Chapter 10

Flesh and Stone

'Up. Look up,' the Doctor told the group.

Everyone struggled to their feet on an artificial surface, although the tunnel walls were still made of stone.

'Are you okay?' River asked Rose and Amy as they stood up.

'What happened?' Amy asked.

'We jumped,' River told her.

Rose looked around with a puzzled expression. 'What? Like a teleport or somethin'?'

'Jumped where?' Amy enquired.

'Up. Up. Look up,' the Doctor told them.

'Where are we?' Rose asked.

'Exactly where we were,' River said cryptically.

Amy frowned. 'No we're not.'

'Move your feet,' the Doctor told her as he crouched down to sonic a circular hatch in the floor, with six inset lights around it.

Amy was looking up at the roof of a cave. 'Doctor, what am I looking at? Explain.'

'Oh, come on, Amy, think,' the Doctor said. 'The ship crashed with the power still on, yeah? So what else is still on?' he asked.

Rose looked up to the roof of the chamber and saw four statues of Weeping Angels, standing upside down, looking and reaching down to them. 'Oh, I get it, artificial gravity. We're standing on the underside of the Byzantium.'

The Doctor pointed at Rose. 'The artificial gravity. One good jump, and up we fell. Shot out the grav globe to give us an updraft, and here we are.'

They were actually standing upside down on the hull of the Byzantium, looking down at the terrace of the chamber where they had just been standing.

'Doctor, the statues. They look more like Angels now,' Octavian reported.

'They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage, draining all the power from the ship, restoring themselves. Within an hour, they'll be an army.'

The circular iris hatch opened and a light went bang. 'They're taking out the lights. Look at them. Look at the Angels. Into the ship, now. Quickly, all of you.'

'How?' Rose asked, looking down a long vertical tube.

The Doctor dropped through the open hatch into the vertical tube. From everyone's point of view, he was standing on the side of the vertical tube.

'Doctor?!' Rose said in amazement.

'It's just a corridor,' he replied. 'The gravity orientates to the floor. Now, in here, all of you. Don't take your eyes off the Angels. Move, move, move.' He was inspecting the hatch controls inside and using his sonic screwdriver on them.

'Okay, men. Go, go, go!' Octavian ordered. Inside the cylindrical corridor, he looked back at the hatch. 'The Angels. Presumably they can jump up too?'

The Doctor activated his sonic, and the iris hatch closed. 'They're here, now. In the dark, we're finished.' The hatch leading into the ship started to roll shut. 'Run!'

'This whole place is a death trap,' Octavian said.

The hatch shut tight, trapping them in the corridor. 'No, it's a time bomb . . . Well, it's a death trap and a time bomb. And now it's a dead end. Nobody panic,' the Doctor said, and nobody was. There was banging on the outside of the hatch. 'Oh, just me then. What's through here?'

'Secondary flight deck,' River told him.

'Okay. so we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah? So what if the gravity fails?' Amy wondered.

'I've thought about that,' the Doctor informed her.

'And?'

'And we'll all plunge to our deaths. See? I've thought about it.'

River pulled down a panel and started working on the electronics in the conduit, while the Doctor examined the hatch controls. 'The security protocols are still live. There's no way to override them. It's impossible.'

River looked away from the panel. 'How impossible?'

'Two minutes,' he told her.

The outer hatch opened, and Octavian took up a defensive position. 'The hull is breached and the power's failing.'

The lights went out, and they saw an arm silhouetted against the open hatch.

'Sir, incoming,' Cleric Marco said.

'Doctor? Lights,' Rose said nervously.

The Angel was starting to enter, and there was another flicker of the lights. Three more Angels were inside, and the hatch was closed behind them.

'Clerics, keep watching them,' Octavian told his troops.

'And don't look at their eyes,' the Doctor warned them. 'Anywhere else. Not the eyes. I've isolated the lighting grid. They can't drain the power now.'

'Good work, Doctor,' Octavian said.

'Yes. Good, good, good. Good in many ways. Good you like it so far.'

'So far?' Rose asked, wondering what else was coming.

