Danny's protestations fell on deaf ears as he was taken to UNIT in the back of one of the SUVs. He met the squad's CO, a Martha Jones who, apparently, had once travel with the Doctor. He didn't see Clara again until they met in huge underground room next to an area with zebra stripes on the floor and red lights around it and machine gun nests on either side.
"Incoming!" a voice said from a speaker.
Machine guns were trained on the spot.
Danny sidled over to Martha. "Excuse me, Ma'am, but what's going on?"
Martha kept her eyes on the cordoned area even as the cyclical whirring the Tardis' engines could be heard. "The Tower is Tardis-proof," Martha said. "You can't land a Tardis inside it. That turned out to be a problem during a dust-up with the Zygons."
"The who?"
"Never mind. Point is it was decided to create a landing zone for the Tardis. Problem is, a hostile Time Lord could disguise his Tardis as the Doctor's and get through. So we're just playing it safe until the Doctor's identity is confirmed."
The whirring became a wheezing rumble as the Tardis appeared. Then the door opened. The Doctor stepped out. He had a sun tan.
"I hope I'm not late," he said. "I spent a week at the Eye of Orion to sober up."
Kate smiled. "You're right on time." She spoke into a walkie talkie: "Merlin confirmed. Stand down."
"'Merlin,'" the Doctor grinned. "Your dad ever tell you about that one?"
Martha stepped forward. "Doctor."
"Martha, hello!" He gave her a hug and spotted Danny. "Danny? How'd they rope you in – wait, where's Clara?" He disengaged from Martha has he noticed Clara. "Tell me you had the whole week."
Clara shook her head. "Nope."
"Rasilon's rod," the Doctor groused. He turned to Kate. "I hope I didn't give up my jam session with my mate Jimmy for something trivial."
"Jimmy?" Kate Prompted as she lead the group out of the landing area and down the corridor.
"Jimmy Buffet," the Doctor said. "We were playin' with this new song of his, Margarita-town or something like that. I was pretty wasted. But I think it'll go well when he records it. Ah, well. No rest of the wicked I expect."
"You said it, not me," Danny muttered. That got a glare from Martha.
In the conference room, the doctor took a seat next to Martha as Kate joined Osgood near a large projection screen. (The Doctor noted Osgood had stick of celery on her lapel.) At Kate's nod, the picture of a smiling teenage boy in a private school uniform.
"This is Ian Carmichael," Kate said. "His father is Richard Carmichael, deputy undersecretary to the head of the British consulate in New York City and – more importantly – the nephew of a member of the House of Lords. Ian has been attending a private school in New York City. Last Friday, young Ian and three of his friends were taken into custody by police in Cortland, New York, a small town two hundred miles from the city."
The Doctor nodded. "So wealth, power, and connections are the reasons the British government got pulled into this. But why are UNIT involved? Any of the boys turn out to be an alien or something?"
"I was getting to that, Doctor," Kate said. "Ian and his friends had been drinking. Clearly against the law over there as all were under 18. And they had some marijuana on them. At first the boys claimed they'd been kidnapped by a biker gang, but their stories didn't add up. When they police finally got the truth out of them, all four of them were given further drug tests. When they passed – and when Ian's father was involved – the case was passed up the chain to our American cousins at Area 51 and then to us.
"The boys admitted to pushing over headstones in a cemetery in New York City when they were attacked by what one described…" She consulted a clipboard. "…as 'a freak in body paint and wings that made her look like a statue.' The boys ran; she caught them. The next thing they knew, they were in a cemetery in Cortland, though they thought they were still in Queens. Ian asked for directions in a local gas station, and the clerk surmised he'd been drinking. And that brings us to where we are now."
"Sounds like a weeping angel attack," the Doctor said.
Danny grinned. "What, like that DVD easter egg? Are you serious? 'Don't blink. Blink and you're dead-'"
Martha glared. "That was him."
