Chapter Eleven:
Amy and Scarlett stumbled to the ground as everyone else landed on their feet. I should've seen that one coming, Scarlett shrugged.
One of the clerics rushed over to help them up and Scarlett shot him a grateful smile as the Doctor told everyone to look up.
"What happened?" Scarlett asked.
"We jumped," replied River.
"Jumped where?" Amy added.
"Up, up, look up!" ordered the Doctor.
"Where are we?" Amy tried again.
"Exactly where we were… Am I right?" Scarlett turned to River and saw she had a trace of a smile on her lips.
Amy frowned. "No, we're not."
The Doctor – who had been using his sonic on some kind of indentation on the ground – sighed. "Oh, come on, Amy, think! The ship crashed with the power still on, yeah? So what else is still on? The artificial gravity. One good jump," he paused to demonstrate again, "and up we fell. Shot out the grav-globe to give us an updraft, and here we are!"
"Doctor," said Octavian suddenly. "The statues, they look more like Angels now."
"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!" As he spoke, the indentation opened up into the ship, just as the lights started to flicker once more. "They're taking out the lights. Look at them, look at the Angels. Into the ship now, quickly; all of you!"
Before any of them had a chance to reply, the Doctor slipped into the hole and ended up in a Byzantium corridor.
"Doctor?" Scarlett called as she and Amy peered down into the hole.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "It's just a corridor. The gravity orientates to the floor. Now, in here, all of you. Don't take your eyes off the Angels. Move, move, move!"
Amy hesitated slightly but with one good push from Scarlett, she landed straight in the corridor. Whirling round, she gave Scarlett a half-hearted glare as she landed behind her.
"Thanks for that, Scarlett," she said sarcastically.
"Anytime," Scarlett grinned, patting her cheek before wandering over to the Doctor, Octavian following suit.
"The Angels, presumably they can jump up too?" he asked.
The door shut behind them all then, as if the Angels could hear the Bishop's question.
"They're here," stated the Doctor. Thank you, Captain Obvious. "Now, in the dark, we're finished. Run!"
They turned, but not quickly enough. Another large door slid closed, blocking their only escape.
"This whole place is a death trap," Octavian said, his hands clasped around his gun.
"No, it's a time bomb," the Doctor paused, "Well; it's a death trap and a time bomb... And now it's a dead end. Nobody panic." Scarlett rolled her eyes, reaching up to slap the back of his head. "Oh, just me then," he said, sending her a quick grumpy look before changing the subject. "What's through here?"
"Secondary flight deck," replied River.
"Okay, so we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah?" Amy asked, "So what if the gravity fails?"
"I've thought about that," said the Doctor.
Scarlett relaxed, but only by a little. At least he had given it some thought.
"And?"
"And we'll all plunge to our deaths. See? I've thought about it." Scarlett's eyes widened and she noticed Amy had the same reaction. The Doctor was oblivious as he continued to work. "The security protocols are still live. There's no way to override them, it's impossible."
"How impossible?" River asked.
"Two minutes."
The brunette stood there, wringing her hands and feeling somewhat useless when a slight hum of the engines powering down was heard throughout. The hole they came in through had reopened and they could see the dark cavern outside.
"The hull is breached and the power's failing," said Octavian urgently.
"Sir! Incoming!" yelled a cleric as the lights went out.
Scarlett wrapped her arms around herself, trying to seek some kind of comfort. She wasn't afraid of the dark or anything, but when there are deadly statues chasing you and the only way to stop them is by looking at them then the dark can be a bit of a disadvantage.
"Doctor! Lights!" Amy said.
The Doctor used his sonic to help River and the lights came back on to show four Angels that had made their way inside the corridor with them.
"Good work, Doctor," Octavian nodded.
"Yes, good," said the Doctor. "Good in many ways, glad you like it so far."
"So far?" Scarlett squeaked.
"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," said Octavian.
"Including the lights. All of them. I'll need to turn out the lights," the Doctor finished.
"How long for?"
"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!" the Doctor stated. Something told Scarlett that even if there was a manual for this, the Doctor wouldn't use it.
