The Littlest Timelord: Cracks in Time

Chapter 13

Night fell as the clerics finished setting up their camp.

"The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship. Our mission is to get inside and neutralize it. We can't get through up top, we'd be too close to the drives. According to this, 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", Octavian told them.

"Oh, good", the Doctor said.

"Good, sir?"

"Catacombs. Probably dark ones. Dark catacombs. Great". The Doctor's tone was dripping with sarcasm.

"Technically, I think it's called a maze of the dead".

"You can stop any time you like".

"Father Octavian?" a cleric called.

"Excuse me, sir". Father Octavian walked off, leaving the Doctor, Amy, and Elise.

"You're letting people call you sir. You never do that. So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?" Amy asked the Doctor.

"Now that's interesting. You're still here. Which part of wait in the TARDIS till I tell you it's safe was so confusing?"

"Ooo, you are all Mister Grumpy Face today. And how come Elise gets to be here and I don't?"

"Because she's attached to me, that's why. A Weeping Angel, Amy, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced, 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?"

"Is River Song your wife? 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. And she's good with Elise and she knows things about her. She's Mrs. Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she going to be your wife one day?"

"Yes, you're right. I am definitely Mister Grumpy Face today".

"Doctor! Doctor?" River called from the drop ship. She was now dressed in camo like the rest of the clerics.

"Oops. Her indoors", Amy teased.

"Father Octavian!"

"Why do they call him Father?"

"He's their Bishop, they're his Clerics. It's the fifty first Century. The Church has moved on", the Doctor told her.

They entered the drop ship and there was a video of a Weeping Angel with its back to them.

"What do you think?" River asked, "It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I've put it on loop".

"Yeah, it's an Angel. Hands covering its face".

Elise looked at the angel and covered her eyes with her hands.

River laughed and smiled at the small Timelord.

"You've encountered the Angels before?" Octavian asked.

"Once, on Earth, a long time ago. But those were scavengers, barely surviving", the Doctor told him.

"But it's just a statue", Amy said.