The Time of Angels - Part One
The following day, we all managed to get started around the same time. There wasn't a pillow launch from the Doctor, which I was thankful for. Instead, a knock on the door was what woke me up.
"Rise and shine, Ginny. The Doctor's taking us to a museum," Amy greeted, clearly faking enthusiasm.
"I'll be out in a few minutes. Don't leave me behind again," I replied, using the slide on my bedside to get to the floor of my room.
Oh, gosh. The Weeping Angels were coming up next. While they were my favorite monster, they still managed to scare the crap out of me. And this next adventure was the one caused me to fear them the most. On the plus side, I'd be meeting River Song today, so that was something to look forward to!
I was dressed in denim jeans, a plaid, flannel, forest green button down shirt, and dark brown boots perfect for cave exploring. My hair was pulled into a ponytail and my necklace was tucked under my shirt. I was in the process of applying black eyeliner when Amy knocked again.
"Just a minute," I promised, but another, much more impatient knock caused me to pause with only one eye done, "Do both of y'all have patience issues or something?"
Not particularly to my surprise, I opened the door to find the Doctor instead.
"What have you been doing in there?" he asked impatiently.
"It takes a steady hand to apply liquid eyeliner, and I can't afford to be fast and messy," I replied, "I'll just be a minute. Go wait in the control room."
"Fine," he grumbled and moped back down the corridor. I couldn't help but giggle a bit at his slightly dramatic exit.
Once I was finished completely with my appearance, I jogged into the control room for myself, stopping for a protein bar in the kitchen on my way. Upon arriving, the Doctor and Amy were just walking out the doors of the TARDIS to explore the museum. I jumped down both sets of stairs to join them.
Tickets to get into the museum weren't really needed, thanks to the Psychic Paper. I'd like to say that a visit to the Delirium Archive was very fun and educational, but then I'd be lying. Whenever I thought I saw something mildly interesting, the Doctor would walk off in the opposite direction, saying things about spoilers and the likes. I soon decided to listen to the iPod the TARDIS provided for me, which I burned a playlist onto the night before. I would've gone on jamming out forever until I heard shouting, and that caused me to pull my earbuds out and place my iPod into my jean pocket.
"Wrong. Wrong. Bit right, mostly wrong," the Doctor quickly said, "I love museums."
"Yeah, great. Can we go to a planet now?" Amy asked, "Big spaceship? Churchill's bunker? You promised me a planet next."
"And not to mention that we're both just a tad bored," I added.
"Girls, this isn't any old asteroid. It's the Delirium Archive, the final resting place of the Headless Monks. The biggest museum ever," he replied.
"You've got a time machine. What do you need museums for?" Amy asked. The Doctor pointed to a glass case.
"Wrong! Very wrong. Ooo, one of mine. Also one of mine," he said, giving no mind to her question. In fairness, I didn't either; my eyes were set on what was inside the next glass case, and so were the Doctor's.
"Oh, I see. It's how you keep score," Amy figured out. The Doctor walked around the glass case with a rusty old box inside for a moment before resting his elbows on the case's top. I did likewise, and soon Amy joined next to me, "Oh great, an old box."
"It's from one of the old starliners. A Home Box," the Doctor said.
"What's a home box?" Amy asked.
"Think of a black box for a plane, except Home Boxes home, hence the name. The Home Box will fly home with all the flight data for the ship if anything happens to it," I explained.
"So?" she asked.
"The writing, the graffiti. Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords," the Doctor revealed, "There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple gods."
"What does this say?" Amy asked. It took awhile for the Doctor to reply, probably from the strangeness of the message.
"Hello, sweetie," I said with him, then finished for myself with, "It was on one of my T-Shirts before I got sucked in by the crack," as an explanation. He nodded and went immediately to sonicing the glass. Unfortunately, the sonic resonance ended up shattering the case, which set off an asteroid-wide alarm.
"Ah. That would be the alarms," the Doctor observed, just as three guards ran in, "And that would be security."
