the hourglass (doctor who fan fiction)

Flesh and Stone

We jumped. "Up. Look up." I said. "Are you okay?" River asked Amy. "What happened?" Amy questioned. "We jumped." River replied. "Jumped where?" Amy asked. "Up. Up. Look up." the Doctor ordered. "Where are we?" Amy didn't understand. "Exactly where we were." River replied. "No we're not." Amy said. "Move your feet." the Doctor said, sonicing a circular hatch in the floor. "Doctor, what am I looking at? Explain." Amy quizzed. "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, and up we fell. Shot out the grav globe to give us an updraft, and here we are." I looked down at the statues. "Doctor, the statues. They look more like Angels now." Octavian pointed out. "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." The hatch finally opened. A light went out. "They're taking out the lights. Look at them. Look at the Angels." I demanded. "Into the ship, now. Quickly, all of you." the Doctor said. "How?" Amy asked. The Doctor dropped through the open hatch. "Doctor!" Amy yelled. "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."

"Okay, men. Go, go, go!" Octavian ordered. I jumped down. The Doctor was working on a control panel. "The Angels. Presumably they can jump up too?" Octavian asked. The hatch closed. "They're here, now. In the dark, we're finished." A bulkhead further along the corridor started to close. "Run!" I yelled. "This whole place is a death trap." Octavian said. The door closed. "No, it's a time bomb. Well, it's a death trap and a time bomb. And now it's a dead end. Nobody panic." He looked around at us, "Oh, just me then. What's through here?" he asked River. "Secondary flight deck." she replied. "Okay. so we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah? So what if the gravity fails?" Amy asked. "I've thought about that." the Doctor responded. "And?"

"And we'll all plunge to our deaths. See? I've thought about it. The security protocols are still live. There's no way to override them. It's impossible." he said, River was working on a control panel. "How impossible?" she asked. "Two minutes." the Doctor said. The outer hatch was open. "The hull is breached and the power's failing." The light went out. "Sir, incoming." a cleric warned. "Doctor? Lights." Amy said.

"Clerics, keep watching them." Octavian ordered. "And don't look at their eyes. Anywhere else. Not the eyes." the Doctor added, he turned to Octavian, I've isolated the lighting grid. They can't drain the power now." he said. "Good work, Doctor." Octavian said. "Yes. Good, good, good. Good in many ways. Good, you like it so far." he asked Amy. "So far?" Amy questioned. "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." the Doctor explained. "Good. Fine. Do it." Octavian nodded. "Including the lights. All of them. I'll need to turn out the lights." the Doctor added. "How long for?"

"Fraction of a second. Maybe longer. Maybe quite a bit longer." the Doctor said. "Maybe?" Octavian quizzed. "I'm guessing. We're being attacked by statues in a crashed ship. There isn't a manual for this." the Doctor shrugged. "Doctor, we lost the torches. We'll be in total darkness." Amy informed. "No other way. Bishop."

"Doctor Song, I've lost good Clerics today. You trust this man?" Octavian asked River. "I absolutely trust him." River replied. "He's not some kind of madman, then?" Octavian questioned. "I absolutely trust him." River smiled. "Excuse me." he moved passed River. "I'm taking your word, because you're the only one who can manage this guy. But that only works so long as he doesn't know who you are. You cost me any more men, and I might just tell him. Understood?" Octavian said. River nodded, "Understood."

"Okay, Doctor. We've got your back." Octavian looked back at his clerics. "Bless you. Bishop." the Doctor smiled. "Combat distance, ten feet. As soon as the lights go down, continuous fire. Full spread over the hostiles. Do not stop firing while the lights are out. Shot gun protocol. We don't have bullets to waste." Octavian ordered. "Juno, Amy, when the lights go down, the wheel should release. Spin it clockwise four turns."