'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,' Octavian told him.

'Including the lights,' he told him. 'All of them. I'll need to turn out the lights.'

'How long for?' Octavian asked.

'Fraction of a second. Maybe longer. Maybe quite a bit longer.'

'Maybe?'

'I'm guessing. 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.

'We'll be in total darkness,' Rose said.

'No other way. Bishop.'

'Doctor Song, I've lost good Clerics today. You trust this man?' Octavian asked River.

'I absolutely trust him.'

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

'Ah,' Rose said. How do you answer that one? She found out when River spoke again.

'I absolutely trust him,' River said again.

'Excuse me,' the Doctor said, slapping their shoulders and joining Rose and Amy at the hatch.

Octavian leaned close to River and spoke softly. 'I'm taking your word, because you seem to be able to get through to this guy. But that only works so long as he doesn't know who you are. You cost me any more men, and I might just tell him. Understood?'

'Understood,' she said reluctantly.

'Okay, Doctor. We've got your back,' Octavian told him.

'Bless you. Bishop.'

Octavian organised his Clerics. 'Combat distance, ten feet. As soon as the lights go down, continuous fire. Full spread over the hostiles. Do not stop firing while the lights are out. Shot gun protocol. We don't have bullets to waste.'

'Rose, Amy, when the lights go down, the wheel should release. Spin it clockwise four turns,' the Doctor told them.

'Four turns. Got it,' Rose said

'Ten,' Amy said.

'No, four,' he corrected her. 'Four turns.'

'Yeah, four. I heard you.'

'Ready?!' He plunged his sonic screwdriver into the control unit.

'On my count, then,' Octavian commanded. 'God be with us all. Three, two, one, fire!'

The lights went out, and the Clerics started shooting at the approaching Angels.

'Turn!' the Doctor called out.

'Doctor, it's opening,' Amy said.

'It's working,' Rose told him, and they got the bulkhead open just enough to squeeze through.

'FALL BACK!' the Doctor shouted over the gunfire.

The Doctor held the bulkhead door open with his sonic while everyone got through, and then squeezed through himself. They ran along a short corridor to another bulkhead door, where he used his sonic again to open it and let the group into the Secondary Flight Deck.

'Doctor, quickly,' Rose called to him, and again he squeezed through the closing gap. He hurried to the control station with River and Octavian.

'Doctor!' Amy called as the wheel on the door started to turn.

Octavian placed a device on the door and activated it.

'What are you doing?' Rose asked him.

'Magnetized the door. Nothing could turn that wheel now,' Octavian announced.

'Yeah?' the Doctor asked skeptically, and the wheel started to turn.

'Dear God!' Octavian exclaimed.

'Ah, now you're getting it,' the Doctor said. 'You've bought us time though. That's good. I am good with time.'

'Doctor,' Amy said as she saw the wheel on a door to the right start to turn.

'Seal that door. Seal it now,' Octavian commanded.

Cleric Marco stuck another device to the door, and the wheel stopped turning.

'We're surrounded,' River said as the wheel on the door to the left started turning.

'Seal it. Seal that door,' Octavian ordered. 'Doctor, how long have we got?'

'Five minutes, max.'

'Nine,' Amy said out of the blue.

'Five,' the Doctor corrected.

'Five. Right. Yeah,' Amy replied with a puzzled expression.

'Why'd you say nine?'

'I didn't.'

'We need another way out of here,' River said.

Octavian looked around. 'There isn't one.'

'Yeah, there is,' the Doctor told him. 'Course there is. This is a galaxy class ship. Goes for years between planet falls.' He clicked his fingers. 'So, what do they need?'

'Of course,' River realised.

'Of course what?' Rose asked.

'What do they need?' Amy enquired.

Octavian looked at a section of the wall. 'Can we get in there?'

The Doctor made his way over to the recessed section of wall and inspected it. 'Well, it's a sealed unit, but they must have installed it somehow. This whole wall should slide up. There's clamps.' He took out his sonic screwdriver and sonicked the clamps at the base of the wall. 'Release the clamps.'

