The Time of Angels pt. 1
After our confrontation with the Daleks in 1940s London, we find ourselves in a museum on an asteroid.
"Wrong. Wrong. Bit right, mostly wrong." The Doctor runs through and points out different objects. "I love museums!"
"Yeah, great. Can we go to a planet now? A big spaceship, Churchill's bunker…? You promised us a planet next." I roll my eyes. It's just like Amy to have her mind set on one thing.
"Amy, this isn't any old asteroid. It's the Delerium Archive, the final resting place of the headless monks, the biggest museum ever."
"You've got a time machine. What do you need museums for?"
"Wrong! Very wrong!" The Doctor gets excited as he spots something. "Oh, one of mine. Also one of mine."
"Oh, I see. It's how you keep score." I say laughing. We watch as the Doctor stops at a case and stares at what is inside. Amy walks over and I follow.
"Oh, great, an old box." She says after looking at it.
"It's from one of the old starliners. A Home Box."
"What's a Home Box?" I ask as I take in the writing on it.
"Like a black box on a plane, except it homes. Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home with all the flight data."
"So?" Amy asks a little bored and annoyed.
"The writing, the graffiti-Old High Gallifreyan." The Doctor says pointing at the box. "The lost language of the Time Lords. There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple gods."
"What does it say?" I ask.
"'Hello, sweetie!'" He replies. He promptly takes out his sonic and opens the case. He picks up the box. An alarm sounds. He looks at us, "Run!" We take off running towards the TARDIS. We make it to the TARDIS before the guards can catch us.
"Why are we doing this?" Amy asks as the Doctor brings the box to the console.
"Cos someone on a spaceship 12,000 years ago is trying to attract my attention." The Doctor plugs it in. "Let's see if we can get the security playback working." A picture comes up on the screen.
"The party's over, Doctor Song, yet still you're on board."
"Sorry, Alistair. I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach its destination."
"Wait till she runs. Don't make it look like an execution."
"Triple-seven, five, slash, three, four, nine by ten. Zero, twelve, slash, acorn. Oh, and I could do with an air corridor." The Doctor races off to the keyboard.
"What was that, what did she say?" I ask as the Doctor.
"Co-ordinates!" The Doctor set the TARDIS in motion. We watch the monitor as the woman blasts open and she is sucked into space. "Whoo!" The Doctor yells as he runs to the doors and opens them. Amy and I watch as the woman careens into him and they both fall on the floor.
"Doctor?" Amy questions.
"River?" The Doctor asks the woman lying on top of him. She quickly jumps up and looks out the doors.
"Follow that ship!" She cries as we watch it speed away.
DWDWDWDWDW
"They've gone into warp drive. We're losing them! Stay close!" River yells as the TARDIS moves this way and that way. Amy and I hang on to the railing.
"I'm trying!" The Doctor says while flipping levers.
"Use the stabilizers."
"There aren't stabilizers!"
"The blue switches!"
"The blue ones don't do anything, they're just blue."
"Yes, they're blue. They're the blue stabilizers!" River makes her way over to the Doctor and presses a blue button. The TARDIS automatically stops shaking. "See?"
"Yeah, well, it's just boring now, isn't it? They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers." Amy and I make our way over to the Doctor.
"Doctor, how come she can fly the TARDIS?" Amy whispers to him.
"You call that flying the TARDIS? Ha!" The Doctor walks over and takes a seat. Amy walks over to River, who is typing on the keyboard and looking at the monitor.
"Okay. I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination, and parked us right alongside." River states triumphantly after the TARDIS dings.
"Parked us? We haven't landed." The Doctor laments. He stands up and walks over to the console.
"Of course we've landed. I just landed her."
"But it didn't make the noise."
"What noise?"
"You know, the…" The Doctor goes on to imitate the noise the TARDIS makes when he lands it.
"It's not supposed to make that noise. You leave the brakes on."
"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise. I love that noise. Come along, Ponds, let's have a look." The Doctor heads for the door.
"No, wait! Environment checks." River calls after him.
