The Doctor strolled through the museum based in an old medieval church, Thea rushing around after him as Amy trailed behind, an annoyed look on her face at the place they had ended up.
"Wrong." he pointed at a random artefact, "Wrong."
"That one is..." Thea began excitedly, "mostly wrong actually."
"I love museums!"
"Should have brought Luke. He would love this place."
"Yeah, great." Amy rolled her eyes, "Can we go to a planet now? Big space ship? Churchill's bunker? You promised me a planet next."
"Ooh, we could go to Clom!" Thea announced, "Don't they have Disneyland there?" she turned to Amy, "with a Warp speed Death Ride."
"Amazing." Amy deadpanned.
"We should bring Luke." she turned to the Doctor, "if it isn't too much trouble, I would really like to go to Disneyland one day."
"Well, one day we will." The Doctor promised, "We'll go on the grand opening and I'll introduce you to Walt."
"And Luke can come?"
"With Sarah Jane's permission."
"Thank you very much." She smiled.
"Amy," the Doctor turned to her, seeing her looking even more bored as Thea got distracted, and started talking about Disneyland "this isn't any old asteroid. It's the Delerium Archive, the final resting place of the Headless Monks. The biggest museum ever."
"You've got a time machine." Amy remarked, "What do you need museums for?"
"Fun!" Thea called as the Doctor pointed to another display, "wrong!"
He peered through a glass case, "Very wrong. Ooh, one of mine. Also one of mine."
"Oh, I see." Amy nodded, "It's how you keep score."
"Ooh, this one's interesting." Thea peered down at an old box with even older writing on it.
Both she and the Doctor staring at it.
"Oh great, an old box." Amy sighed, joining them.
"It's from one of the old starliners." he murmured, "A Home Box."
"What's a Home Box.?
"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?" Amy shook her head.
"The writing, the graffiti. Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords."
"Like Latin or Greek," Thea offered, "though some still know the language."
"There were days," the Doctor sighed, "There were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple gods."
"What does it say?" Amy asked, excited.
The Doctor rubbed his head, "Hello, sweetie."
"I wonder who wrote it." Thea tilted her head in wonder. Old High Gallifreyan wasn't a language easy to learn, especially to humans, even Luke struggled with Gallifreyan and if anyone could learn that language it would be him.
So who would have wrote it? Another Time Lord? Maybe someone else survived, or maybe this was someone from before the War happened. Time travel and all that, they could easily run into someone from before that time.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic, flashing it across the case and the alarms instantly went off as the Doctor grabbed the box, "run!" he shouted, tucking the box under his arm as he pulled Thea with him back to the TARDIS, Amy rushing after them as the guards gave chase, but they quickly dematerialised.
"Why are we doing this?" Amy asked as the Doctor started to connect the box to the console.
"Because someone on a spaceship 12000 years ago is trying to attract my attention." the Doctor answered.
"Someone who knows Old High Gallifreyan." Thea pointed, "What if it's the Master setting a trap?"
"I really doubt he'd send a message saying 'hello sweetie'" he countered.
Thea just raised her eyebrows, "he used to call you 'my dear Doctor,' that's a term of endearment."
"The Master is dead." He reminded her.
"You said that last time." She reminded him, "and the time before that. And I'm assuming all those times before that too."
He ignored her, "Let's see if we can get the security playback working."
A grainy black and white image began to play on the scanner and Thea stood on the toes, to see an older woman in a black gown with large curly hair, pulling down her sunglasses to wink at the camera before it shifted to the woman standing with her back to the camera, before an airlock.
"The party's over, Doctor Song," the man said out of sight of the camera, the top of his head just on show on the bottom, "Yet still you're on board."
"Sorry, Alistair." she turned to smirk at him, "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."
"Wait till she runs." the man, Alistair, said to someone, likely his guards, who were also out of sight of the camera, "Don't make it look like an execution."
She looked down at her watch, "Triple seven five slash three four nine by 10. Zero twelve slash acorn. Oh, and I could do with an air corridor."
"Get the air corridor." the Doctor told Thea knowing she knew how to do that. He caught her most nights with her head in the TARDIS manual despite how he kept insisting he could teach her.
"On it." she nodded, not quite sure who this Dr Song woman was but willing to help her seeing as the Doctor seemed to know ow her well enough to follow the coordinates she gave.
And the woman had winked at the camera, and them, at her! She really wanted to meet this woman now. She seemed Badass!
"What was that?" Amy shook her head as both Time Lords got to work on the console, "What did she say?"
"Coordinates." the Doctor replied.
"Like I said on the dance floor," River continued, "you might want to find something to hang on to."
"Oh my stars!" Thea laughed, seeing on the scanner the woman blowing a kiss to the camera as the airlock doors blew open and she was sent backwards into space.
"Keep us steady!" the Doctor called to Thea, running to the doors as they materialised at the coordinates and he pulled the doors open, reaching out to help the woman in, the two of them ending up on the floor from the force.
"Doctor?" Amy blinked
"River?" the Doctor breathed.
River scrambled to her feet, "Follow that ship!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Thea mockingly saluted, running around the console.
The Doctor shut the doors seeing River wasn't going to as the woman ran up to the console and hung her red heels on the monitor.