'What's through there? What do they need?' Rose asked.

'They need to breathe,' River told her as the rear wall of the flight deck slid up.

Amy and Rose's jaw dropped. 'But that's. That's a . . .' Amy said.

'It's an oxygen factory,' River explained.

'It's a forest,' Rose said.

'Yeah, it's a forest,' River agreed. 'It's an oxygen factory.'

'And if we're lucky, an escape route,' the Doctor said.

'Eight,' Amy said randomly.

Rose looked at her. 'What did you say?'

Amy was unaware that she'd said anything. 'Nothing.'

'Is there another exit?' the Doctor asked. 'Scan the architecture, we don't have time to get lost in there.'

Octavian stepped into the forest. 'On it. Stay where you are until I've checked the Rad levels.'

'But trees, on a space ship?' Rose said.

The Doctor followed Octavian into the forest. 'Oh, more than trees. Way better than trees. You're going to love this.' He pulled at a piece of tree trunk, and it peeled back to reveal a web of fibre optic cables. '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?'

'Seven,' she replied.

'Seven?' He queried, looking intently into her eyes.

'Sorry, what?'

'You said seven.'

'No. I didn't.'

'Yes. you did,' Rose said.

Octavian called from the forest. 'Doctor, there's an exit, far end of the ship, into the Primary Flight Deck.'

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

'Plotting a safe path now.'

'Quick as you like.'

['Doctor? Excuse me? Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir.']

The Doctor took the communicator out of his jacket pocket and sat in the control chair. 'Ah. There you are, Angel Bob. 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. Consoles, comfy chairs, a forest. How's things with you?'

['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.']

'Well, we've got comfy chairs. Did I mention?'

['We have no need of comfy chairs.']

The Doctor turned off the communicator and spoke over his shoulder. 'I made him say comfy chairs.'

Amy laughed and said, 'six.'

'Okay, Bob, enough chat. Here's what I want to know. What have you done to Amy?'

['There is something in her eye.']

'What's in her eye?'

['We are.']

'What's he talking about? Doctor, I'm five,' Amy told him. 'I mean, five . . . Fine! I'm fine.'

'You're counting,' Rose said.

'Counting?' Amy asked.

The Doctor looked in her eyes again. 'You're counting down from ten. You have been for a couple of minutes.'

'Why?'

'I don't know.'

'Well, counting down to what?'

'I don't know.'

['We shall take her. We shall take all of you. We shall have dominion over all time and space.']

The Doctor sat back in the comfy chair. 'Get a life, Bob. Oops, sorry again. 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.'] A screeching sound came from outside the flight deck.

'What's that?' Rose asked.

'Dear God, what is it?' River also wanted to know.

'They're back,' Octavian announced.

['It's hard to put in your terms, Doctor Song, but as best as I understand it, the Angels are laughing.']

'Laughing?' the Doctor asked.

['Because you haven't noticed yet, sir. The Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed.']

'Doctor,' Octavian called to him. It was time to move out.

'No. Wait. There's something I've missed.'

A steaming "W" shaped crack had appeared in the bulkhead above the forest entrance, and it was widening.

Amy looked at it wide eyed. 'That's, that's, that's like the crack from my bedroom wall from when I was a little girl.'

'Yes. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched,' the Doctor told her.

'Okay, enough,' Octavian said. 'We're moving out.'

'Agreed,' River concurred. 'Doctor?'

The Doctor was moving a large crate towards the entrance. 'Yeah, fine.'

'What'cha doin'?' Rose asked.

'Right with you,' he said as he climbed on the crate and started scanning the crack.

'We're not leaving without you,' River told him.

'Oh yes, you are . . . Bishop?'

'Miss Tyler, Miss Pond, Doctor Song, now!'

'Doctor?' Rose was reluctant to leave him.

'Come on!' River said.

The Doctor looked at the results of the scan. 'So, what are you? Oh, that's bad. Ah, that's extremely very not good.'

Amy was sitting on a moss covered outcrop in the forest, with Rose by her side, who was holding her hand. They were flanked by four of Octavian's Clerics. Marco, Phillip, Crispin and Pedro, who were charged with keeping them safe.