"Oh, yes, sorry! Quite right. Environment checks." The Doctor goes to the door and opens it. "Nice out."
"We're somewhere in the Garn Belt. There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest…"
"We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System. Oxygen-rich atmosphere, toxins in the soft band, 11 hour-day, and chances of rain later."
"He thinks he's so hot when he does that." River says looking at me and Amy.
"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" I ask her.
"Oh, I had lessons from the very best."
"Well, yeah." The Doctor says smugly.
"It's a shame you were busy that day." River looks at the screen. Amy seems to be entranced by this mysterious woman. "Right, then, why did they land here?" River grabs her heels and heads for the door.
"They didn't land."
"Sorry?" The Doctor gets up and we follow him.
"You should've checked the Home Box-it crashed." We all head to the door and open the door. River walks out and the Doctor closes the door after her. He turns and looks at us for a moment before heading back to the console.
"Explain!" Amy states as she follows after him. "Who is that and how did she do that museum thing?" The Doctor starts flipping switches setting the TARDIS up to leave.
"It's a long story and I don't know most of it. Off we go."
"What are you doing?" Amy asks him incredulously.
"Leaving. She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to do."
"Are you basically running away?" I ask amused.
"Yep."
"Why?" We both ask him at the same time.
"Cos she's the future, she's my future."
"Can you run away from that?" I ask eying Amy as I say it. She gets the meaning behind it and glares at me.
"I can run away from anything I like. Time is not the boss of me."
"Hang on; is that a planet out there?" Amy asks.
"Yes, of course it's a planet." The Doctor states like it's obvious.
"You promised us a planet. Five minutes?" Amy asks unable to contain her excitement.
"Okay, five minutes!" The Doctor concedes begrudgingly.
"Yes!" Amy exclaims running for the door.
"But that's all, cos I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything!" The Doctor calls after her. He looks at me.
"She's dreamed of seeing a planet since she first met you. She's just a little excited." We walk to the doors and follow her out.
DWDWDWDWDW
We step outside to see the crashed starship. It has crashed into the side of a cliff and buried itself in an old temple.
"What caused it to crash? Not me."
"Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it. According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase-shift. No survivors."
"A phase-shift would have to be sabotage. I did warn them."
"About what?"
"Well, at least the building was empty. Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries." River starts pulling things out of her bag and the Doctor turns to us.
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" I ask in a whisper.
"Amy and Jaz Pond, Professor River Song." He says motioning to her. River gasps as she turns to us.
"I'm going to be a professor someday, am I? How exciting!" She turns back around and laughs. "Spoilers!'
"Yeah, but who is she and how did she do that? She just left you a note in a museum." Amy whispers amazed.
"Two things always guaranteed to turn up in a museum. The Home Box of category-four starliner and, sooner or later, him. It's how he keeps score."
"We know!" Amy laughs as she walks up to River. I look at the Doctor and he seems annoyed.
"It's hilarious, isn't it?" We all laugh. The Doctor comes up and breaks our little group apart.
"I'm nobody's taxi service! I'm not going to be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship."
"And you are so wrong. There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die." The Doctor pauses his retreat and turns to look at her. Her communicator beeps. "Now he's listening. You lot in orbit yet?" River walks away and Amy and I walk back to the Doctor. "Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal." River turns to the Doctor and lifts the device in the air. "Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon." He pulls out his sonic and points it at her.
"Oh, Doctor! You soniced her." Amy teases seductively.
"We have a minute. Shall we?" River walks back over to us and pulls out a book. She starts thumbing through it. "Where are we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?"
"What's the book?" Amy asks the Doctor.
"Stay away from it." He warns.
"What is it, though?" I ask curiously.
"Her diary."
"Our diary."
"Her past, my future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order." As the Doctor finishes, four soldiers appear in a whirlwind. The oldest one walks over to us.
"You promised me an army, Dr. Song." He states as he approaches.
"No. I promised you the equivalent of an army." She turns to look at the Doctor before continuing, "This is the Doctor." The man turns to look at the Doctor with a look of admiration on his face. The Doctor salutes.