Thea looked at her, not sure what to make of that or this woman in general. Clearly the woman must know her from somewhere, she knew she had never met this woman before.
How could anyone forget someone with such magnificent hair and the ability to run in heels?
And just the seer amount of confidence that they'd come and get her...wow, just, wow. She wouldn't ever forget meeting River Song.
The Doctor clearly knew her from somewhere because otherwise he wouldn't have gone to help the woman (well, he probably would have done) but he hadn't hesitated which meant he knew her, even a little bit.
"They've gone into warp drive." River called as they Doctor came round the console to help, "We're losing them. Stay close."
"I'm trying!" the Doctor took up two sections, with Thea taking another two, leaving River with the remaining two section.
"Use the stabilisers."
"There aren't any stabilisers."
"The blue switches." Thea pointed over to one of his sections, quickly pulling her hand back to avoid a spark.
"Oh, the blue ones don't do anything...they're just blue."
"No, they're blue stabilisers." Thea insisted, "It's in the manual."
"Yes, they're blue." River nodded, "look, they're the blue stabilisers." she reached over the pressed them and the TARDIS instantly calmed, "See?"
Thea stared at her, "I love you!"
"Oh, I know." River winked at her.
The Doctor eyed River, how she acted around Thea. When he first met River in the library on the day she died for him. She had been very insistent that he couldn't be one the to sacrifice himself as it met his future and her past would change. She must have known Thea was alive and never said anything.
"Yeah." he huffed, "Well, it's just boring now, isn't it? They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers."
"Doctor, how come she can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked, not even Thea could. She was already referring to the manual despite the Doctors whines and yet this woman had just come right in here and corrected the Doctors flying.
"You call that flying the TARDIS?" He flopped down in the captains chair, sulking, "Ha!"
"Oh," Thea walked over to him, mimicking him pout, "are you Mr Grumpy face today? Someone's more admirable than you and now your pouting."
"you think I'm admirable?" The Doctor started to smile.
"I didn't say that..." she mumbled, turning away.
It wasn't that he wasn't admirable but whatever he could do, she probably could also do. She didn't, but she could if she wanted!
"Ok." River cut in, looking at the monitor, "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."
"Parked us?" the Doctor scoffed, "We haven't landed."
"Of course we've landed." River smirked, "I just landed her."
"But, it didn't make the noise."
"What noise?"
"You know, the..." he mimicked the wheezing noise the TARDIS usually made.
"It's not supposed to make that noise. You leave the brakes on."
"I knew it!" Thea shouted, "but he was all...'it's the sound of the universe,'" she mimicked the Doctor, "and 'I don't want to punch a hole in the space time continuum!'" she rolled her eyes at him, she had read that in the manual but he kept insisting it was wrong. She couldn't even keep the book out here in case he tried to throw it in a supernova, like he had already threatened, multiple times.
"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise." the Doctor defended, "I love that noise. Come along, Pond. Let's have a look."
"No, wait!" River called, "Environment checks."
"Oh yes, sorry!" he nodded, "Quite right. Environment checks." he poked his head out the doors, "Nice out."
"We're somewhere in the Garn Belt." River reported, "There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest that..."
"We're on Alfava Metraxis," the Doctor poked his head back in, "the 7th planet of the Dundra System. Oxygen rich atmosphere, all toxins in the soft band, 11 hour day and chances of rain later."
River rolled her eyes, "He thinks he's so impressive when he does that."
"It is a little bit." Thea had to admit.
"Was that a compliment, kiddo?" the Doctor grinned at her.
"They do happen." Thea stated, "take it while you can."
"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked River.
"Oh, I had lessons from the very best." she replied.
"Well, yeah..." the Doctor shrugged, playing modest.
"It's a shame you were busy that day. Luckily Thea was available for one of one lessons. Thank you, sweetheart."
"Sweetheart?" Thea blinked at her, only to shake her head as River words reached her, "I teach you to fly the TARDIS. That's so exciting!" that meant that one day she was good enough to teach someone else, how amazing.
River just smiled. This was very early days it seemed, "Right then," she picked up her heels, "why did they land here?"
"They didn't land." the Doctor informed her.
"Sorry?" River looked at him.
"You should've checked the Home Box. It crashed." he followed her to the doors as she headed out only to shut the doors and hurry to the console.
"Explain." Amy ordered, "Who is that and how did she do that museum thing?"
"It's a long story and I don't know most of it."
"How many times have you met her?" Thea asked.
"Just the once." he swallowed, recalling the woman's sacrifice. "Off we go."
"What are you doing?" Amy frowned.
"Leaving." he twisted a knob but Thea twisted it back, "we are leaving." he told her, "She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to go."
"I want to go out there!" Thea argued, "with River Song and...and..."
"Are you basically running away?" Amy frowned.
"Yep." the Doctor nodded.
"Why?"
"Because she's the future. My future."
"And mine." Thea added, well, it certainly seemed that way anyway. Ugh, she was going to be stuck with the Doctor forever now? Maybe if she was sweet enough he would leave the TARDIS to her when he died.
"Can you run away from that?" Amy shook her head.
"I can run away from anything I like." the Doctor replied, moving around the TARDIS to send them off but Thea followed and kept undoing his inputs, "time is not the boss of me."
"Hang on, is that a planet out there?"
