My mind was working at about the same pace as the TARDIS was flying. I thought about everything that had just happened.
I thought about leaving Sam again, and how that was more than likely the last I'd ever see him.
I thought about trusting the Doctor.
I thought about my family.
I thought about almost anything else that would help me to concentrate on anything but Warren's voice in my head. By now, his cries had diminished into tortured whispers and agonized moans like the ones the Walking Dead made. It crushed me to see and hear him like this, so hurt. I longed to comfort him, but I knew nothing I could say or do would help much.
When I felt that I couldn't stand any longer the silence in the room or the chaos in my head, I finally spoke.
"Doctor," I said, "What exactly is that?" I gestured to the pile of cans that looked like just any pile of old garbage. I couldn't see why we would have use for that.
It frightened me to see the darkness in his eyes when he turned to answer me. They looked sad and tired and empty.
"It's a homemade Presence Analysis and Abdicator Instrument," he said, as if hurt that I didn't get that right off the bat.
"Right," I said. "So it… does… something?"
"Well yes, of course it does something," he answered, pouting a little. "It calculates the number of life forms in one area and decides which class they fall under and if they are good or not-so-good. Stuff like that."
I nodded. I didn't know how a little stack of cans could do something like that. Then again, I hadn't seen how a little police box could travel through time and space either, yet there I was.
The Doctor turned back to fiddling with things, and I was left to myself again. I glanced over at Warren, hoping he would even acknowledge me. He didn't.
Suddenly, a noise I didn't recognize sounded. It was apparently coming from the P.A.A.I.
I got up from where I had been sitting and walked over to it. "Doctor?" I said. Immediately he was at my side. He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and scanned it. When he looked at the results, his expression was not a good one.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Well," he said quietly. "Either I built this thing wrong or there's an abundance of life forms surrounding us right now. And I never build things wrong."
I believed that. "But how could there be life here? Aren't we somewhere in the middle of space?"
"We're in the Time Vortex," he answered, loving the opportunity to correct me. "And I'm not sure how they could be here. You'd have to be a Time Lord or have a TARDIS to get into the stream."
"So they're Time Lords then?" I asked.
His face grew sadder than I had ever seen it. "No," he muttered, gazing somewhere into the distance. "There are no more Time Lords. Just me."
Again I realized how little I knew of this man.
"Sorry," I said. It didn't sound like enough, but I didn't know what else to say.
"It was a long time ago," he said. Then he broke out of his stupor and looked at me. "Now, Lilly Carson, let's check out who's broken into the Vortex, shall we?"
We went to the TARDIS doorway, leaving Warren to himself. We peeked out the windows.
What I saw chilled me. "Doctor," I whispered, "What are those things?"
"Weeping angels," he answered.
We gazed out at about a thousand stone statues, all looking as if they were crying. I wasn't quite sure why I was scared of them, but my heart was pounding anyways.
"Don't blink," I heard the Doctor whisper.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing," he said, "Hopefully we can give the TARDIS a boost and lose them in the Vortex. If they're stuck in here they won't last long."
He ran back over to the controls, frantically pushing buttons and peering at the screen and the P.A.A.I. and occasionally he would tell me to pull this lever or push that button. Finally I heard a roaring sound coming from where I assumed the engine was.
He ran back to the windows. I stayed standing next to Warren, willing him to get over his father at least for the moment and help us.
"Did we lose them?" I asked, fearing the answer.
The Doctor stayed silent, confirming my fears.
I started to feel very worried.
Warren, please. I sent to him telepathically. If you're even listening to me, get up. We have a problem here, and I need you to help us.
It didn't even seem like he had heard me. Now I felt hopeless.
"Doctor, how do we get rid of them?" I asked, hearing my voice shake.
He looked at me, obviously concerned. "Very, very, carefully," he answered. He walked over and put his hands on my shoulders, looking me in the eye. "And you'll have to trust me and follow my instructions. First off, do not blink. They can get in here and kill you in the time it takes for you to close and open your eyes. And second, do not look into their eyes."
"What happens if I do?" I asked nervously.
He looked into the distance again, as if remembering something that made him upset. "That which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel," he said, as if reciting something.
I sensed that he had faced these creatures before. It made me feel a little bit better to know that he had managed to escape them before.
"Are we still in the Vortex?" I asked.
He shook his head. "I had to land her," he said. "She runs out of energy if she goes into hyper speed too long." He affectionately patted the control panel.
