.

"The Angels," Father Octavian said, looking straight past Callie to the Doctor. "Presumably, they can jump, too?"

There was a thunk.

"They're already here," Callie said, looking towards the closed hatch.

"In the dark, we're finished," the Doctor agreed.

Down the corridor, a bulkhead began to close noisily.

"Run!"

They all bolted, Father Octavian grumbling about how the Byzantium was basically a death trap. Despite her feelings towards the Bishop, Callie found herself silently agreeing.

The didn't make it before the bulkhead closed. Callie hurriedly dug her phone out of her bag (River's 'no-pockets' rule was already so inconvenient), but the Doctor waved her off.

"Too many sonics can be counterproductive sometimes," he told her. She left the sonicking to him. To Father Octavian, he said, "this place is a time bomb. Well, it's a death trap and a time bomb."

He sighed in frustration when the bulkhead wouldn't reopen. "And now it's a dead end. Nobody panic." Nobody said anything. "Oh, just me then? What's through here, anyway?"

"Secondary flight deck," River answered. She had a map of the Byzantium on her communicator screen. Amy paced besides her nervously.

"Okay. So, we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah?" She didn't wait for an answer. "So, what if the gravity fails?"

Shit. Callie hadn't thought of that.

"I've thought about that," the Doctor said lightly as he worked.

"And?"

"And we'll all plunge to our deaths. See? I've thought about it." He pushed off the wall, frustrated. After just a moment, he got back to work. "The security protocols are still live. There's no way to override them. It's impossible."

River's fingers were flying on her communicator device. Once again, Callie felt useless. Utterly useless. She'd really done nothing of importance; she might as well have hidden in the TARDIS like the Doctor had suggested.

"How impossible?" River asked.

"Two minutes," the Doctor said.

In the distance, they heard the outer hatch open. The Angels were inside the Byzantium, with them.

"The hull is breached," Father Octavian said, "and the power's failing."

The lights went out for a quick second. At the far end of the hall, a stone arm was visible from the open hatch.

"Incoming, sir," a cleric said, cocking his weapon. Not that it would do much good.

"Doctor?" Amy hissed. "The lights."

The lights flickered again, and the Angel inside the corridor. Again, and three others were by its side. Once more, the hatch closed, locking them with the four Angels and a failing power source.

"Clerics, keep watching them," Father Octavian ordered.

"Not their eyes," Callie said quickly. "Anywhere but the eyes."

"Not to be rude," one of the clerics said quite rudely, "but we're not too keen on taking orders from you, miss."

"Do as she says or I'll leave you lot behind," the Doctor snapped. "I've isolated the lighting grid. They won't be able to drain the power now."

"Good, good," Callie murmured.

"Good you like it so far," the Doctor said.

Amy looked at him, eyes wide. "So far?"

Reluctantly, the Doctor admitted, "Well, there's only one way to open this door. I guess I'll need to route all the power in this section through the door control."

"Good. Fine. Do it," Father Octavian said.

"Including the lights," the Doctor said. Callie stilled beside him. "All of them. I'll need to turn out the lights."

Callie's hands shook, but she closed them into fists. She'd been scared this whole time. Five seconds. She just needed to be brave for five seconds.

"Do it," she said.

"Wait," Father Octavian bit in harshly. To the Doctor, "How long for?"

"Fraction of a second. Maybe longer."

"Maybe?"

"I'm guessing," the Doctor said, voice pitching. "We're being attacked by statues in a crashed ship. There isn't a manual for this!"

"Doctor, we lost the torches," Amy reminded him. Needlessly, as no one in that hull was any less than completely aware of the lack of flashlights at their disposal. "We'll be in total darkness."

A idea sparked in Callie's mind. Quickly, she dug out her phone as the Doctor asked Father Octavian permission to turn the lights out.

"Dr. Song, I've lost good Clerics today," Father Octavian said. "You trust this man?"

"I absolutely trust him," River swore.

"He's not some kind of madman, then?"

River paused just a beat too long. "I absolutely trust him."

"We don't have to be in total darkness," Callie said. She'd messed with the phone settings a little and managed to find a flashlight app. (Thank god for the TARDIS making this advanced phone easy for twenty-first century users!) She flicked it on. The light wasn't super bright, but it was bright enough.

