The Littlest Timelord: Cracks in Time

Chapter 14

The Doctor hopped down off the rope ladder and patted Octavian on the shoulder. "Do we have a gravity globe?" he asked.

"Grav globe", Octavian ordered.

A cleric handed it to the Doctor.

"Where are we? What is this?" Amy asked.

"It's an Aplan Mortarium, sometimes called a Maze of the Dead", River told her.

"What's that?"

"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone..." The Doctor kicked the gravity globe into the air and it lit up, allowing them to see the whole space. "...the perfect hiding place".

Elise's mouth dropped open as she looked at the cavern around them.

River smiled and gently tapped her chin with her knuckle, causing the small Timelord to close her mouth.

"I guess this makes it a bit trickier", Octavian said, "A stone Angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for".

"A needle in a haystack", River commented.

"A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle of death. A hay-alike needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues. No, yours was fine", the Doctor said.

Elise whined and wiggled in the harness. She wanted to go back to the TARDIS.

"Doctor!" River hissed, rubbing Elise's back, "It's okay, sweetie".

"Right. Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection", Octavian ordered, "One question. How do we fight it?"

"We find it, and hope", the Doctor told him.

The Doctor, Amy, and Elise went on ahead, River following after them a moment later.

Amy stopped to rub her eye.

"You all right?" River asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. So, what's a Maze of the Dead?"

"Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls. Okay, that was fairly bad. Right give me your arm". River grabbed her arm and pulled out an injection device. "This won't hurt a bit". She placed it on Amy's arm and pressed the button.

"Ow!"

"There, you see. I lied. It's a viro-stabilizer. Stabilizes your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship".

"So what are they like?" Amy gestured to the Doctor and Elise with her head.

"In the future, I mean. Because you know them in the future, don't you?"

"The Doctor? Well, the Doctor's the Doctor. Elise on the other hand...I've never seen a stronger girl. She's a force to be reckoned with".

"Oh. Well, that bit about the Doctor's very helpful. Mind if I write that down?"

"Yes, we are", River said, pointing her torch at the Doctor.

"Sorry, what?"

"Talking about you".

"I wasn't listening. I'm busy".

"Ah. The other way up".

He flipped the portable scanner around in his hand. "Yeah".