"Yes, of course it's a planet."
"You promised me a planet. 5 minutes?"
"Oh, please," Thea added.
The Doctor hesitated, really not wanting to let River Song drag him down into trouble, but also Thea had such big pleading eyes, he wasn't sure he could say no.
"It will give you a chance to show off."
"Alright, fine." The Doctor sighed.
She instantly grinned and ran to the doors, holding up a thumb to show she heard the Doctor called of 5 minutes on the planet.
"Yes!" Amy cheered, running after Thea outside.
"But that's all," the Doctor insisted, stalking after them, "because I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything."
They stepped out onto a beach before a high cliff, like a city had been carved out of the rock, smoke filling the air with bit of debris scattered around from the crashed ship above the rock.
"What caused it to crash?" Thea wondered, staring up at the ship.
"Not me." River answered, pulling out a handheld scanner.
"Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it." the Doctor replied, "According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase shift. No survivors."
"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."
"Aplan?" Thea frowned, trying to recall any mention of them from Mr Smith.
Amy looked between the Time Lords and River, "Aren't you going to introduce us?" she nudged the Doctor.
He sighed, "Amy Pond, Professor River Song."
"Ah," River beamed, turning to him, "I'm going to be a Professor someday, am I? How exciting."
"Congratulations." Thea laughed, as the Doctor winced not having meant to let that slip.
"Love the spoilers." River winked, turning back to the ship.
"Yeah, but who is she and how did she do that?" Amy hissed, "She just left you a note in a museum."
"Two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum." River began, having heard Amy, "The Home Box of category four starliner and sooner or later, one of them. It's how the Doctor keeps score and Thea just adores history. Especially Earth."
"I know." Amy laughed.
"It's hilarious, isn't it?"
"I'm nobody's taxi service." the Doctor huffed, pointing at her, "I'm not going to be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a space ship."
"Maybe not but Thea has you wrapped around her little finger and will always come if I ask."
"That is not true!"
She glanced at him, "you're still here, aren't you?"
He opened his mouth to argue only to shut it again, turning to point at Thea as the girl bowed.
"There's one survivor, by the way." River continued, "There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die." she smirked seeing him perk up in curiosity, "Now he's listening." she spoke into her hand held, walking off, "You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal. Doctor, can you sonic me?" she spun back to them, holding her device up, "I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."
He rolled his eyes, doing so, the woman dropping into a small curtsy in thanks before turning away again.
"Ooh, Doctor, you sonicked her." Amy teased.
"We have a minute." River walked back over, "shall we?" she pulled out a TARDIS themed diary, "Where are we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?"
"What's the book?" Amy asked quietly.
"Stay away from it." the Doctor warned.
"What is it though?"
"Her diary."
"Our diary." River corrected.
"Her past, my future." the Doctor sighed, "Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order."
They looked over at a whoosh noise to see four small tornadoes of sand and dust rise from the ground as four soldiers in camouflage uniform appeared in them.
One of them, an older man, likely the one in charge, walked over to River, "You promised me an army, Doctor Song."
"No," River shook her head, "I promised you the equivalent of an army. This is the Doctor and...Thea."
"Father Octavian, Sir, miss," he shook the mans hand, nodding to Thea who gave a mocking salute, "Bishop, second class. 20 clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?"
"No, but I'm assuming it can't be good." Thea replied.
"What do you know of the Weeping Angels?" River asked them.
The Doctor tensed, recalling what happened the last time he ran into the Weeping Angel.
~.~
Night had fallen and the rest of the skiers arrived very quickly with the rest of the equipment to set up camp.
"The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship." Octavian began, "Our mission is to get inside and neutralise it. We can't get through up top, we'd be too close to the drives. According to this," he held up a device similar to Rivers with a map on it, "behind the cliff face there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then make our way up."
"Oh, good." the Doctor nodded slowly.
"Good, sir?" he glanced at him.
"Catacombs. Probably dark ones. Dark catacombs. Great."
"He's being sarcastic." Thea said, "in case that went over your head."
"Technically, I think it's called a maze of the dead." Octavian continued.
"You can stop any time you like." the Doctor muttered.
"Father Octavian?" a soldier called.
"Excuse me." Octavian nodded to them and walked away.
"You're letting people call you sir," Amy remarked as she wandered over as they moved to one of tables set up, the Doctor scanning the equipment with the sonic, "you never do that. So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?"
"Now that's interesting." the Doctor looked up at her, "You're still here. Which part of wait in the TARDIS till I tell you its safe was so confusing?" he looked between Amy and Thea, "the pair of you."
"Did you really think I would?" Thea countered getting a sigh in reply.
"Oh, Thea was right, you are Mr Grumpy Face today." Amy teased.
"A Weeping Angel, Amy, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced," the Doctor explained to her, "and right now one of them is trapped inside that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in after it with a screwdriver and a torch, and assuming I survive the radiation long enough and assuming the whole ship doesn't explode in my face, do something incredibly clever which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day. That's what I'm up to. Any questions?"
"How do we know there's only one Angel?" Thea blinked at him. "Sorry," she winced as he stiffened, "bad thing to ask."
"Is River Song your wife?" Amy asked, getting them both to look at her, "Because she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone do that. She's kind of like, you know, 'heel, boy!' She's Mrs Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she going to be your wife one day?"
