Chapter Seven:
"Wrong! Wrong! Bit right, mostly wrong," said the Doctor as he strode through some boring old place he dragged Amy and Scarlett to. It looked like it was based on the plans of a medieval church and while the girls were bored out of their minds; the Doctor seemed to be enjoying himself. "I love museums!"
Amy and Scarlett dragged behind him, communicating solely through eye rolling and the occasional sigh.
"Yeah, great. Can we go to a planet now? Big space ship, Churchill's bunker; you promised us a planet next," whined Amy.
"Excuse me, but this isn't any old asteroid. It's the Delirium Archive, final resting place of the headless monks, the biggest museum ever!" the Doctor smiled, as if it were the most exciting thing in the universe.
"You've got a time machine, what do you need museums for?" Scarlett asked as he continued to bounce around the room, pointing at various objects.
"Wrong! Very wrong! Ooh, one of mine. Also one of mine," He stopped to peer into a display case, and Amy and Scarlett shared another sigh.
"Oh, I see. It's how you keep score," Scarlett stated.
Something in the next display case caught the Doctor's eye and he wandered over to that instead, like a moth to a flame. Following him, Scarlett leaned on top of the glass case and looked at the object inside. It was a worn-out box with a bunch of strange symbols written on it.
"Oh great, an old box," said Amy as she stood next to her friend.
"It's from one of the old star liners. A Home Box," explained the Doctor.
"What's a Home Box?" Scarlett asked.
"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?"
"The writing, the graffiti… Old High Gallifreyan; 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."
Amy and Scarlett leaned forward as they listened. Now it was starting to sound interesting.
"So, what does it say?" Scarlett asked.
He paused for a moment before sighing in defeat.
"Hello, sweetie."
Alarm bells rang as the Doctor ran through the museum, the home box tucked under his arm. Amy and Scarlett ran alongside him – I mean, what choice did they have? They either run or get arrested for something the Doctor did – before bursting into the TARDIS.
Immediately the Doctor started to hook the home box up to the console as Amy and Scarlett tried to catch their breath.
"Why are we doing this?" Amy asked as they stood on either side of him, Scarlett clutching her stomach and Amy bent over slightly with her hands on her knees.
"Because someone on a space ship 12,000 years ago is trying to attract my attention. Let's see if we can get the security playback working."
A grainy black and white video appeared on the monitor in front of them. A woman with curled blonde hair tilted down her sunglasses and winked at the camera before moving on.
"The party's over, Doctor Song, yet still you're on board," said a man on screen.
"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," she replied coolly.
"Wait till she runs. Don't make it look like an execution," said Alistair to the men – who Scarlett guessed were the guards – standing behind him.
The woman – supposedly 'Doctor Song' – glanced at her watch before saying "Triple seven, five, slash three, four, nine by ten, zero, twelve, slash, acorn. Oh, and I could do with an air corridor," she adjusted her hair.
The Doctor nodded to himself before starting to type on his keyboard.
"What was that, what did she say?" Scarlett asked, now recovered from the most exercise she's done in about 10 years.
"Co-ordinates!" the Doctor grinned.
Amy and Scarlett shared a look as the woman continued to speak.
"Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to!"
Scarlett shook her head in amusement. She had to give her some points for that line... Classic.
The Doctor let out a small "whoop" before running to open the TARDIS doors. He reached out and pulled Doctor Song in and they both landed on the floor.
"Doctor?" said Amy.
"River?" the Doctor asked as he and the woman stood up.
The woman – first name 'River' – turned and watched as a ship flew by outside.
"Follow that ship."
The Doctor and River were both working the controls of the TARDIS while Amy and Scarlett stood close, watching.
"They've gone into warp drive, we're losing them! Stay close!" said River sharply.
"I'm trying!" replied the Doctor.
"Use the stabilisers," she told him.
"There aren't any stabilisers!"
"The blue switches!"
"The blue ones don't do anything, they're just... blue," explained the Time Lord.
"Yes, they're blue. They're the blue stabilisers!" She reached over to flick them on but since Scarlett was closer, she did it for her. She sent her a smile as the ship became quiet.
"Yeah, well, it's just boring now, isn't it? They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers," frowned the Doctor.
Bless his heart… Scarlett smiled. I mean hearts.
"Doctor, how come she can fly the TARDIS?" asked Amy.
"You call that flying the TARDIS? Ha!" He frowned before taking a seat to sulk.
"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," smiled River.
"Parked us? We haven't landed," said the Doctor, jumping up from his seat.
"Of course we've landed. I just landed her."
"But it didn't make the noise."
"What noise?" she asked.
"You know, the…" he dragged off and started to make a strange wheezing sound, which was, Scarlett guessed, his impression of the TARDIS landing. She'll admit, he was pretty close, but she still couldn't help herself as she let out a small laugh.
"It's not supposed to make that noise," said River. "You leave the brakes on."
"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise. I love that noise," he said defensively.
To be fair, Scarlett quite liked the noise, too. It was… comforting.
"Come along, Watkins, Pond," he nodded towards Amy and Scarlett.
"No, wait! Environment checks," said River before any of them could step foot outside.
"Oh, yes, sorry! Quite right; environment checks," the Doctor made his way to the doors and stuck his head outside. "Nice out."