"Does that mean they can get in here now?" I asked very quietly, my nerves on edge.
"I set up the TARDIS shielding mechanism, so, for a little while at least, we should be safe. What we have to focus on now is how to get him to listen to us," he gestured to Warren, still sitting on the ground with his head in his hands. "Have you tried talking to him?"
I nodded. "But I'll try again." I couldn't stand the thought of him being totally defenseless if the angels got to him.
The Doctor didn't reply, just went back over to the windows and stared out, unblinking.
I squatted next to Warren. Will you please just listen? I need you. We both do. I sent him. He showed no change at all. Warren. Please. There are things out there that will hurt you- kill you, even- if you don't look at them.
What would I want to live for? The voice I heard was so cold and empty, so unlike Warren that I didn't believe it was him who had spoken at first.
I didn't know how to answer. No words were forming in my head at all. Then I thought of some. I hoped that they would be good enough.
For everyone you've lost. For everyone who ever loved you. They're probably somewhere looking down on you right now, praying that you won't give up just because you had a few bad days. You're better than this, Warren. Do this for your father. Do it for me.
Silence. I held my breath.
Slowly, so slowly I wasn't sure if it was really happening, he raised his head.
Without looking at me, he stood up and joined the Doctor in silently gazing out the window. In that moment, I was so happy that I forgot my fear of the angels.
I went and took my place, standing between them.
My happiness was cut much too short.
More angels then I had seen in the Vortex were standing just outside the door. They were frozen in various terrorizing ways. The one nearest the door had its arms extended above its head; its mouth was open in a silent shriek, showing pointed teeth. I followed the directions the Doctor had given me. I stared at them each in turn, being careful to avoid the eyes.
"Why aren't they moving?" I asked. It was somehow eerier to me that they weren't moving than it would have been if they were to viciously attack.
"They can't move if they're seen. It's a very good defense, very clever. You cannot turn your back to them for even a second though."
I suddenly found it very hard not to blink.
"How long before the shield goes out?" I asked.
"It already has," he replied.
My throat closed up. I knew we would be facing these things outside of the TARDIS soon.
"How are we going to get rid of them?" I asked.
There was no reply for a long while. Then the Doctor said, very quietly, "I have a plan, but it will be dangerous."
Was it my imagination, or did he sound happy about that?
I turned from the angels to look at him and say, "Bring it on."
He kept his gaze locked on them, but smiled at me.
"You said you trust me, just remember that."
This didn't sound good.
"Doctor?" I said worriedly. "What do I have to do?"
Now he did turn, leaving only Warren watching the angels. He couldn't look everywhere at once, and the angels took notice. As he would look to one side, the other would advance. He did his best. But the TARDIS started to be under siege before long.
I focused on the plan the Doctor was telling me instead of them.
"Lilly," he began. His tone was too measured, too careful. "I need you to run."
I blinked. "What do you mean?" I asked, fully aware of what he meant.
"I'm going to give you something very important. I need you to get out of here, run through the angels without blinking or looking into their eyes, set up the device, and activate it. Warren and I will look out at the angels from here, too. We'll do the best we can to keep them from moving."
I swallowed hard. He wanted me to run through a mass of big, stone statues that wanted to kill me if I blinked? It frightened me that I was so trusting of this man, who I hardly knew, that I would be willing to do that.
But I was.
I knew I would do it.
"What device?" I asked, my voice sounding small and afraid in my own ears.
The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out two things. One was his sonic, and the other was cylindrical, like a small bit of piping.
He handed me the cylinder and said, "This is a Defabriculator. If you set it up right, it will create a time imbalance that will hopefully suck in all the angels and leave you here."
I tried not to think about everything that could go wrong.
The TARDIS rocked to one side violently, and I knew the angels were closer to getting us.
The Doctor handed me the sonic and said, "Just think about what you want to happen, point, and click."
I nodded; the knot in my stomach growing as I realized the time was growing dangerously near to when I needed to face the angels. I realized I would die for this man. And for Warren.
The Doctor turned back to the window and said, "Good luck, Lilly."
My heart leapt when I heard Warren say, "Be careful. And come back alive."
I vowed that I would.
The Doctor grabbed the handle of the TARDIS.
"On three," he said. "One."
My heart sped up and my breathing started becoming faster.
" Two."
I poised myself to run.
"Three."
TO BE CONTINUED