Thea didn't really know what to say to that as she saw the Doctor shift. She knew the man had been married and with kids. Typically on Gallifrey marriages were arranged whether the Doctor had had his own arranged marry or had chosen a life he did love, she didn't know and didn't want to pry too much. But she could see Amy words stung him.
"Maybe she's my wife instead." She suggested.
"Oh, please, she's too old for you."
"He's too old for her."
"Thea!" River called from a transport unit having changed from her dress to the uniform like the soldiers, "Doctor! Father Octavian!"
"Think she prefers you, you know." the Doctor nudged Thea as they made their way over, "she called you first."
"Good." she nodded.
"Why do they call him Father?" Amy questioned as she followed them.
"He's their Bishop," the Doctor replied, "They're his Clerics. It's the 51st Century. The Church has moved on."
They stepped inside to see a video on the back wall, taken from the ships security footage showing a small 4 second clip of the Angel, its back to them, hands over its eyes.
"What do you think?" River asked them, "It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's 4 seconds. I've put it on loop."
"Yeah, it's an Angel." the Doctor nodded, "Hands covering its face."
"Don't like it." Thea shook her head. She knew of Weeping Angels but never had to deal with one, honestly never wanted too.
"You've encountered the Angels before?" Octavian eyed the Doctor.
"Once, on Earth, a long time ago." the Doctor sighed, "But those were scavengers, barely surviving."
"But it's just a statue." Amy frowned, not seeing the big deal about one little statue.
"It's a statue when you see it." River warned.
"Where did it come from?" the Doctor wondered.
"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since. Dormant all that time."
"Not necessarily dormant, but patient." Thea murmured, rubbing her arm from discomfort at being so close to a Weeping Angel, even if it was still in the ship, "waiting for...us." she shook her head.
Now she understood why people thought she was odd and called her weird. Saying things like that was not a good way to get people to like you.
"What's that mean, it's a statue when you see it?" Amy questioned.
"The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen." River told her, "So legend has it."
"No, it's not legend, it's a quantum lock." the Doctor corrected, "In the sight of any living creature the Angels literally cease to exist. They're just stone. The ultimate defence mechanism."
"What, being a stone?" Amy scoffed.
"Being a stone until you turn your back." he murmured, turning and leaving the unit as Thea ran out after him. Thankful she didn't have to admit out loud how much she really didn't like staring at the Angel, "The hyper drive would've split on impact. That whole ship's going to be flooded with drive burn radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms. Deadly to almost any living thing."
"Deadly to an Angel?" Octavian followed after them.
"Dinner to an Angel. The longer we leave it there, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple? Are they still around?"
"The Aplans." River answered, "Indigenous life form. They died out 400 years ago."
"200 years later, the planet was terraformed." Octavian added, "Currently there are 6 billion human colonists."
"Whoo!" the Doctor laughed, "You lot, you're everywhere. You're like rabbits. I'll never get done saving you."
"Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the local population."
"Oh, there is. Bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load."
"Verger," Octavian turned to him men, "how are we doing with those explosives? Dr Song, with me."
"2 minutes." River waved him off, "Thea, I need you and your old man!"
"Old man?" the Doctor looked insulted. He wasn't even 1000 yet!
Thea blinked before smiling, it was nice to have someone call her before they called on the Doctor. Too want her first. River Song was definitely in her good books. She also called the Doctor old man, well, there was no way they were married.
That meant River was hers! Not that she wanted the woman or anything.
No, no, no.
She didn't care about weddings or marriage or incredible brilliant people who actually acknowledged her.
"Anybody need me?" Amy called as the Time Lords headed over to River, "Nobody?" she rolled her eyes and headed back inside the unit.
"I found this." River held up a small journal as they joined her at the table, "Definitive work on the Angels. Well, the only one. Written by a madman. It's barely readable, but I've marked a few passages."
The Doctor snatched it and quickly flipped through it before tossing it to Thea to read, "Not bad."
"Bit slow in the middle." Thea shrugged, setting the book back on the table.
"Didn't you hate his girlfriend? No," he grabbed the book back, "No, hang on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." he sniffed the book.
"Doctor Song?" Amy called, poking her head out of the unit, "Did you have more than one clip of the Angel?"
"No, just the 4 seconds." River replied.
"This book is wrong." the Doctor remarked, "What's wrong with this book? It's wrong."
"It's so strange when you go all baby face." River commented, eying them, "How early is this for you?"
"Very early." the Doctor said.
"I have never met you before." Thea stated before snatching the book from the Doctor and peering closely at it, tilting it as though a secret message would appear.
She didn't notice the sad look on River face before she quickly cleared it, "So you don't know who I am yet?"
"How do you know who I am?" the Doctor countered, "Who Thea is? We don't always look the same."
"I've got pictures of all your faces." River smiled, lightly patting her pocket that held her wallet off all of their faces. Even all of Theas future ones, oh they would be very far in the future but she had them and she loved looking at them, "You never show up in the right order, though. I need the spotter's guide."
"Pictures!" Thea exclaimed suddenly, "Why aren't there pictures?"
"Oh, good point, kiddo," the Doctor agreed, taking the book back ignoring her cry of complaint and skimming through to see no pictures, "this whole book, it's a warning about the Weeping Angels, so why no pictures? Why not show us what to look out for?"
