the hourglass (doctor who fan fiction)

Time of the Angels

     "Alright then, Pond. How about we visit the Delerium Archive?" the Doctor asked, walking around the console. "What's that?" Amy questioned. "It's how he keeps score." I snorted. We materialized in the archive. The Doctor grabbed my hand and pulled me along out the door. He was smiling like a little boy. "Wrong. Wrong. Bit right, mostly wrong." he pointed to the exhibits. "I love museums." he turned to me and Amy. "Yeah, great. Can we go to a planet now? Big space ship? Churchill's bunker? You promised me a planet next." Amy whined. "Amy, this isn't any old asteroid. It's the Delerium Archive, the final resting place of the headless monks. The biggest museum ever." the Doctor explained. "You've got a time machine. What do you need museums for?" Amy asked him, but his attention was still on the exhibits.

     "Wrong. Very wrong. Ooo, one of mine. Also one of mine." he pointed. "Oh... I see what you mean now Juno." Amy raised an eyebrow. The Doctor stood in front of a square box in a case. "Oh great, an old box." Amy stood beside me. "It's from one of the old starliners. A Home Box." the Doctor informed. "What's a Home Box?" Amy 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." the Doctor explained. "So?" Amy questioned. I looked up at the box. "The writing, the graffiti. Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords." I said, walking up to the box. "There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple gods." I explained. "What does it say?" Amy asked.

"Hello, sweeties."

     An alarm suddenly blared sending a group of guards to chase us back to the tardis. "Oi! What's going on?" Amy asked. "Stole the box." the Doctor held up the Home Box. "And why exactly are we doing this?" Amy questioned. "Because someone on a spaceship twelve thousand years ago is trying to attract my attention." We slammed the tardis door behind us and made our way to the console. "Let's see if we can get the security playback working." The playback showed River winking at the camera. "The party's over, Doctor Song" a man said. "Yet still you're on board."

     River sighed. "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 smiled. "Wait till she runs. Don't make it look like an execution." the man told the other guards. "Triple seven five slash three four nine by ten zero twelve slash acorn." I ran to the monitor and typed in the coordinates. "Oh, and I could do with an air corridor loves." River looked up to the camera. "What was that? What did she say?" Amy asked. "Coordinates." I said.

     "Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to." River stood in front of an airlock. She blows a kiss and it opens. I ran to the door, the tardis in her flight path. I held out my hand to River as she came sailing in, landing on top of me. "Doctor?" Amy called. "River?" me and the Doctor questioned. "Follow that ship!" she yelled.

     "They've gone into warp drive. We're losing them. Stay close." Me, River, and the Doctor were around the console. "I'm trying." the Doctor said.

"Use the stabilisers."

"There aren't any stabilisers." me and the Doctor looked up.

"The blue switches." she looked at us. "Oh, the blue ones don't do anything, they're just blue." the Doctor said. "Yes, they're blue. Look, they're the blue stabilisers." She pressed them and the tardis stopped shaking. "See?" she shrugged. "Yeah. Well, it's just boring now, isn't it? They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers." I mumbled. "Doctor, how come she can fly the Tardis?" Amy asked. "You call that flying the Tardis? Ha!" he laughed. "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 along side." River said.

"Parked us? We haven't landed." I raised an eyebrow. "Of course we've landed. I just landed her." she looked to me. "But, it didn't make the noise." I said. "What noise?" River questioned. "You know, the," the Doctor imitated the wheezing noise the tardis makes. " It's not supposed to make that noise. You two leave the brakes on." she raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise. I love that noise." the Doctor mumbled. "Come along, Pond. Let's have a look." the Doctor began to walk towards the door, but River stopped him. "No, wait. Environment checks." she said. "Oh yes, sorry. Quite right. Environment checks." The Doctor opened the tardis door and looked out.

"Nice out." he said. "We're somewhere in the Garn Belt. There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest that-" The Doctor interrupted, "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 chances of rain later." he finished. River turned to me and Amy, "He thinks he's so hot when he does that." I scoffed. "How come you can fly the Tardis?" Amy asked. "Oh, I had lessons from the very best." River smiled. "Well, yeah." the Doctor rubbed the back of his head. "It's a shame he was busy that day." River shrugged. "Right then, why did they land here?" River questioned. "They didn't land." the Doctor said. "Sorry?"

"You should've checked the Home Box. It crashed." the Doctor informed. River ran out the tardis. "Explain. Who is that and how did she do that museum thing?" Amy crossed her arms. "It's a long story and I don't know most of it. Off we go." the Doctor walked to the console. "What are you doing?" Amy asked. "Leaving. She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to go." he replied. "So we're basically running away?" I questioned. "Yep." he popped the p. "Why?" Amy quizzed. "Because she's the future. Our future." he turned to me. "Can you run away from that?" Amy raised an eyebrow. "I can run away from anything I like. Time is not the boss of me." he argued. "Hang on, is that a planet out there?" she pointed to the door. "Yes, of course it's a planet." I answered. "You promised me a planet." she said to the Doctor. "Five minutes?" she pleaded. "Okay, five minutes." he rolled his eyes. "Yes!" she jumped up. "But that's all, because I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything!" he yelled as Amy ran out the door.

I walked over to the Doctor, "Y'know it's kind of nice to see River." I said. He hummed. "Oh admit it, you like seeing her too." I nudged him. He turned to me, "Okay fine... it is nice seeing her." he mumbled. "Come on then, another alien planet to walk upon!" I straightened his bow-tie. He gave me a smile.

The once sleek spaceship was a burning wreck sticking out of a rock-carved building. "What caused it to crash?" Amy asked. "Not me." River 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." the Doctor informed. "A phase shift would have to be sabotage. I did warn them." River shrugged. "About what?" the Doctor turned to River. "Well, at least the building was empty. Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries." River looked up at us. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" Amy questioned. "Amy Pond, Professor River Song." I replied. "Ah, I'm going to be a Professor some day, am I? How exciting. Spoilers." River gave me a smile. "Yeah, but who is she and how did she do that? She just left you two 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. It's how he keeps score." River explained. "We know." Amy rolled her eyes. "It's hilarious, isn't it?" River grinned. "I'm nobody's taxi service. Juno isn't going to be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a space ship." the Doctor said changing the subject "And you are so wrong. There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die." River said. She turned to Amy, "Now he's listening."

River used her communicator, "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 the Doctor, "Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon." The Doctor rolled his eyes. He took out his sonic grudgingly "Ooo, Doctor, you sonic'd her." Amy teased. "We have a minute. Shall we?" River got out her diary. "Where are we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?" she asked me and the Doctor. "What's the book?" Amy questioned. "Stay away from it." the Doctor warned. "What is it though?" Amy asked. "Her diary." I replied. "Our diary." River said. "Her past, our future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order." I explained.

Suddenly, four soldiers teleported nearby, kicking up the dust on the ground. "You promised me an army, Doctor Song." one said. "No, I promised you the equivalent of an army. This is the Doctor and Juno." River introduced. "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. Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?" Octavian asked. "Doctor, Juno, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?"