The Weeping Angels

The phone was ringing when Eric walked into his office the next morning. He quickly dropped his things on the desk and picked it up.

“Hello?” A female voice spoke before he could. “Is this Eric Palmer?”

“Uh, yes, it is.” Eric cleared his throat and sat down. “Who is this?”

“Martha Jones. I’ve been trying to reach you for half an hour.” She sounded impatient.

“Ah, well I only just got into work.” Eric felt as if he were apologising to this person he had never met for coming in at the time he usually did instead of earlier.

“Oh, okay, well, I was calling to say that I’m able to come in today.”

“Excellent!” Eric grinned “When?”

“Well, I’m outside your office at the moment, so shall I just come up?”

Eric started and stared out his open door. She wasn’t standing there. He stood and peered out the window. People walked past quickly and he couldn’t see anyone who was on the phone.

“Yes, yes of course.”

“Right, see you in a moment.”

Eric hung up and took a better look out the window. No-one walked into the building. He frowned and stepped out of his office and walked over to the front desk.

“Can I help you?” Jane, the secretary, asked.

“No no, I’m just waiting for someone.” Eric tapped his fingers on the counter.

“For me?” Emma smirked as she sauntered into the office. “How sweet.”

“No, Martha Jones.”

“She’s here?” Emma quickly put her things on her desk and then stood at Eric’s side.

“Well, not technically, but she said she would be here in a moment.” Eric sighed and rested against the counter.

“Eric Palmer?” A dark woman dressed in tight black clothing entered the office and walked up to the counter. She stuck out her hand and smiled widely. “Martha Jones.”

Eric shook her hand “This is my assistant on the case, Emma Squire.”

Martha turned her smile to Emma. “Right, so, you wanted to talk to me?”

Eric smiled; she got straight to the point. “Yes, this way.” They walked into his office and sat down. “So, the Weeping Angels.”

Martha pulled a face “They were certainly not my favourite.”

“Favourite what?” Emma asked.

“Creature, alien, monster, whatever you want to call them.” Martha shrugged. “You meet a fair few when travelling with The Doctor. Occupational hazard. But still, I think the Daleks would definitely be the worst. I don’t think they have any competition.”

“Daleks?” Eric scratched his head and sighed. “Actually, never mind. They aren’t the problem at the moment.”

“Well thank god for that. You would have been dead long ago if they were.” Martha said with a little laugh.

Eric shook his head, “Angels.” He said. “What are they?”

“Creatures of the abstract.”

“Sally said that too. What does it mean?” Eric pushed.

“Well, they’re abstract.” Martha paused and chewed her lip for a moment. She held up her hand when Eric tried to speak again. “Just give me a moment.” She tied her thick black hair back before speaking again. “They feed off potential energy. Basically, they zap you into the past and feed off the potential energy that you could have had if you had lived your actual life.”

Eric frowned and ran his hands through his hair.

“Did you understand any of that?” Martha laughed.

“Nope.” Emma grinned and leaned back in her chair.

“So,” Eric said slowly, “They survive by feeding off the energy that we might have used in our life, had we lived it?”

“Basically.” Martha reached forwards and patted Eric’s hands. “They’re abstract, just remember that.” She laughed again.

“And you completely understand all of this?” Eric asked.

“Yeah, I travelled a fair bit with The Doctor, you get used to it after a little while. You just sort of have to learn to accept that everything that you thought was impossible is completely possible, and most of the time it actually is happening.”

Eric shook his head, smiling slightly “I’m trying.”

“At least you’re doing that.” Martha smiled.

“Anyway, Sally Nightingale said that you have a way of contacting The Doctor.” Emma interrupted.

Martha nodded and reached into the pocket of her jacket. She pulled out a simple mobile phone.

“That’s it?” Eric asked, reaching forwards and taking it from her. “It’s just a mobile.” He turned it over in his hands, looking for something that set it apart from ordinary phones.

“Yep, just a regular phone. But I gave him one just like it. I can call him anytime I want.” Martha took the phone from him.

Eric clapped his hands together, “So, you would be able to call him and get him to come back and help us solve this?”

“Yeah, he’d be more than willing to help out.”

“So, what are you waiting for?” Emma asked.

“You want me to call him now?” Martha asked, frowning slightly.

“Well, yeah, I mean, I kind of want to finish this case.” Eric said.

“Right, well, one moment then.” Martha stood and walked out of the office.

Eric smiled widely at Emma. “This could be it. We could get him here and then we’d be finished.”

“Yep, all done.” Emma smiled oddly at him.

Eric turned to his computer and turned it on. Martha walked back into the room. “I’ve called him, and told him what’s happening. He’s on his way. But I don’t know when he’ll get here.”

“Where is he?” Eric asked.

Martha shook her head. “He’s a time traveller. Only he knows where he is.”

“So, about how long does it usually take for him to get here?” Emma asked.

“Well, I know that he isn’t already here, he would’ve contacted me, and then of course I would have no idea why he was.” Martha shook her head again. “Sorry, tangents. Or, he could get here now, or he could get here in the future. He never seems to be able to get the exact time right.”

“Sooo?” Emma raised her eyebrows.

“Well, it could be seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks. It shouldn’t be more than a month, but he has been known to turn up years later.” Martha shrugged.

“Years?” Eric asked loudly. “No, we can’t wait that long.”

“Settle.” Martha said. “It’s more likely that he’ll be here sooner rather than later, don’t get too worked up about it.”

The phone on Eric’s desk rang and he picked it up impatiently. “Detective Eric Palmer speaking.” He sighed as the person on the other end spoke. “Yeah, sure, be there soon.” He hung up and turned to Emma and Martha. “They’ve found another victim. St Bart’s again. Not long to live.”

“Mind if I join you?” Martha asked. “Just in case he does turn up today.”

Eric nodded as he grabbed his jacket and the three of them walked out together.