"There was a bit about images." River recalled, "What was that?"
"Yes. Hang on." he flipped to the correct page, "'That which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel.'"
"What does that mean?" River frowned, "'An image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel.'"
"Doctor!" Amy screamed, "It's in the room!"
"Amy!" he shouted, running over.
"Doctor!"
"Are you all right?" he asked urgently trying to get the door open but it was locked, "What's happening?"
"Doctor? Doctor, it's coming out of the television. The Angel is here."
"Don't take your eyes off it." the Doctor ordered, pulling out his sonic on the keypad, "Keep looking. It can't move if you're looking."
"What's wrong?" Thea asked seeing the Doctor frowning at the results.
"Deadlocked."
"There is no deadlock." River argued.
"Don't blink, Amy." Thea warned her, "Don't even blink."
"Doctor!" she shouted.
"What are you doing?" River turned to the Doctor as he ran to a small box on the side of the unit.
"Cutting the power." he replied, pulling the wires out, "It's using the screen, I'm turning the screen off. No good, it's deadlocked the whole system."
"There's no deadlock."
"There is now." he snapped.
"Help me!" Amy cried.
"Can you turn it off?" Thea asked her, "Amy, can you turn the screen off?"
"I tried."
"Try again," the Doctor instructed, "But don't take your eyes off the Angel."
"I'm not."
"Each time it moves, it'll move faster. Don't even blink." he ran back round the door as River tried to cut through the door with her small gun.
"I'm not blinking." Amy called, "Have you ever tried not blinking? It just keeps switching back on."
"Yeah, it's the Angel." the Doctor told her.
"But it's just a recording."
"No, anything that takes the image of an Angel is an Angel."
"What are you doing?" Thea asked River.
"I'm trying to cut through." she aimed her blowtorch on the door, "it's not even warm."
"There is no way in. It's not physically possible." the Doctor ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
"Doctor, what's it going to do to me?" Amy demanded.
"Just keep looking at it." he said, quickly flipping through the book to see if there was anything to tell them how to get Amy out, "Don't stop looking."
"Just tell me. Tell me. Tell me!"
"Amy, not the eyes." he warned quickly, his eyes widening at that piece of information, "Look at the Angel but don't look at the eyes."
"Why?" she breathed.
"Why not the eyes?" Thea agreed.
"'The eyes are not the windows of the soul. They are the doors. Beware what may enter there.'" he read.
"Doctor, what did you say?" Amy called.
"Don't look at the eyes!"
"No, about images. What did you say about images?"
"Whatever holds the image of an Angel, is an Angel." River recited.
"Okay, hold this. One, two, three, four..."
The doors unlocked and they didn't hesitate to run in to see Amy in the middle of the room, holding the remote, the screen off.
"I froze it." she told them, as the Doctor ran past to ensure the screen couldn't turn back on, "There was a sort of blip on the tape and I froze it on the blip. It wasn't the image of an Angel any more. That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good."
"That was amazing." River smiled.
"Thea, hug Amy." the Doctor instructed.
"Shouldn't you be the one hugging her." She shook her head.
"I'm busy. Therefore you're my go to hugging girl."
"I'm fine." Amy rolled her eyes.
"You're go to hugging girl." Thea scoffed, "Amy you did brilliant, but I'm leaving the hugging to the Doctor."
"Thanks. Yeah, I kind of creamed it, didn't I?"
"So it was here?" River looked over at the Doctor, "That was the Angel?"
"That was a projection of the Angel." he remarked, "It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant."
An explosion went off outside, followed by a cleric shouting, "last one positive."
"Doctor?" Octavian shouted, "We're through."
"Okay, now it starts." the Doctor sighed heading out.
"Wait for me." Thea hurried out after him.
"Not too late to go and wait in the TARDIS until all this is over." the Doctor glanced at her.
"And miss out on all the danger?" she scoffed, "I'm a big girl, I can look after myself."
The Doctor sighed heavily as Amy and River caught up.
~.~
Thea climbed down the rope ladder, following down after Amy, River having gone first, seeing it best since both see and Amy tended to wear skirts. They knew the clerics were men of god, but it had been Rivers suggestion, something the Doctor wasn't too happy about as he worried something could be down there despite Rivers assurance there wasn't anything as she already ran a scan.
"Do we have a gravity globe?" the Doctor asked as he followed down last.
"Grav globe." Octavian held out a hand and a cleric handed one over.
"Where are we?" Amy wondered, "What is this?"
"It's an Aplan Mortarium," River told her, "sometimes called a 'Maze of the Dead.'"
"What's that?"
"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone..." the Doctor began, kicking the grav globe in the air where it floated above them, lighting up the area...showing all the stone statues surrounding them, "The perfect hiding place."
"I guess this makes it a bit trickier." Octavian remarked.
"Just a little." Thea pursed her lips.
"A stone Angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for."
"A needle in a haystack." River remarked.
"A needle that looks like hay." The Doctor corrected, "A hay-like needle of death. A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues..."
"Hers was fine." Thea cut him off, "better even."
"Right." Octavian turned to his men, "Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection. One question. How do we fight it?"
"We find it, and hope." the Doctor said.