"Doctor, we lost the torches," said Amy with a glance at Scarlett. "We'll be in total darkness."
"No other way. Bishop?"
Octavian turned to River instead of answering. "Doctor Song, I've lost good Clerics today. You trust this man?"
"I absolutely trust him," she answered.
"He's not some kind of madman then?"
There was a pause before River said again, "I absolutely trust him."
A small smile made its way onto Scarlett's lips and River sent her a wink as the Doctor started to work on the door.
"Okay. Doctor, we've got your back."
"Bless you. Bishop," replied the Doctor distractedly.
Octavian moved to give the clerics orders when the Doctor called the Leadworth girls over.
"Girls, when the lights go down, the wheel should release," he gestured toward said wheel, "Spin it clockwise, four turns."
"Ten," Scarlett said.
The Doctor frowned. "No; four. Four turns."
"Yeah, four, we heard you," Scarlett replied with a frown of her own as they positioned themselves at the door. Why was he correcting her when she didn't even say anything?
"Ready!" the Doctor announced, readying his sonic.
"On my count then," said Octavian. "God be with us all. Three... two... one," The lights went out and he spoke again. "Fire!"
Amy and Scarlett put all their strength into turning the wheel, with a little help from River and the Doctor. The clerics were shooting at the Angels but from what the girls could gather, it wasn't helping.
"It's opening, it's working!" said Amy.
"Fall back!" yelled Octavian and everyone slipped through the open door into the secondary flight deck, just seconds before it closed again.
The flight deck was a mess with wires hanging loose everywhere they looked but the Doctor didn't seem to notice as he ran straight over to one of the controls.
The hatch lock on the door started to spin and Octavian placed some kind of magnetizing device against it.
"What are you doing?" Scarlett asked.
"Magnetized the door. Nothing could turn that wheel now," he said somewhat smugly.
The Doctor looked up just as the wheel began to turn again, "Yeah?"
"Dear God!"
"Ah, now you're getting it! You've bought us time though, that's good. I am good with time."
"Doctor!" said Amy suddenly as another door wheel started to spin.
"Seal that door! Seal it now!" Octavian ordered, and one of his clerics did exactly that.
"We're surrounded!" River announced as another cleric magnetized yet another door.
"Doctor, how long have we got?" Octavian asked as Scarlett leant against a table, watching the Doctor.
"Five minutes, max," he replied.
"Nine," Scarlett said.
The Doctor looked up at her. "Five."
Scarlett frowned. Was he correcting her again?
"Five, right, yeah."
"Why did you say nine?" he asked.
Her frown deepened and she started to wonder if all of that running had gone to the Doctor's head.
"I didn't?"
"We need another way out of here," River said, thankfully changing the subject.
"There isn't one," Octavian replied.
"Yeah, there is, course there is. This is a galaxy class ship, goes for years between planet-falls. So, what do they need?" the Doctor grinned.
"Of course," said River as if she had just suddenly remembered that the sky was blue.
"Of course what? What do they need?" Amy asked, moving to stand next to Scarlett.
"Can we get in there?" Octavian questioned.
"Well, it's a sealed unit, but they must have installed it somehow. This whole wall should slide up. There's clamps. Release the clamps!" the Doctor used his sonic on the clamps and the door started to rise.
"What's through there? What do they need?" asked Amy.
River smiled, "They need to breathe."
Scarlett's eyes widened as the door opened fully and they all took in the large forest in front of them.
"But that's…" Scarlett started.
"It's an oxygen factory," River smiled.
"It's a forest," Amy said.
"Yeah, it's a forest. It's an oxygen factory," River spoke a little slower as if she were talking to a child.
"And, if we're lucky, an escape route," the Doctor said.
Scarlett started out at the jungle, both confused and amazed. "Eight."
"What did you say?" River asked suddenly.
"Nothing," Scarlett replied. Great, now she's doing it, too?
"But trees! On a spaceship?" Amy asked.
"Oh, more than trees, way better than trees. You're going to love this," the Doctor ran out into the forest. "Treeborgs…" he opened a section on the tree to show them a bunch of wires inside, "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. It is an eco-pod running through the heart of the ship. A forest in a bottle, on a spaceship, in a maze. Have I impressed you yet?"
