Bittersweet and strange ~ Doctor who [3]

The Time Of Angels

(Skipping victory of the daleks)

Museum

The museum looks like it is based on the plans of a medieval church. The Doctor strides through, pointing at the displays and giving her opinion. Andy follows. "Wrong! Wrong! Bit right, mostly wrong. I love museums"

"Yeah, great. Can we go to a planet now? Big space ship, Churchill's bunker...? You promised me a planet next" Andy complains.

"Andy, this isn't any old asteroid. It's the Delerium Archive, final resting place of the headless monks, the biggest museum ever"

"You've got a time machine, what do you need museums for?"

"Wrong! Very wrong! Oooh, one of mine. Also one of mine" She peers into a display case.

"Oh, I see. It's how you keep score" Andy smirks. Something in the next display case catches the Doctor's eye. It's an antique version of a box. Intrigued, the Doctor looks at the top which bears strange symbols. "Oh great, an old box"

"It's from one of the old starliners. A home box" The Doctor tells him.

"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" she explains.

"So?"

"The writing, the graffiti – Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords. There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple gods"

"What does it say?" Andy asks, now also intrigued.

"Hello, sweetie"

Alarm bells ring as the Doctor runs through the museum, the home box tucked under her arm. Andy is racing behind her. They rush into the Tardis as two guards chase after them.

**********

Tardis

The Doctor hooks the home box up to the console. "Why are we doing this?" Andy asks her.

"Cos someone on a space ship 12,000 years ago is trying to attract my attention. Let's see if we can get the security playback working"

Grainy black and white footage of River winking at the camera appears on the monitor. It then switches to River with his back to the camera facing a door.

"The party's over, Doctor Wolf yet still you're on board"

River turns to face him "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"

"Wait till he runs. Don't make it look like an execution" Alistair orders.

River looks to his watch "Triple-seven, five slash, three, four, nine by ten"

The Doctor and Andy exchange a look.

"Zero, twelve, slash, acorn. Oh, and I could do with an air corridor"

The Doctor begins to type on the keyboard. "What was that, what did he say?" Andy asks the Doctor.

"Co-ordinates!"

"Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to!" as a timer begins to beep frantically, Alistair realizes what's about to happen and grabs hold of one of the pipes on the wall.