The Doctor had realised that if Amy kept her eyes closed, the Angels would not be able to use her vision centres against her. Unfortunately, that meant that she was in no condition to make the 400 metre dash through the forest to the Primary Flight Deck. The Doctor realised that he would have to leave her behind, and Rose had selflessly volunteered to stay with her to keep her company.

Amy was taking the opportunity to get to know Rose better. 'So how did you two first meet then?' she asked.

'He sort of blew up my workplace,' Rose told her.

Amy laughed. 'That's one hell of a way to catch a girl's eye.'

Rose laughed with her. 'Yeah. And then he said he could take me anywhere in the universe.'

'Best chat up line ever!'

'Nah. It didn't work on me,' Rose said, and saw the frown on Amy's face. 'Well, I'd got my mum on her own in the flat, and my boyfriend Mickey . . .'

'You had a boyfriend?'

'Yeah. I'd known him since school, and he looked after me after I had a disastrous fling with this wanker called Jimmy.'

'So what happened . . ? Not with Jimmy, with the Doctor I mean.'

'Well, he went into the TARDIS and slowly faded away. I felt kinda sad and empty after all the excitement of beatin' the Nestine Consciousness and savin' the planet. I'd got no job, no prospects, it all seemed so pointless. And then, as I was helpin' Mickey out of the alley, I heard that amazin' noise again. When we turned around, he'd come back and he was standing there at the door of the TARDIS, all smug like.'

'And what did he do?'

'That's when he gave me the best chat up line ever. "Did I mention that it also travels in time", he said. Well, that did it for me. I could have all the travellin' and adventurin', and still be back in time for tea.'

Amy hesitated. She was facing a death sentence at the moment if she opened her eyes. 'Is it always this dangerous?'

'Not always,' Rose told her. 'Most of the time we're sight seein' and havin' fun. Okay, so like I said before, my first alien planet I got thrown in prison. But it was a prison planet, and at the time it was scary. But when I look back on it, it helped to turn me into the person I am now.'

Rose put an arm around Amy's shoulders to comfort her. 'You should see some of the places we've been to and the people we've met. Charles Dickens, Will Shakespeare, he was a right flirt. Queen Victoria, Elizabeth the First.'

She gazed beyond the confines of the forest as she continued. 'And the places he's taken me to. The frozen waves of Woman Wept, the glass pyramids of San Kalhoon. The burst of star fire over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio, Mistfall on Alzarius, the intelligent sand and singin' fish of Karas don Kazra don Slava.'

'It sounds amazing, certainly better than where we are at the moment.'

'Yeah, but the Doctor will sort it. You just have to trust him . . . believe in him.' Rose's vision came back into focus as she noticed the lights in the trees starting to falter.

Amy felt Rose tense before standing up. 'So, what's happening? Anything happening out there?'

'The lights are flickerin' on the Treeborgs,' Rose told her.

'The Angels are still grouping. Are you getting this too?' Marco asked.

'The trees? Yeah,' Phillip replied.

'What's wrong with the trees?' Amy asked.

'Here too, sir. They're ripping the Treeborgs apart,' Pedro announced.

Phillip called out. 'And here. They're taking out the lights.'

'What is it? What's happening? Tell me. I can't see,' Amy said.

Rose sat down again and put her arms around Amy's shoulders. 'The Angels are attackin' the trees.'

'It's the trees. ma'am,' Marco said. 'The trees are going out.'

'Angels advancing, sir,' Phillip said.

'Over here again' Pedro told them.

Marco went into combat mode. 'Weapons primed. Combat distance five feet. Wait for it.'

'What is it? What's happening? Just tell me!' Amy said in desperation. She was terrified.

'I think the Angels are groupin' for an attack,' Rose told her. 'Don't worry. I am not goin' to blink.'

'Keep your position and, ma'am, keep your eyes shut,' Marco told Amy. A bright light flooded through the trees in the forest. 'Wait.'

'The ship's not on fire. is it?' Marco asked.