A small laugh left Scarlett's lips and she shook her head in awe. "Seven."
"Seven?" the Doctor said randomly, walking back onto the flight deck and standing just an inch away from her.
"Sorry, what?"
"You said seven," he stated, leaning closer so that their noses were almost touching.
"Why do you keep doing this? I didn't say anything," Scarlett frowned.
"Yes, you did," said River.
"Oh, River, not you, too," Scarlett whined.
"Doctor!" said Octavian. "There's an exit, far end of the ship, into the Primary Flight Deck."
"Good, that's where we need to go," he said, not bothering to look in his direction.
"Plotting a safe path," announced the Bishop.
"Quick as you like!" the Doctor said, his gaze still trained on Scarlett. He was pretty good at this 'not blinking' lark.
"Doctor? Excuse me. Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir."
Scarlett never thought she would be grateful towards a murderous statue but in that moment, she was, because the Doctor finally turned away from her and sat down in a chair instead.
"Ah, there you are, Angel Bob. How's life?" he paused. "Sorry, bad subject."
Amy smiled softly at his joke as Angel Bob replied, "The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve."
"Achieve?" the Doctor scoffed. "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 glanced at Amy and Scarlett and grinned. "I made him say comfy chairs!"
Scarlett laughed. "Six."
The Doctor's smile fell abruptly and he jumped up from his seat. "Okay, well, enough chat. Here's what I want to know; what have you done to Scarlett?"
Scarlett stopped laughing immediately. "What?"
"There's something in her eye."
"What's in her eye?" the Doctor asked.
"We are."
"What's he talking about? Doctor, I'm five," Scarlett's eyes widened as she realised what she just said. But honestly, she didn't remember saying any numbers until then. Everyone turned to stare at her, Amy in particular looking worried. Scarlett shook her head with a nervous laugh. "I mean five. Fine! I'm fine."
River stepped closer to me slowly.
"You're counting."
Scarlett turned to look at her and saw that she looked as scared as Scarlett felt.
"Counting?"
"You're counting down," said the Doctor, staring at her yet again, "From ten. You have been for a couple of minutes."
Panic soared through her and she had to force herself to keep calm.
"Why?" Scarlett asked.
"I don't know," he answered honestly.
"Well, counting down to what?"
"I don't know."
"We shall take her," said Angel Bob. "We shall take all of you. We shall have dominion over all time and space."
"Get a life, Bob. Oops, sorry again," the Doctor laughed humourlessly. "There's power on this ship, but nowhere near that much."
"With respect, sir, there is more power on this ship than you yet understand."
At his words, a loud, screeching noise started to blare throughout the ship. Scarlett covered her ears to block out the sound as River yelled over the racket.
"Dear God, what is it?"
"They're back," Octavian said.
Amy gently pried Scarlett's hands away from her ears and gave them a small, reassuring squeeze; one that she was extremely thankful for.
"It's hard to put it in your terms, Doctor Song, but as best I understand it, the Angels are laughing."
"Laughing?" asked the Doctor.
"Because you haven't noticed yet. The Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed."
"No, wait, there's something I've…" the Doctor turned slowly to see a glowing crack high up on the wall opposite him, "missed."
"That's..." Amy turned to Scarlett and now it was her turn to reassure her friend. "That's like the crack from my bedroom wall from when I was a little girl."
"Yes," the Doctor answered.
"Okay, enough!" yelled Octavian. "We're moving out."
"Agreed," nodded River. "Doctor?"
"Yeah, fine," he said while using his sonic on the crack.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Right with you."
"We're not leaving without you!" River said, voicing both Scarlett and Amy's thoughts, too.
"Oh, yes you are. Bishop?"
"Miss Pond, Miss Watkins, Doctor Song. Now!" Octavian ordered.
River grabbed Scarlett with one hand and Amy with the other, and pulled them out to the forest.
"Doctor, come on!" Scarlett yelled, before they were so far into the bundle of trees that his figure was just a small dot on the horizon.