"Oh, thank god," Amy muttered. Callie positioned the light so it hit all four of the Angels.

"River, Amy, look at the Angel on the far left," Callie said. Her hands shook, but she held strong. "Clerics, the two middle. Father Octavian and I can look at the far right."

Mercifully, none of the clerics nor Father Octavian argued with her orders.

"Remember, don't blink," the Doctor stressed.

"We get it," Amy snapped. "Just hurry up!"

"Amy, I need you," the Doctor said. "River can watch your Angel. As soon as the lights go down, the wheel should release. Spin it clockwise four turns."

"Ten," Amy said in affirmation. The Doctor turned to face her fully.

"No, four," he stressed. "Four turns."

"Yeah, four, I heard you," Amy said, gripping the wheel. Callie could practically feel the Doctor's eyes on her back, but there wasn't time to chit chat. They'd wasted too much time as it was.

"Ready!" He shouted. Callie struggled to keep her hands steady. One of the middle Angels was mostly hidden by another, and they could be in danger if the light missed that one completely. How creative could it get to go around the light?

The Doctor got to work, buzzing his sonic loudly for a long moment.

"On my count, then," Father Octavian said, taking charge. "God be with us all. Three, two, one!"

The lights cut out, leaving Callie's phone as the only brightness in the long hall.

"Turn!" The Doctor shouted at Amy. She audibly struggled with the wheel, but it loudly opened.

"It's opening!" She grunted. "It's working."

The lights stayed out much longer than the fraction of a second the Doctor had hoped for. The Angels stayed in place, all eyes on them.

Until the flashlight on Callie's phone flickered.

She gasped, and the statues all moved forward far further than she would have liked. Fortunately, the bulkhead gave way just enough to let a trickle of light through.

"Fall back!" The Doctor cried. Callie didn't move. Someone- she had no idea who- grabbed her and maneuvered her through the small opening. Her eyes burned, but she didn't take them off the Angels until the bulkhead closed once more. The Doctor barely slipped inside in time.

She dropped her aching arms and let the Doctor grab her free hand, pulling her down to the end of the second corridor. At the far end was a full control panel for the flight deck. There were a lot more panels and button and a few ruined chairs. The Doctor and River both busied themselves with the cords and things.

The Angels threw themselves on the door they'd just closed, banging so loudly they all had to shout to be heard. After a horrible moment, the wheel began to turn. Father Octavian lunged and placed a device on the door, stopping the wheel.

"Magnetized the door," he said proudly. "Nothing could turn that wheel now."

"Yeah?" the Doctor asked, disbelieving.

Of course, the wheel continued to turn haltingly.

"Dear god," Father Octavian gasped. It was the first time that true fear shone on his face.

"Ah, now you're getting it," the Doctor griped. He waved his sonic in the air for emphasis. "You've bought us time. That's good- I'm good with time."

"Doctor," Amy started, but soon they all heard the wheel on a door to their right beginning to turn.

"Seal that door," Father Octavian barked to a cleric. "Seal it now."

The cleric followed instructions. Again, the device slowed the turning, but did not stop it.

"We're surrounded," River stated.

The wheel to the left began turning, and Father Octavian was quick to seal it up.

"Doctor, how long have we got?" He asked.

"Five minutes, max," the Doctor said, his head tipped downwards as he worked.

"Nine," Amy said.

The Doctor paused, straightening to look at her,

"Five," he repeated.

"Five," Amy said, nodding. "Right."

"Why'd you say nine?" The Doctor asked.

"I didn't," Amy insisted. The Doctor's gaze slipped to Callie. Her nerves were fried and she didn't think as she spoke.

"They're in her eye," she said, watching the far door.

"We need another way out of here," River said desperately.

"Wait, hang on," the Doctor said, holding up a finger. He stepped closer to Callie. "What do you mean, 'they're in her eye'?"

Frazzled, Callie didn't think about what she was saying. "She looked into the eyes of the Angel, it climbed inside. It's counting down until it kills her."

"What?!" Amy yelped, whirling around. "I'm dying?"

"How?" the Doctor asked. "How could it be in her eye?"

Shaking her head, Callie threw her hands in the air. "I don't know! The book said something about it! The eyes are the doors to the soul or something. Her mind's eye has the image of the Angel and it'll kill her from the inside out."

