The Order of the Angels

Chapter 2 The Library

     River song looked up from the control panel and asked the doctor, "Where should we go now, my love?" She looked back to the controls and began pulling levers and turning dials to set time and space coordinates. "How about Paris in the fall of 1900?  Picasso will have just moved there and he will use many of his early artworks as fuel to heat his apartment.  We could become his benefactors and save those lost works and help him keep warm." She continued to plot the space-time coordinates without waiting for an answer. 

     The Doctor walked to River. He took her hands and pulled them to his chest. "River, I have to make this right. Not just for Amy and Rory, but for all the stolen lives scattered through time. Besides, they're my in-laws and I don't want this hanging over my head for the rest of time." The Doctor finished his sentence with a sideways glance.

     River smiled halfheartedly.  As badly as she wanted to, she knew she could not tell the Doctor where to go.  The Doctor released her hands, turned to the controls, and began plotting a new course. "Where to then, my love?" River asked. 

     "The 51st century, " the Doctor said as he pulled the lever to engage the engine. The familiar whooshing sound started as the Doctor said, "We're going to The Library."

     The Library was a medium-size planet that had been converted to the largest collection of knowledge in the universe.  The TARDIS materialized in an office reserved specifically for the Doctor. The Doctor had spent many years here coming and going and was considered an honored guest. Not just because he had such a vast amount of knowledge that he would share from time to time during a scholarly lecture, but he had on occasion taken the curator on some historical excursions to complete research and retrieve artifacts. 

     The Doctor set the controls for the Tardis to begin accepting vast amounts of data and placed his hand lovingly on the TARDIS control panel and said to her, "You know what we need." The lights in the TARDIS dimmed momentarily as the TARDIS began downloading vast amounts of information.  The TARDIS began searching for any mention of the Weeping Angels, living statues, or stories of anyone that claimed to have been sent back in time and to correlate that information. 

     The Doctor ran from the control panel and yelled to River as he ran past her, "I'll be right back, I've got to get a present for an old friend."  River looked flummoxed as he ran past her and down the hallway to the many rooms of the TARDIS. He ran past an open doorway leading into the main library and then slid back into the doorway and walked in as he brushed his hair back into place. He walked to a table with boxes on it and began reading the post-it notes on each of them, when he found the one he was looking for he picked up the box, and headed back to the control room. 

     River was standing next to the control panel with her arms crossed looking quite cross. "What is going on she asked?" 

     As the Doctor opened his mouth to explain there was a knock on the door.  "Research," he said to her.  "Come in," the doctor yelled. The door opened and a large person wearing white robes with a purple sash tied around his enormous middle strode into the TARDIS. He had grey wrinkly skin with large floppy ears. The most notable feature of him, however, was the trunk hanging down from his face.  The second most notable feature, apart from being an elephant, was a stunning pair of Lapis Lazuli-colored glasses frames on his face. 

     The Doctor set down the box he was carrying on a chair and walked to the head librarian and shook his hand. 

     "Doctor," the librarian said,  "It's such a pleasure to see you, even if you have changed your appearance again. "  They shook hands briefly but vigorously. When the librarian saw River he said, "Ahh Dr. Song. So good to see you again, too." River looked confused. 

     "Oh," the Doctor said clapping his hands, and then pointing an index finger at each of them. "You two haven't met yet." 

     But, I distinctly remember meeting Dr. Song at a book signing in the atrium of this very library, on the tenth day of the month of Ganesha. She was wearing a lovely strapless dress and...