Pedro tried to see through the trees. 'It can't be. the compressors would have taken care of it. Marco, the Angels have gone. Where'd they go?'

Rose looked all around her. 'What the hell? He's right, they've gone!'

'What, the Angels?' Amy asked her.

'This side's clear too, sir,' Phillip called out.

Amy moved her head around trying to hear what was happening. 'The Angels have gone?'

'There's still movement out there, but away from us now. It's like they're running,' Marco said.

'Running from what?' Amy asked.

'Or to what,' Rose suggested. She helped Amy to her feet so that she could get a better look at the light.

'Phillip, Crispin, need to get a closer look at that,' Marco told them.

'What are you all looking at? What's there?' Amy asked.

'It's like, I don't know, a curtain of energy, sort of shifting. Makes you feel weird. Sick,' Marco explained.

'And you think it scared the Angels?' Amy said.

'Oh God,' Rose said. 'I think it might just have done that . . . because it sure as hell scares me.' She thought to her husband. ['Love, we've got a problem.']

'What could scare those things?' Pedro asked as Rose had her private conversation.

'Rose, what is it? What's scaring you?' Amy asked.

Rose spoke and thought at the same time. ['That crack in your wall Amy, it's here in the forest, and it's bigger than ever.']

'It's following me! How can it be following me?' Amy nervously asked as she fell to her knees.

Rose could hear the Doctor's internal dialogue in her head. ['Cracks . . . Cracks in time. The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall. Time running out. No, couldn't be. Couldn't be. But how is a duck pond a duck pond if there aren't any ducks? Okay, time can shift. Time can change. Time can be rewritten. Ah. Oh!']

'Are you okay?' Marco asked Amy.

'Yeah.'

'Marco, you want me to get a closer look at that?' Pedro asked, nodding at the illuminated crack.

'Go for it. Don't get too close.'

'Hang on. What about the other two?' Rose asked. 'Why not just wait until they're back?'

'What other two?' Marco asked.

'The ones you sent before.' Amy said in a puzzled tone.

'I didn't send anyone before.'

'You did, I heard you,' Amy told him.

'Crispin and Phillip,' Rose added.

'Crispin and who? Rose, there never was a Crispin or a Phillip on this mission, I promise you.'

['Uh-oh,'] Rose thought to the Doctor. ['If you think a crack in the universe is bad, this is really gonna ruin your day. Two of the Clerics have disappeared.']

['Disappeared? Have the Angels got enough power now to zap them into the past?'] he asked himself.

['I don't think it was the Angels. Marco and Pedro don't remember them. It's like they never existed.']

['Time can be rewritten! Oh, got to go. An Angel has got the Bishop in a headlock.']

'No, I heard you,' Amy told Marco. 'Before you sent Pedro, you sent Crispin and Phillip, and now you can't even remember them. Something happened. I don't know what, and you don't even remember.'

'Pedro?' Marco asked.

'Yeah, before you sent Pedro.'

'Who's Pedro?'

'Something's happening. Pedro was here a second ago and now you can't even remember him.'

'There never was a Pedro. There's only ever been the three of us here.'

'No, there were six of us. Why can't you remember?' Amy pleaded.

'Because for him, they never existed,' Rose explained.

'But we remember them,' Amy said.

'We came here in a time machine. I remember the Doctor tellin' me about this background radiation you get from travellin' in the TARDIS. It must be protectin' our memories.'

Marco had heard enough of their nonsense. 'Listen. Listen. I need to get a closer look at that light, whatever it is. Don't worry, I won't get too close.'

'No. No, you can't,' Rose told him.

'You mustn't,' Amy said.

'Here. Spare communicator. I'll stay in touch the whole time,' Marco said as he handed Amy the radio.

'You won't, because if you go back there what happened to the others will happen to you,' Rose told him in a calm, quiet voice.

The sad, resigned look on her face made Marco doubt his own conviction. He knew that the Bishop had given him the sole task of defending the women, and if there was a light that could keep the Angels at bay, then he needed to investigate it.

'There weren't any others,' he told them sadly. The stress of the situation had obviously gotten to them.