"How do we fix it?"

"Temporarily-"

"Permanently," the Doctor said forcefully. Far more forcefully than he'd been with her since she met him. It snapped her out of her nerves, reminded her that this was not the time for this.

"We need to get out of here," she said, softer. The Doctor's eyes, scary angry, bore into hers. "She's got time, she'll be fine."

"How can you say that?" Amy cried. She looked betrayed, tears making her eyes shine. Callie stammered, and then the door on the far end opened, revealing the four Angels that had been stalking them.

The clerics opened fire without command, but the gun smoke made it harder to see them and freeze them properly.

"Hold your fire," Father Octavian coughed, choking on the fumes. "HOLD YOUR FIRE!"

The Angels were practically to them by the time the smoke cleared. They stood, stone teeth bared and arms reaching, just on the other side of the control panels.

"Amy, close your eyes," Callie said.

"How do we get rid-" The Doctor started, but Callie shouted over him.

"Close your eyes!"

Amy started to protest, but Callie was a caged animal, desperate and half-feral. She slapped her hands over Amy's eyes, forcing them to close and the Angel's image to pause.

"There," she said breathlessly. "Mentally turned the TV off. Keep them shut and the Angel in your head can't kill you."

She looked to the Doctor and did not like how he was looking at her.

"There's something you haven't seen yet, and as far as I'm aware it's the only way to save her permanently. But we need to move, now."

He clearly wanted to argue, force the answer out of her, but the cleric on the end blinked.

A snap of an arm that no one saw, and the cleric disappeared from their group.

"Where'd Marco go?" One of the clerics asked, staring at the spot he'd just been in.

"What?" Amy asked, squeezing her eyes tight. "What's happened?"

"The Angel got Marco," River said, horrified. She struggled to control her voice. Steadier, she said, "He blinked."

"We need to keep moving or we're all dead," Callie said, heart in her throat and thumping painfully hard. "We can only keep our eyes open for so long."

As if on cue, the lights in the room dimmed dangerously low before returning to normal.

The Doctor got to work then, though it was clear he wasn't happy about it. Before she knew it, the wall had been removed and a robo-forest sprawled out before them, providing fresh air for the decades the starliner was meant to go between pit stops.

"It's a forest," a cleric said in shock.

"A forest?" Amy asked.

"Don't open your eyes," Callie barked. She could see the temptation on her friend's face. "The Angel wants you to. Open your eyes and you'll be dead before you can count to eight. There's an oxygen factory in front of us. And it'll be our way out."

At this point, she was ready to say whatever the hell she needed to in order to keep them moving.

"Is there another exit?" The Doctor asked Father Octavian. "Scan the architecture, we don't have time to get lost in there." Father Octavian gave the affirmative, reminding his men to watch the Angels.

"He said it was a forest, though," Amy mumbled, crossing her arms. She was clearly put out about missing the trees.

"Oh, more than a forest," the Doctor told her. "Way better than trees. You're going to love this. Treeborgs. Trees plus technology. Branches become cables become sensors on the hull. A forest sucking in starlight, breathing out air. It even rains. There's a whole mini-climate. This vault is an ecopod running right through the heart of the ship. A forest in a bottle on a space ship in a maze. Have I impressed you yet, Amy Pond?"

Amy huffed a little laugh. "Yeah, you have."

"Doctor, there's an exit, far end of the ship, into the Primary Flight Deck," Father Octavian reported. The Doctor nodded, clapping once.

"Oh, good. That's where we need to go."

"Plotting a safe path now."

"Quick as you like."

The communicator, now in the Doctor's pants pocket, crackled to life with Bob's voice.

"Doctor? Excuse me? Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir."

The Doctor waved them all into the forest and began reassembling the wall as he spoke to Angel Bob. Callie grabbed Amy's hand, guiding her into the forest and settling her on a fallen tree.

"Ah. There you are, Angel Bob," the Doctor said. He cradled the communicator between his cheek and shoulder like Callie's mom used to, as he was using both his hands. "How's life? Sorry, bad subject."

"The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve."

"Achieve? We're not achieving anything. We're just hanging. It's nice in here," the Doctor said. "Nice, fresh air with a forest. I always love a forest."