"And this would be us running back to the TARDIS," I finished, breaking into a sprint with him and Amy behind me. I was tossed a silver key, which I quickly turned inside of the door's lock, and we hurried back up to the console. The Doctor began hastily hooking the Home Box up to the scanner.
"Why are we doing this?" Amy asked.
"Because someone on a spaceship twelve thousand years ago is trying to attract my attention. Let's see if we can get the security playback working," the Time Lord said, adjusting the cable once more before pulling a lever down.
A gritty, black and white bit of footage eventually came up. A woman with curly blonde hair looked right at the camera, took off her sunglasses, and winked before walking away. I smiled and shook my head; typical River Song. The Doctor readjusted the cable, giving way to the end of a corridor, with River full-frame.
"The party's over, Doctor Song, yet still you're onboard," a man off-camera said. River turned around, surprised, yet also expecting him to be there.
"Sorry, Alistair. I needed to see what was in your vault," she said innocently, "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," Alistair told his two guards. River looked at her watch.
"Triple seven five slash three four nine by ten. Zero twelve slash acorn," she recited, fixing her hair, "Oh, and I could do with an air corridor."
The Doctor began working at the controls again.
"What was that? What did she say?" Amy asked.
"Coordinates," the Doctor replied, still at the controls. I turned back to the scanner.
"Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to," River warned, then blew a kiss just before the wall behind her exploded, sending her flying out into space. The Doctor gave a whoop of excitement as he ran from the controls to the doors. He threw them open, and River came tumbling through.
"Well, someone certainly knows how to make an entrance," I teased, jumping down the stairs.
"Oh, shut up," River retorted, to which I shook my head.
"Doctor?" Amy said, in need of an explanation.
"River?" the Doctor said, in need of one as well. The two of them leapt to their feet and looked out into space.
"Follow that ship," River commanded.
And follow it we certainly did. Albeit the ride was a bit bumpy, but that's how the Doctor's driving is. I was hanging on to the railing for dear life, and also to keep my breakfast in my stomach. We did manage to catch up to the ship fairly quickly, though.
"They've gone into warp drive. We're losing them. Stay close," River instructed.
"I'm trying," the Doctor said. There was a sudden lurch which sent me toppling into a chair.
"Someone use the stabilizers, for Pete's sake!" I projected.
"There aren't any stabilizers," the Doctor said.
"No. Ginny's right. The blue switches," River corrected. She knows who I am! Well, of course she knows; she probably knows a future me. I've got a future here. Awesome.
"Oh, the blue ones don't do anything, they're just... blue," the Doctor argued.
"Yes, they're blue. Look, they're the blue stabilizers," River said, pressing said blue stabilizers and ceasing the shaking, "See?"
"Thank you for that," I said gratefully, rising from my seat.
"Yes, thank you. Thank you for making it boring now. They're boring-ers. They're blue," the Doctor fiddled angrily with a switch, "boring-ers."
"Doctor, how come she can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked, clearly surprised.
"You call that flying the TARDIS? Ha!" he replied. He was acting like a kid who had just gotten his high score on a video game beaten by a first-timer. Meanwhile, River was calm and collected, typing away at a keyboard.
"Okay. I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination, and," she pressed a button, "parked us right alongside."
"Parked us?" the Doctor asked, sounding a bit repulsed by the idea of parking, "We haven't landed."
"Of course we've landed. I just landed her," River answered, pulling the scanner with her as she walked to the Doctor.
"But, it didn't make the noise," he stated.
"What noise?" River asked.
"You know, the-," the Doctor then continued to do a hilarious impression of the TARDIS noise.
"It's not supposed to make that noise. You leave the brakes on," River explained.
"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise. I love that noise. Ginny does too," the Doctor said quickly, and I shrugged in a way that said 'It's true', "Come along, Pond and Parks. Let's have a look."
I was then dragged to the doors by the Doctor's hand when River stopped us halfway there.
"No, wait. Environment checks," she said.
"Oh yes, sorry. Quite right. Environment checks," he repeated, then walked to and opened the doors to look outside, "Nice out."