"What—no, it wasn't-"
"Yeah, it was. Different face, but that was him. Remember the black chick? That was me. And 1969 was a fun year to be stranded in, let me tell you."
Danny sagged into his seat.
The Doctor stood. "Well, for the benefit of those who don't know, weeping angels are the oldest and most vicious race in the universe. They're quantum locked. When a sentient being looks at them, they turn to stone; you can't kill a stone. But you look away, turn your head, they're on you. The same is true for anything that holds the image of an angel; they can act through those. They send you back in time. While you live out the rest of your days in the past, the angels eat the potential energy of the days you could have had. It's like...sending you back creates a backwash, and they eat the backwash." He turned to Kate. "But something doesn't add up. The angels usually send people back years. But these boys are boys now? Was there no displacement in time?"
"Osgood?" Kate said.
Osgood nodded and consulted laptop. She narrated images on the screen: "Forensic examination of the boys' belongings showed all their cell phones were unable to connect to their respective providers for a period of one hour, four minutes, and thirty-six seconds. Checking with their providers found that for exactly thirty-two minutes and eighteen seconds, their phones registered as being in two places at once."
"Ah," the Doctor said. "When they were sent back, the network couldn't reconcile the same sim cards being in two places at once. "
Osgood nodded. "Then when they passed the moment of time they had been sent back from, their phones began working properly again."
"Very neat," the Doctor said. "Gave herself a little snack. But why such a short distance? And that seems oddly specific. Thirty-two minutes and eighteen seconds." He paused, then took a deep breath. "One thousand, nine hundred, and thirty eight seconds. One nine three eight. Tell me, Kate, were the boys knocking over headstones in Calvary Cemetery?"
"Yes," Kate said.
"And the headstones knocked over," the Doctor went on. "Did one of them belong to Rory and Amy Williams?"
Osgood checked her laptop. "Yes."
Kate saw the Doctor was upset. "Friends of yours?"
"Former companions," the Doctor said. "They traveled with me just before I met you, Clara. We'd had a run in with weeping angels in New York City. They'd created a timeline where they kept their victims in an apartment complex and sent them back over and over again. Rory had been sent from 2012 back to 1938, and then the angels sent him back again and kept him prisoner until we got there. We saw his older self die. But then Amy and Rory jumped off the roof. By dying twice on the same night, he created a paradox that destroyed that timeline and we were all sent back to Calvary; Amy and Rory were restored to life because they'd never jumped off anything. I thought we were in the clear, but…An angel survived. It sent Rory back to 1938. Then Amy let it send her back. I saw their headstone. They lived the rest of their lives in New York and died there in the 1990's."
Clara said, "You couldn't go back and get them?"
"Can't," the Doctor said. "New York is riddled with temporal distortions and time paradoxes. Los Angeles has earthquakes; New York has scrambled timelines. And 1938 was ground zero for the biggest ones. It was hard enough to land the Tardis there when we went after Rory. Now, I'd be lucky if all that happened was I blew up New York. Worst case, Earth would cease to every have existed. So that year in New York is a Tardis no-fly zone."
Danny stood up. "All right. Let me see if I got this straight. This thing sends your friends back to 1938. And it's still been there all this time. And twenty years after they died, it attacks some boys who defile their graves?"
"Yeah," the Doctor said. "Let them off with a warning: 'Come 'round here again and you'll get worse.' I've never heard of anything like this."
"UNIT wants to know more," Kate said, "so I have had Lt. Jones assemble a team-"
"Wait, wait," the Doctor said, "I don't need a squad coming along with me."
"You do if I'm involved," Kate said.
"But this angel might be different from the others, Kate!"
"It could. But it could also be a trap, Doctor. My father used to say, 'Whoever invented the phrase "curiosity killed the cat" must have known the Doctor.' That and 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread; the Doctor rushes in when a fool runs away.' This is exactly the kind of thing that could attract your attention. I'm not having some winged stone freak take you out on my watch."