"Father Octavian, sir. Bishop, second class. 20 clerics at my command." He shakes the Doctor's hand. "The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Dr. Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Dr. Song explained what we're dealing with?"
"Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?" River asks as she turns to him. The Doctor's face goes rigid. Amy and I glance at each other knowing this can't be good.
DWDWDWDWDW
Night has fallen when Octavian's men get everything set up. Amy and I follow behind the Doctor and Octavian as he explains what's going on.
"The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship. Our mission is to get inside and neutralize it. We can't get through up top, we'd be too close to the drives. According to this, behind the cliff face, there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then work our way up."
"Oh, good," the Doctor comments after he is done. Octavian turns to him surprised.
"Good, sir?" he questions.
"Catacombs, probably dark ones. Dark catacombs, great." The Doctor says this in his usual way. Octavian seems unphased.
"Technically, I think it's called a maze of the dead."
"You can stop any time you like."
"Father Octavian?" He turns at hearing his name.
"Excuse me, sir." He leaves and I watch him walk away.
"You're letting people call you 'sir'. You never do that." Amy comments and I nod my head. The Doctor goes about doing his thing.
"So whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?" I say and the Doctor looks at us.
"Now, that's interesting. You're still here. Which part of 'Wait in the TARDIS till I tell you it's safe' was so confusing." He says looking us both in the face.
"Oh, are you all Mr. Grumpy Face today?" Amy teases. I don't laugh though. He seems genuinely worried. The Doctor leans in close and looks Amy directly in the eyes.
"A Weeping Angel, Amy, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced, and right now one of them is trapped inside that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in after it with a screwdriver and a torch, and assuming I survive the radiation long enough, and assuming the whole ship doesn't blow up in my face, do something incredibly clever which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day, that's what I'm up to. Any questions?"
"Is River Song your wife?" The Doctor drops his head in defeat and I roll my eyes. "Cos she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone do that. She's kinda like, you know, 'Heel, boy!' She's Mrs. Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she going to be your wife one day?" There have been few times that I have been able to not crack under Amy's onslaught of questioning.
"Yes." Amy perks up thinking she is right. "You're right. I am definitely Mr. Grumpy Face today."
"Doctor! Doctor!" River calls to him. He drops his head. Amy and I share a look.
"Oops! Her indoors!" Amy teases.
"Father Octavian." River calls for him too. We head after him.
"Why do they call him 'Father'?" I question looking at Octavian's army outfit.
"He's their bishop, they're his clerics. It's the 51st century, the Church has moved on." We enter the room and look at a large screen. On the screen is a statue.
"What do you think?" River asks turning to us. The Doctor walks up to the screen as Amy and I stand next to River. "It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I've put it on loop."
"Yep. It's an Angel. Hands covering its face."
"You've encountered the Angels before?" Octavian asks from the back of the room. We all turn to look at him.
"Once, on Earth, a long time ago. But those were scavengers, barely surviving."
"But it's just a statue." Amy says looking back at the screen.
"It's a statue when you see it." River explains. Amy looks at me confused.
"Where did it come from?" The Doctor asks.
"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of the last century. It's been in private hands ever since, dormant all that time."
"There's a difference between dormant and patient."
"What does that mean; it's a statue when you see it?" Amy asks for clarification. River turns to us.
"The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen. So legend has it."
"No, it's not legend. It's a quantum lock." We turn to look at the Doctor. "In the sight of any living creature, the Angels literally cease to exist. They're just stone. The ultimate defense mechanism."
"What, being a stone?" I ask sarcastically.
"Being a stone, until you turn your back." The Doctor turns to us and smiles. The Doctor, River, and Octavian all head out the door. Amy and I watch them walk away. She goes to follow but I pull her back. She gives me a look.
"The Doctor needs to talk this through without you interrupting so he can explain."
"Anybody need us? Nobody?" Amy questions as she raises her arms. No one pays any attention. She crosses her arms and pouts. I pat her on the shoulder as I turn back to the Angel on the screen.