"We're somewhere in the Garn Belt. There is an atmosphere. Early indications suggest that-" River started.
"We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System. Oxygen rich atmosphere, all toxins in the soft band, eleven hour day, and," the Doctor looked back out the door.
"Chances of rain later," I finished for him. I didn't see the look on his face, but I'd guess he was rolling his eyes.
"He thinks he's so hot when he does that, and she thinks she's so clever when she finishes his sentences," River brushed off.
"I am so clever!" I defended.
"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked yet again.
"Oh, I had lessons from the very best," River said, glancing to the Doctor.
"Well, yeah," he said, not even trying to be humble.
"It's a shame you were busy that day," she replied, taking her heels off the bar under the scanner, "Right then, why did they land here?"
"They didn't land," the Doctor said.
"Sorry?" she asked.
"You should've checked the Home Box. It crashed," he said, holding the door like a gentleman, then shutting it when I tried to follow River out, "Going somewhere, Ginny?"
"Yeah, actually," I said, reaching for the door handle.
"Where?" he asked.
"On an adventure?" I tried. He laughed a bit, then walked back up the stairs.
"Nice try, Miss Baggins, but there are plenty of other adventures to go on," he said, fiddling with the controls.
"Oh you're certainly a fine one for talking about adventure, Space Gandalf!" I said, then rebelliously flung the doors open and stepped onto Alfava Metraxis.
The blazing ruins of the Byzantium had crashed stern-first into a temple built into a wall of stone. Birds that sounded like seagulls cried as the flew overhead, and burning bits of debris littered the ground. I didn't remain on the beach with River for long, as the Doctor and Amy came out of the TARDIS mere seconds after me.
"And you're a fine one to talk about not wandering off, young lady," the Time Lord in question retorted. We all walked up to River, who was looking at the crash itself.
"What caused it to crash? Not me," she said.
"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," he explained.
"A phase shift would have to be sabotage. I did warn them," she said the last part in a sing-song tone.
"About what?" he asked.
"Well, at least the building was empty. Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries," she said, pulling out her gizmo and typing on it.
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Amy requested. After a moment's hesitation, the Doctor obliged.
"Amy Pond and Ginny Parks, Professor River Song," he said, and immediately regretted it. River gasped.
"I'm going to be a Professor some day, am I? How exciting!" she laughed and kept typing, "Spoilers."
"Yeah, but who is she and how did she do that?" Amy whispered, "She just left you a note in a museum."
"Two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum. The Home Box of category four starliner and sooner or later, him," River said, "It's how he keeps score."
"I know," Amy said, laughing a bit.
"It's hilarious, isn't it?" River asked, laughing herself. Pretty soon, all three of us were a cacophony of giggles, then the Doctor stepped in with his sarcastic laugh.
"I'm nobody's taxi service. I'm not going to be there every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship," he scolded.
"And you are so wrong," she said, "There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die," the Doctor turned around, "Now he's listening," she then began to use her gizmo as a sort of communicator, talking into it like a cell phone, "You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal," she turned to face us, "Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon." The Doctor does so, with a bit of a grudge, and River curtseys gratefully.
"Ooo, Doctor. You soniced her," Amy said, making it sound like flirting.
"We have a minute. Shall we?" River asked, taking out her diary, "Where are we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?"
"What's the book?" Amy asked, glancing in its direction, trying to sneak a peek.
"Stay away from it," the Doctor advised.
"What is it though?" she asked again.
"Her diary," he replied.
"Our diary," River corrected.
"Her past, my future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order," the Doctor said. He couldn't continue, though. Suddenly, four miniature cyclones swirled up and produced four men in millitary uniform. One of them walked towards us.
"You promised me an army, Doctor Song," the soldier said.
"No, I promised you the equivalent of an army," River replied, "This is the Doctor."
The Doctor saluted in response, and the soldier shook his hand.
"Father Octavian, Sir. Bishop, second class. Twenty clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation," Octavian said, "Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?"
River turned to face us, "Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?"