"Definitely Mr Grumpy Face." Thea laughed, grabbing a torch for herself as she and Amy followed the Doctor, shining their torches at the statues.
River made to follow but Octavian grabbed her arm, "they don't know yet, do they? Who and what you are."
"It's too early in their time stream." River sighed.
"Well, make sure they don't work it out, or they're not going to help us."
"I won't let you down. Thea is the one you have to lookout for, she knows things before she
even knows them. Believe me, I have no intention of going back to prison." She pulled her arm from his grasp and quickly caught up with the others.
"What did Octavian want?" Thea inquired innocently as she shone her torch at the statues.
"Oh nothing." River shrugged, "just to keep you doing as you told."
"And you can do that, can you?"
"Easily." River smirked at her before catching sight of Amy rubbing her eyes and frowning at her hand, "you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Amy nodded, "So, what's a Maze of the Dead?"
"Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls."
Amy gave her a look, "Okay, that was fairly bad. Right give me your arm. This won't hurt a bit." she pulled out a syringe and injected it into Amys arm as she gave a yelp in pain, "There, you see. I lied. It's a viro-stabiliser. Stabilises your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship."
"So what's he like?" Amy asked quietly nodding to the Time Lords as they walked off ahead, "In the future, I mean. Because you know him in the future, don't you?"
"And Thea." River nodded, "they're just..." she shook her head, unable to describe them.
"Oh. Well, that's very helpful. Mind if I write that down?"
"Yes, we are." River called over to them.
"I gathered." Thea muttered.
"Not even going to pretend you weren't listening?" River smirked at her.
"You wouldn't be calling unless you already knew we were." she countered.
"Sorry, what?" the Doctor blinked, still pretending to be looking at Rivers device. "I wasn't listening. I'm busy."
"Ah. The other way up."
The Doctor winced and turned the scanner the right way up, "yeah."
"If you're going to lie, don't get caught." Thea told him.
"You're so his wife." Amy murmured to River.
The smile River had watching the pair faded as she shook her head at Amy's words, "no, no, no. Don't say thing like that."
"So you're not his wife?" Amy frowned, unable to feel a little bit hopeful about that.
"No, I'm not his wife." she grimaced at the thought, "you've got a better chance assuming I'm Thea wife."
"Seriously?" Amy blinked, looking between River and Thea, "but she's so..." she trailed off at the sound of gunfire.
All of them rushing off where one of the young clerics had fired his gun at a statue.
"Sorry, sorry." he swallowed, "I thought...I thought it looked at me."
"We know what the Angel looks like." Octavian glared at him, "Is that the Angel?"
"No, sir." he shook his head.
"No, sir, it is not." he snapped, "According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil, so it would be good, it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of decor."
"Well shouting isn't helping, is it?" Thea glared at him, moving to stand before the young cleric, "what's your name?"
"Bob, ma'am." he answered shakily.
"Ah, that's a great name." the Doctor smiled, "I love Bob."
"It's a Sacred Name." Octavian informed them, "We all have Sacred Names. They're given to us in the service of the Church."
"Sacred Bob. More like Scared Bob now, eh?"
"Yes, sir." he murmured.
"Ah, good. Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron. Carry on."
Octavian turned away from them, "We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes." he turned to Bob, "You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach."
"You good?" the Doctor asked Thea as she continued to flash her torch across the statues, frowning at them.
"Oh I'm terrified." She admitted quietly, "I think Bob was right...its like they're looking at me." she shivered lightly, taking his hand and he squeezed it tightly.
"I'm scared too."
"Honestly, not what I wanted to hear."
~.~
"Isn't there a chance this lot's just going to collapse?" Amy asked as they headed up the stone structure, "There's a whole ship up there."
"Incredible builders, the Aplans." River remarked.
"Had dinner with their Chief Architect once." the Doctor told them, "Two heads are better than one."
"What, you mean you helped him?" Amy guessed.
"No, I mean he had two heads. That book, the very end, what did it say?"
"Hang on." River pulled the book out from her bag.
"Read it to me."
"'What if we had ideas that could think for themselves? What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels.'"
"There's something I don't like about all this." Thea held out her hand and River handed over the book, "something were missing."
~.~
"Are we there yet?" Amy nearly moaned as they continued to climb, "It's a hell of a climb."
"The Maze is on six levels, representing the ascent of the soul." River told her, "Only two levels to go."
"Lovely species, the Aplans." The Doctor smiled, "We should visit them some time."
"I thought they were all dead?" Amy frowned.
"So is Winston Churchill, but we just met him back when he was alive." Thea nudged her.
"So is Virginia Woolf." the Doctor nodded, "I'm on her bowling team. Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. Well, that's having two heads, of course. You're never short of a snog with an extra head."
"Good to know." Thea nodded.
"No!" his eyes widened, "absolutely no snogging any Alpans in my TARDIS."
"Is this no snogging rule just for Alpans or a general no snogging?"
"Doctor, there's something..." River began, shining her torch on the statues, "I don't know what it is."
"Yeah, there's something wrong." he agreed, "Don't know what it is yet, either. Working on it. Of course, then they started having laws against self-marrying. I mean, what was that about? But that's the Church for you. Er, no offence, Bishop." he looked back at the man.