'There won't be any you if you go back there,' Amy said.

'Two minutes. I promise,' Marco said as he headed towards the light.

'Please, just listen to us!' Rose called to the retreating Cleric.

'Let him go!' the Doctor demanded of the Angel who had the Bishop in a half Nelson.

'Well, it can't let me go, sir, can it? Not while you're looking at it.'

'I can't stop looking at it, it'll kill you.'

'It's going to kill me anyway. Think it through. There's no way out of this. You have to leave me.'

'Can't you wriggle out?'

'No, it's too tight. You have to leave me, sir. There's nothing you can do.'

The Doctor wrung his hands together helplessly, desperate for inspiration. What he wouldn't give for Michelangelo's sculpting tools right now. He'd have that arm off in a second.

'Sir, there's nothing you can do,' Octavian told him.

'You're dead if I leave you.'

'Yes. Yes, I'm dead. And before you go . . .'

'I'm not going.'

'Listen to me, it's important,' Octavian said sternly. 'You can't trust her.'

'Trust who?'

'River Song. You think you know her, but you don't. You don't understand who or what she is.'

'Then tell me.'

'I've told you more than I should. Now please, you have to go. It's your duty to your friends.'

'Just tell me why she was in Stormcage?'

'She killed a man. A good man. A hero to many.'

'Who?'

'You don't want to know, sir. You really don't.'

'Who did she kill?'

'Sir, the Angels are coming. You have to leave me.'

'You'll die.'

'I will die in the knowledge that my courage did not desert me at the end. For that I thank God, and bless the path that takes you to safety.'

'I wish I'd known you better,' the Doctor said sadly.

'I think, sir, you know me at my best,' Octavian replied courageously.

'Ready?'

'Content.'

The Doctor dived through the hatch onto Primary Flight Deck, and closed it behind him.

'There's a teleport,' River told him. 'If I can get it to work. we can beam the others here. Where's Octavian?'

'Octavian's dead. So is that teleport. You're wasting your time. I'm going to need your communicator.'

She handed it over, and he switched it on to hear a conversation between Amy and Cleric Marco.

['Hello? Are you there? Hello? Hello?']

['I'm here. I'm fine. Quite close to it now.']

['Then come back. Come back now, please.']

['It's weird looking at it. It feels really . . .']

['Really what? Hello? Really what? Hello? Hello? Hello? Please say you're there. Hello? Hello?']

'Amy? Amy? Is that you?' the Doctor asked.

['Doctor?']

'How many of the Clerics are left with you?'

Amy was stunned. How did he know about the Clerics disappearing? ['They've gone. There was a light and they walked into the light. Doctor, they didn't even remember each other.']

'No, they wouldn't.'

'What is that light?' River asked him.

'Time running out,' he replied. 'Amy, Rose, I'm sorry, I made a mistake. I should never have left you there.'

['You didn't leave me,'] Rose said over the communicator. ['I stayed. Big difference.'] The Doctor smiled at his wife's courage.

['Well, what do I do now?'] Amy asked.

'You come to us. The Primary Flight Deck, the other end of the forest.'

['I can't see. I can't open my eyes,'] Amy reminded him.

['I'll guide you through,'] Rose told her. ['You can put your hands on my shoulders, and I'll be like a guide dog.']

'Brilliant! You have to start moving now. There's Time Energy spilling out of that crack, and you have to stay ahead of it.'

['But the Angels, they're everywhere,'] Rose explained.

'I'm sorry, I really am, but the Angels can only kill you.'

['What does the Time Energy do?'] Rose asked him.

'Just keep moving!' he said, avoiding the question.

['Tell us,'] Amy demanded.

'If the Time Energy catches up with you, you'll never have been born. It will erase every moment of your existence. You will never have lived at all. Now, you keep your eyes shut and Rose, keep moving.'

'It's never going to work,' River said.

'WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU GOT? RIVER, TELL ME!' he shouted angrily, afraid for his wife and his friend.

At that moment, there were clanging noises around the ship. 'What's that?' River asked.