"The Angels are feasting, sir. Soon we will be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world. and all the stars and worlds beyond." Bob didn't sound thrilled about it. Callie had to assume that the Angel couldn't invoke emotion into Bob's voice.

"You know what? Enough chat," the Doctor snapped as the last bit of the wall returned into its position. Finally, the clerics could blink. A couple rubbed their eyes furiously. "How do we fix Amy?"

Callie tried not to be hurt that he wasn't going to listen to her.

"There's no way to save her, sir," Angel Bob said, "we shall take her. We shall take all of you. We shall have dominion over all time and space."

The Doctor scoffed, pacing. "Get a life, Bob. Oops, sorry again." He didn't look all that sorry. "There's power on this ship, but nowhere near that much."

"With respect, sir, there's more power on this ship than you yet understand."

That horrible screeching sound resumed. Callie and Amy both flinched, covering their ears.

"What's that?" River cried, cringing. It sounded like nails being dragged down a chalkboard. "Dear God, what is it?"

"It's hard to put in your terms, Dr. Song, but as best I understand it, the Angels are laughing," Angel Bob explained.

"Laughing?" The Doctor asked incredulously.

"Because you haven't noticed yet, sir. The Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed," Angel Bob said. He paused. "The Golden One knows of the power. The Golden One thinks she can use it against us, but she's wrong."

Callie shivered as all eyes fell to her.

"We shall take her friend, then her Doctor, and then the TARDIS."

"What is it?" The Doctor asked. Callie shook her head. He repeated his question, fiercer. More frightened than she would ever admit, she turned and spotted the crack through the trees. She pointed.

"No," the Doctor breathed.

"What? What is it?" Amy asked. "I can't see, remember?"

At this point, they were running on borrowed time. Any second now, Angels would be coming in through the trees. Callie needed to get them moving, get this fucking adventure over and done with.

"It's a crack in the universe," she explained. "Amy, if you could see, you would notice it's the exact same shape as the one in your bedroom. The one Prisoner Zero used to escape."

The Doctor paled, running a hand over his mouth.

"What?" Father Octavian asked.

"Two parts of space and time that should never have touched," the Doctor said with the air of repeating something he'd said before.

"It's growing, and it'll eat this place up," Callie said. "All of us, too. And it won't just kill us. We'll have never been born."

"And the Angels expect to use this crack as a power source?" River asked. "Impossible."

"They think they can handle it," Callie said. She struggled to remember specifics from the rest of this episode. "I'm willing to bet they can't. It's pure Time Energy, too much for anyone to handle."

The Doctor finally looked at her properly, his anger melting away as he realized just how much danger they were in. Why Callie couldn't have said something. What she was risking by laying it all out now.

"We need to get moving," he stated to them all. "Callie, with me."

She shook her head. "No."

"No?"

Her mind was moving a million miles a minute, guilt warring with fear warring with duty warring with fatigue. She was exhausted from running on adrenaline nonstop. She was scared shitless, and felt unbelievably guilty for the cleric's she'd gotten killed and for not stopping Amy from getting an Angel in her head and-

"You all need to move before the Angels figure out another way in," she said finally. She balled her hands into fists. "They will any minute. Amy can't see, she'll just slow you all down."

"Thanks," Amy grumbled.

"So this is how it's going to work," Callie said, sounding a lot more confident than she felt. "Doctor, you'll take River and Father Octavian to the escape route. Find us a way out, away from the Angels and the crack. Preferably, that route will be up."

God, she hoped she was remembering this episode correctly. She could get them all killed (or worse) otherwise.

"The clerics and I will stay with Amy, keeping her safe since she can't see the Angels. Call us when you've secured our way out, we'll come to you, and then you'll do something clever to get rid of the Angels." She wanted to say more, but was afraid the Angels might hear and mess everything up. They had one shot at this. "Sound good?"

River and the Doctor stared at her in awe. Finally, River broke into a grin.

"There's the Callie I've been missing," she said proudly. "Let's do it."

A/N: Y'ALL! You guys were so awesome with the reviews on the previous chapter! Thank you all so so much, and please keep it up! Please remember that reviews = quicker updates, like this chapter being posted less than 24 hours after the last one.