The Doctor scowled. "Typical human paranoia."
"I prefer to think of it as human protectiveness towards those they care about." She smiled and softened. "Humor me, please. For my father's sake if not for mine. If the angel isn't a threat, fine! I'd love to meet her. Hell, I've been thinking of vacationing in New York and I'd love any travel tips she can give me. But if it's a trap, I want to be sure you come back in one piece with the same face you left with."
The Doctor relented. "Oh, all right." He turned to leave.
"Doctor?" Kate called.
He stopped at the door. "Yes?"
"Don't forget your squad."
"Yes."
"And hand your Tardis key to Lt. Jones, so she won't let you in until the team is aboard."
The Doctor fished the key out of his pocket. "You know me to well." He handed it to Martha.
Martha dropped the key in one pocket and kept her hand open. "And the spare," she said.
The Doctor handed it over.
"And the sonic screwdriver," Martha pressed.
The Doctor relinquished that. "Anything else?"
"If you have to make a pit stop, do it now. Don't know about you, Doctor, but human bladders need frequent emptying." To her squad: "Report to the Tardis in ten. Move out!"
Danny started to leave with the squad. But Kate called after him: "Mr. Pink. A word?"
'Here we go,' he thought. 'Officers and aristos all stick together, don't they?' He kept his face impassive as he turned back to Kate. "Yes, Ma'am?"
"I detect a bit of an attitude when it comes to the Doctor," Kate said. "Quite frankly, I find this surprising; I've never met anyone who didn't like him. Even his enemies speak highly of him. So if there's an issue that could impact this assignment, I'd like to know now."
Danny wrestled with himself for a moment. "Permission to speak freely, Ma'am?"
"Of course."
"I don't like the Doctor," Danny said. "I don't trust him. I tolerate him only because my girlfriend thinks the world of him, but I think she's been hoodwinked like everyone else. Yeah, he's an alien. Yeah, he has the Tardis. Strip away all that and he's another arrogant inbred officer who has no clue about how to work up through the ranks but will gladly send the grunts into a meat grinder while he's sipping tea and reading the Times. And the worst part is you can't see he's not worth the effort because he's in your set and you'll close ranks around him. Which I find disgusting but not surprising. Ma'am."
"I see," Kate said, somehow remaining calm. "Well, Mr. Pink, I appreciate your candor. Let me be equally frank. I don't give a damn what your personal issues with the Doctor are. My only concern is whether you can do your job. If you can't, tell me right now and you will be sent home. Well?"
Danny thought it over. He hated the assignment, everything about it, and wanted out. But he also wanted to keep Clara safe. And there was what that "future version" of himself had said.
"Yes," he said.
"Good," Kate said. "One more thing. There is literally no way of knowing how many times the Doctor has saved this planet throughout history. Meaning there is no way of knowing how many times he saved *you,* and probably even allowed you to exist. You don't want to be grateful, fine. But people above both our pay grades consider him a strategic asset to this planet – our first and last line of defense against things most people think only exist in movies. Furthermore, he was a close personal friend of my father, and I consider him a friend of my family. So if that man comes back with so much as a scratch and I find out it's because of your negligence, I will spend the rest of my life making sure yours is a living hell. Are we clear?"
"Clear, Ma'am."
"Then get out."
Martha was waiting right outside the door. "Overheard what Kate said," Martha said. "Just thought you'd like to know I did come up through the ranks, and the Doctor is one of the people I love the most in the universe. So if he has an 'accident,' or something else happens to him, you'll be lucky if Kate gets her hands on you first." She turned and headed down the corridor.
"Great," Danny muttered.
8
8
AUTHOR'S REQUEST/NOTE: Anyone who uses Microsoft word, do you know what combination of keys can delete everything you typed? I have run into that hazard before and I do not know how to prevent it. PM me if you have the answer. Beyond that, hope you liked these chapters. Stay tuned!