Scarlett snickered. She loved sarcasm and when the Doctor used it, it was just that much better.
"We're somewhere in the Garn Belt. There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest –" started Doctor Song before she was cut off by the Doctor.
"We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System. Oxygen-rich atmosphere, toxins in the soft band, 11-hour day, and..." he stuck his head out the door again, "chances of rain later."
River Song rolled her eyes and said to the girls, "He thinks he's so hot when he does that."
"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked. She was genuinely intrigued by the mysterious woman.
"Oh, I had lessons from the very best."
The Doctor sent them a smug grin. "Well, yeah."
"It's a shame you were busy that day," she said, causing Amy and Scarlett to send each other amused grins, "Right then, why did they land here?"
"They didn't land," said the Doctor.
"Sorry?"
"You should've checked the Home Box – it crashed."
River made her way out of the TARDIS and the Doctor followed, only to shut the doors and run back up to the console.
"Explain! Who is that and how did she do that museum thing?" inquired Amy.
The Doctor started to work on the controls as he replied, "It's a long story and I don't know most of it. Off we go!"
"What are you doing?" Scarlett asked.
"Leaving. She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to go."
"Are you basically running away?" Amy asked.
"Yep."
"Why?"
"Because she's the future; my future."
"Can you run away from that?"
"I can run away from anything I like. Time is not the boss of me," said the Doctor.
"Hang on; is that a planet out there?" Amy said, raising her eyebrows.
"Yes, of course it's a planet."
"You promised us a planet!" Amy smiled, "Five minutes?"
The Doctor looked at them both before sighing. "Okay; five minutes."
"Yes!" Amy grinned in victory before she took Scarlett's hand and pulled her outside as the Doctor continued to speak, "But that's all, 'cause I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything!"
As they stepped outside, they saw that the ship they were following had crashed on top of a very large and very old stone structure. It was burning in areas and scraps had started to fall to the ground around the TARDIS.
"What caused it to crash?" asked River as the Doctor joined them outside. "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," said the Doctor.
"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," said River as she started to key something in on a handheld device.
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" asked Amy.
"Amy Pond, Scarlett Watkins, Professor River Song," he said reluctantly, pointing to each of them as he said their names.
"Ah, I'm going to be a Professor someday, am I?" the Doctor winced at his mistake, "How exciting!" River laughed, "Spoilers!"
"Yeah, but who is she and how did she do that? She just left you a note in a museum!" Amy said, only for the Doctor to walk off and ignore her.
"Two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum: the Home Box of a category four star liner and, sooner or later, him. It's how he keeps score," said River.
"We know," Scarlett laughed.
"It's hilarious, isn't it?" she grinned.
The Doctor walked up behind them and laughed sarcastically. "I'm nobody's taxi service!" he turned to River, "I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a space ship."
"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 stopped to listen. "Now he's listening!" she smiled before speaking into her device. "You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal," she stopped and turned to the Doctor, holding up her device. "Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."
The Doctor took out the sonic screwdriver and used it on River's communication device, his face remaining impassive. She smiled and dropped a small curtsey.
"Ooh Doctor, you soniced her!" said Amy in a teasing voice.
Scarlett rolled her eyes playfully at her. As funny as this was, the Doctor didn't seem too happy.
"We have a minute. Shall we?" River said, brandishing a blue book. "Where were we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?"
"What's the book?" Scarlett asked the Doctor, watching River as she flicked through the pages.
"Stay away from it," replied the Doctor.
"What is it, though?" Amy joined in.
"Her diary."
"Our diary," she corrected him.
"Her past, my future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order," he explained before his gaze turned to Scarlett as she stood on her tip-toes to try and see over River's shoulder, "And if you look at it then I will take you to a planet where the locals are all psychic ghosts of its long-dead inhabitants."
Scarlett's eyes widened and she immediately turned away from the older woman next to her, feigning innocence. She didn't even flinch when columns of swirling dust suddenly appeared before turning into four soldiers in desert camouflage uniforms.
Scarlett turned to the Doctor as one of the soldiers started to make his way over to River.
"Doctor?" she said casually.
"Hm?"
"That thing about the ghost planet… That doesn't really exist, right?"
"Well of course it does. It's called Anima Persis and I would not hesitate to let you and Amy have a small holiday there if you don't listen to me," he smiled – a little too sweetly for Scarlett's liking – as the soldier began to speak.
"You promised me an army, Doctor Song," he said.
"No. I promised you the equivalent of an army," she noted, "This is the Doctor," she gestured towards him and he gave a small salute in return.
The man reached over and shook the Doctor's hand. "Father Octavian, sir. Bishop, second class. Twenty clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation," he watched as the Doctor took in the debris. "Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?"
The Doctor replied with a slight shake of his head.
"Doctor," said River, "what do you know of the Weeping Angels?"
A/N: Ooh, damn. This is where stuff goes down, eh? Thank you to anyone who has shown interest in this story so far. I honestly love writing it and I'm glad there's at least a small handful of you who enjoy to read it, too. If you ever have any ideas for me then feel free to leave it in a review and I'll see what I can do for you. That totally rhymed... Anyway, thank you, once again! x