"Quite a lot taken, if that's all right, Doctor." he muttered as they came to a narrow passage, lined with even more statues, "Lowest point in the wreckage is only about 50 feet up from here. That way."
"The Church had a point," Amy called, "if you think about it. The divorces must have been messy."
Thea stopped walking at that, staring in horror at the statues, "oh no..."
The Doctor turned back to her not sure if she had stopped because she didn't want to be in such a dark narrow space with so many statues...or if she realised what was wrong, "what is it?"
"Oh..." River breathed.
The Doctor blinked, looking at the statues and realising what was wrong, "oh."
"How could we have not noticed that?"
"Low level perception filter, or maybe we're thick."
"What's wrong, sir?" Octavian demanded.
"Nobody move," the Doctor ordered, "Nobody move. Everyone stay exactly where they are. Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we are all in terrible danger."
"What danger?"
"As we've been saying..." Thea swallowed thickly, "the Alpans have two heads so..." she shone her torch on the SINGLE headed statues surrounding them, "why do none of the statues."
"Everyone, over there." the Doctor ordered them to the small corner at the back of the passage that had no statues, "Just move. Don't ask questions, don't speak." Everyone moved over as the Doctor stood in front of them, "Okay, I want you all to switch off your torches."
"Sir?" Octavian blinked.
"Just do it." they all switched off their torches, "Thea." he glanced at her as she left her torch on.
"Going off." she murmured, clutching it tightly, her hand on the switch to turn it back on in case the Doctors didn't.
"It'll be fine." he tried to assure her, knowing how much she really hated the dark. A completely rationale fear considering what lurked in the dark. "I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment."
"Are you sure about this?" River asked, moving closer to Thea, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.
"No." he admitted, torching his torch off and back on instantly...the statues had moved to face them.
"Oh, my God!" Amy gasped, "They've moved!"
The Doctor ran further down the passage, checking all the statues, every one now facing them.
"They're Angels!" he announced, running back, "All of them."
"But they can't be!" River shook her head.
"Clerics, keep watching them." the Doctor instructed, running off again and peering down the alcove to see the statues seemingly climbing towards. "Every statue in this Maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us."
"But there was only one Angel on the ship." River insisted, "Just the one, I swear."
"Could they have been here already?" Amy suggested.
"The Aplans." the Doctor began, "What happened? How did they die out?"
"Nobody knows." River shrugged.
"Now we know." Thea murmured.
"They don't look like Angels." Octavian shone his torch on what that seemed to be dragging itself across the floor, no facial features, like a humanish lump of stone.
"And they're not fast." Amy added, "You said they were fast. They should have had us by now."
"Look at them." the Doctor eyed them, "They're dying, losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries, starving."
"Losing their image?"
"And their image is their power. Power. Power!" he spun to them, "Don't you see? All that radiation spilling out the drive burn. The crash of the Byzantium wasn't an accident!"
"It's a rescue mission!" Thea realised.
"A rescue mission for the Angels!" the Doctor pointed at her, "we're in the middle of an army, and it's waking up."
"We need to get out of here fast." River determined.
"Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please." Octavian spoke into his comm, "Any of you, come in."
"It's Bob, sir." Bob answered, "Sorry, sir."
"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active."
"I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir."
"Bob," the Doctor snatched the comm from Octavian, "Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor."
"I'm talking to..." Octavian began, trying to snatch it back but the Doctor turned away.
"Where are you now?"
"I'm talking to my..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up." the Doctor held up a finger silencing the man.
"I'm on my way up to you, sir." Bob told them, "I'm homing in on your signal."
"Ah, well done, Bob." the Doctor smiled, "Scared keeps you fast. Told you, didn't I. Your friends, Bob. What did the Angel do to them?"
"Snapped their necks, sir."
"That's odd. That's not how the Angels kill you. They displace you in time. Unless they needed the bodies for something."
"Bob," Octavian took the comm back, "did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue plan."
"Oh, don't be an idiot." the Doctor rolled his eyes, "The Angels don't leave you alive. Bob, keep running."
Thea blinked as the Doctors own words went over his head. The Angels didn't keep you alive and yet it sounded as though Bob was making his way up to them. "Sorry, can I..." she didn't wait for an answer and she took the comm, "sorry, Bob, Thea here, you said the Angels killed your friends, but..." she swallowed at the feeling of dread in her gut, "why did they let you go?"
"They didn't, ma'am." he replied, "The Angel killed me, too."
"What do you mean, the Angel killed you?" the Doctor frowned, taking the comm again.
"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected, but it was pretty quick, so that was something."
"If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?"
"You're not talking to me, sir. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."
"So when you say you're on your way up to us..." the Doctor closed his eyes as he realised what that meant.
"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes." "No way out." he looked at Thea who looked remarkably calm despite the dangerous situation they were in. He had wanted her to travel with him so he could show how wonderful and beautiful the universe could be, that wasn't working very well was it?
"Then we get out through the wreckage." Octavian decided, "Go! Go, go, go. All of you run."
"Doctor!" Amy shouted seeing he wasn't moving with them and Thea refused to leave his
side.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," The Doctor waved her off, "I'm coming. Just go. Go, go, go." everyone ran leaving him, Thea and Octavian, "Called you an idiot. Sorry, but there's no way we could have rescued your men."