DWDWDWDWDW
The Angel on the screen has turned its head. It no longer has its face in its hands.
"Amy, you need to look at this." I call and she comes in. I point to the screen and she looks. She motions for me to stay put as she walks closer to it. She walks back to the doorway.
"Dr. Song? Did you have more than one clip of the Angel?" She calls out. River turns to her as I peak my head out of the doorway.
"No, just the four seconds," she says turning back to the Doctor. Amy looks at me before heading back inside. I follow her. I stop in my tracks as I look at the screen. Amy walks up to it and I follow. The Angel has moved again. I look at the time stamp.
"It's the same four seconds," I say and Amy looks back at the screen. She gasps so I look up. The Angel is closer to the screen. I hear the door close and lock. Amy picks up the remote and tries to turn the screen off. It keeps turning back on.
"But you're just a recording. You can't move," Amy whispers. She tries to pull the plug but it won't budge. "Jaz, come help me." We both tug on the cords but they won't budge. Amy looks up at the screen. Gasping, she grabs my arm and pulls me back.
"Amy," I cry out shocked. She points to the screen. The Angel is right in front of the camera.
"Doctor!" Amy calls thinking the door is still open. We try to open the door but it won't budge. We look back to the screen and the Angel is snarling at us. "Doctor," Amy calls out again.
"Doctor," I call this time as we try to get the door open again. We turn back and the image is now projected into the room.
"Doctor! It's in the room!" Amy calls. She pulls me behind her. "Doctor," she calls trying to get the keypad to unlock the door.
"Amy! Jaz! Are you all right? What's happening?" We hear the Doctor call.
"Doctor! Doctor, it's coming out of the television. The Angel is here." Amy cries.
"Don't take your eyes off it! Keep looking. It can't move if you're looking."
Amy stands in front of me and looks at the Angel.
"Don't blink. "Don't even blink, Amy! Don't even blink!"
"Doctor, help us!" Amy cries again.
"Can you turn it off? The screen, can you turn it off?"
"We tried," I say.
"Try again, but don't take your eyes off the Angel."
"I'm not," she starts moving to the remote. She fumbles for it so I walk over and hand it to her.
"Each time it moves, it'll move faster. Don't even blink."
"I'm not blinking! Have you ever tried not blinking?" I watch as Amy keeps hitting the button. It switches back on. "It just keeps switching it back on!"
"Yeah, it's the Angel."
"But it's just a recording." I yell out.
"No, anything that takes the image of an Angel is an Angel."
"Doctor, what's it going to do to us?" Amy asks worriedly.
"Just keep looking at it. Don't stop looking!"
"Just tell me. Tell me. Tell me!" She starts freaking out. I go to stand next to her but she shoves me back.
"Amy, not the eyes. Look at the Angel, but don't look at the eyes."
"Why?" I ask.
"'The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they are the doors. Beware what may enter there.'"
"Doctor, what did you say?" Amy questions.
"Don't look at the eyes!"
"No, about images, what did you say about images?"
"Whatever holds the image of an angel is an angel." We hear River say.
"Okay…" Amy says holding up the remote, "Hold this. One, two, three, four…" she pushes the power button. The picture wavers and disappears. I hear the door locks open. River and the Doctor rush in.
"I froze it!" Amy says in surprise. "There was a sort of blip on the tape and I froze it on the blip." The Doctor walks up to the screen and pulls the cord. "It wasn't the image of an angel any more. That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good."
"That was amazing!" River gushes.
"River, Jaz, hug Amy."
"Why?" Amy asks incredulously.
"Cos I'm busy."
"I'm fine," Amy states. River and I walk up next to her on either side.
"You're brilliant!" River says.
"Thanks. Yeah. I kind of creamed it, didn't I?" I roll my eyes at her. She wraps her arms around me and puts her head on my shoulder as we look at the Doctor.
"So it was here? That was the Angel?" River questions.
"That was the projection of the Angel. It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant." We jump as we hear an explosion.