'The Angels running from the fire. They came here to feed on the Time Energy, now it's going to feed on them.'

'That Time Energy, what's it going to do?' River asked him.

He rubbed his eyes wearily. 'Er, keep eating.'

'How do we stop it?'

'Feed it.'

'Feed it what?'

'A big, complicated space time event should shut it up for a while.'

'Like what, for instance?'

'LIKE ME, FOR INSTANCE!' he shouted. He was running out of patience . . . and time.

['Doctor, there are Angels all around us now,] Rose called to him over the communicator.

'Rose, listen to me. This is going to be hard but I know you can do it. The Angels are scared and running, and right now they're not that interested in you. They'll assume you can both see them and their instincts will kick in. All Amy's got to do is walk like she can see,' the Doctor told his wife.

He then addressed Amy. 'Amy, don't open your eyes. Walk like you can see. Neither of you are moving. You have to do this . . . Now.' There was still no sign of them moving. He banged his hand on the console in frustration. 'YOU HAVE TO DO THIS!'

There was a long silence before Rose's voice quietly spoke over the communicator. ['Doctor. I don't think we can move. We're surrounded by Angels, and we seem to be the centre of attention.']

'Rose, stand back to back with Amy and edge forward,' the Doctor instructed.

['I think they know she can't see . . . Oh my God, they're reachin' for our throats!']

'ROSE! Don't blink! I'll think of something,' he said quickly, but he didn't know what.

There was a flash of light, and River grabbed hold of Rose and Amy. 'Don't open your eyes Amy. You're on the Flight Deck. The Doctor's here. I teleported you.' She looked at the Doctor with a satisfied smile. 'See? Told you I could get it working.'

Rose ran forward and hugged the Doctor. He kissed the top of her head and looked at River. 'River Song, I could bloody kiss you,' he said.

River grinned. 'Ah well, maybe when you're older.'

An alarm started to blare out. 'What's that?' Rose asked.

'The Angels are draining the last of the ship's power, which means the shield's going to release,' he explained as he walked over to the forest bulkhead. The bulkhead rose to reveal an array of Angels.

'Angel Bob, I presume,' he said to an Angel holding a communicator.

['The Time Field is coming. It will destroy our reality.']

'Yeah, and look at you all, running away. What can I do for you?'

['There is a rupture in time. The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close, and they will be saved.']

'Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could do, could do that. But why?'

['Your friends will also be saved.']

'Well, there is that.'

'I've travelled in time,' River told him. 'I'm a complicated space time event too. Throw me in.'

'Oh, be serious. Compared to me, these Angels are more complicated than you, and it would take every one of them to amount to me, so get a grip.'

'Yer not seriously considerin' helpin' them by throwin' yerself into that thing are ya?' Rose asked in disbelief.

'Doctor, I can't let you do this,' River said.

'No, seriously, get a grip,' he told them.

'You're not gonna die here!' Rose said angrily.

'No, I mean it. Rose, River, Amy, get a grip.'

River looked at the readouts on the display and realised what was happening. 'Oh, you genius.'

['Sir, the Angels need you to sacrifice yourself now.']

'Thing is, Bob, the Angels are draining all the power from this ship. Every last bit of it. And you know what? I think they've forgotten where they're standing. I think they've forgotten the gravity of the situation. Or to put it another way, Angels . . .'

A monitor said Gravity Failing, as River put Amy's hand on the handles of a console module. 'You hold on tight and don't you let go for anything.' She turned to Rose. 'Find something secure to hold onto. Things are going to get interesting.'

The Doctor gave the Angels a lopsided smile 'Night, night.'

The monitor displayed Gravity Failed, and they felt themselves being pulled off the floor towards the forest, which used to be behind them, but was now below them. They looked down past their feet, and saw the Angels falling backwards through the forest. Rose was reminded of the lever room in Canary Wharf when they defeated the Daleks and Cybermen. The Angels disappeared into the crack, which then closed.

'Now what?' Rose asked as they hung from the consoles.

'Ah, yes. Right. I'd better come up with a plan to get us out of here,' he said sheepishly.