"I know that, sir." he replied, "And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families."
With that he turned and followed the others.
"He needs a good kick where it hurts." Thea glared after him.
The Doctor sighed heavily knowing how right Octavian but having no time to think on that,
"Angel Bob." he called back into the comm, "Which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?"
"Yes, sir." the Angel replied, "And the other Angels are still restoring."
"Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage. Thank you." he switched the comm back off and ran after the others to see Amy had stopped, her hand on a railing, "Don't wait for us. Go, run!"
"I can't!" Amy shouted, "No, really, I can't!"
"Why not?" Thea huffed.
"Look at it!" she cried, gesturing to her normal fleshy hand, "Look at my hand. It's stone!"
"No, it's not." Thea argued.
"Yes, it is!"
The Doctor looked at Amy's eyes with his torch, "You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?" he sighed.
"I couldn't stop myself." she defended weakly, "I tried."
"Listen to me. It's messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone."
"It is. Look at it."
"It's in your mind, I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go."
"I can't, okay? I've tried and I can't. It's stone!"
The torches flickered, "The Angel is going to come and it's going to turn this light off, and then there's nothing I can do to stop it, so do it. Concentrate. Move your hand."
"I can't!"
"Then we're all going to die." Thea determined.
"You're not going to die." Amy argued.
"They'll kill the lights." the Doctor told her.
The lights flickered and Thea turned her torch to them, keeping her eyes on them as Amy spoke, "you've got to go. You know you have. You've got all that stuff with River and that's all got to happen. You know you can't die here."
"Time can be re-written." the Doctor muttered, "It doesn't work like that." the lights flickered again and Amy looked back as the Angels approached, "Keep your eyes on it. Don't blink."
"Run!"
"You see, I'm not going. I'm not leaving you here."
"Me neither." Thea agreed.
"I don't need you to die for me," Amy said, "Do I look that clingy?"
"Well, now you mentioned it..."
"Oi!"
"Sorry."
"You can move your hand." the Doctor tried again.
"It's stone!" Amy snapped.
"It's not stone."
"You've got to go. Those people up there will die without you. If you stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them."
"Permission?" Thea asked.
The Doctor nodded, "granted."
"Amelia Pond, I'm very sorry." Thea told her.
"It's okay." Amy swallowed, "I understand. You've got to leave me."
"No, I mean about this." Thea grinned and bit her hand.
Amy yelped and moved her hand back, "Ow!"
"See? Not stone." the Doctor grinned, "Now run!"
"You bit me!" Amy turned accusingly to Thea.
"And you moved your hand." she countered.
"Look, I've got a mark. Look at my hand."
"You're humanly fleshly hand that isn't stone." Thea laughed, patting it. Oh she always loved an excuse to bite people.
"Did we mention you're alive." the Doctor added.
"Blimey, your teeth. Have you got space teeth?"
"They're just teeth." Thea huffed, "your bit your psychiatrists, so really you can't complain."
"Come on." the Doctor rolled his eyes and pulled them off where River, Octavian and the rest
of the clerics where gathered in a large cavernous room, the Byzantiums base sticking out from the roof.
"Clerics, we're down to four men." Octavian was saying as they ran in, "Expect incoming."
"Yeah, it's the Angels." the Doctor remarked, "They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves."
"Which means we won't be able to see them."
"Which means we can't stay here."
"Two more incoming." Octavian shouted, him and his men readying their weapons.
"Any suggestions?" River looked over at the Time Lords.
"The statues are advancing on all sides." Octavian reported, "We don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium."
"There's no way up, no way back, no way out. No pressure, but this is usually when you have a really good idea."
"There's always a way out." Thea murmured. You good had to find it.
"Doctor?" Angel Bob came on the comm, "Can I speak to the Doctor, please?"
"Hello, Angels." he responded, "What's your problem?"
"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end."
"Which is?"
"I died in fear."
The Doctor blinked, "I'm sorry?"
"You told me my fear would keep me alive, but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down."
"What are they doing?" Amy whispered to River.
"They're trying to make him angry." River whispered back.
"Anger is the shortest distance from a mistake." Thea mumbled.
"I'm sorry, sir." Angel Bob continued, "The Angels were very keen for you to know that."
"Well then, the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not going to let that pass." the Doctor said, "I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier."
"But you're trapped, sir, and about to die."
"Yeah. I'm trapped. And you know what? Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big, whopping mistake."
"What mistake, sir?"
He turned to Amy, "Trust me."
"Yeah." she nodded.
And turned to River, "Trust me?"
"Always." She smiled.
"Thea." he turned to her, "do you trust me?"
She didnt hesitate, "yes."
He smiled at her and turned to Octavian and his men, "You lot, trust me?"
"Sir, two more incoming." a cleric shouted.
"We have faith, sir." Octavian nodded.
"Then give me your gun." he held his hand out and Octavian handed it over, "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do, jump!"
"Jump where?" Octavian shook his head.
"Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."
"What signal?"
"You won't miss it."
"Sorry, can I ask again?" Angel Bob spoke again, "You mentioned a mistake we made."
"Oh, big mistake. Huge. Didn't anyone ever tell you there's one thing you never put in a trap? If you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."
"And what would that be, sir?"
"Me..." and then he fired at the gravity globe...