THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB

Chapter Three

"Oh River," the Doctor said to her. "I know you worship me, but you didn't have to go that far."

River rolled her eyes while Amy giggled.

"Trust me, the last thing I'd wanna do is stroke your huge ego by creating a religion around you," she said to him.

"Okay, so who are these people then?" the Doctor said. "It's not LINDA, is it?"

"LINDA? No, who's she?" River said with a frown.

"Not she, they, it's a group…oh never mind, long story. Anyway, who is it then?" the Doctor said.

"Well, they wouldn't let me take the book out of the prison so I had to copy what I found on a piece of paper," River said, reaching into the pocket of her brown trousers.

"Wait, you escape all the time and you're concerned that you might get in trouble if you pinch their book?" the Doctor said, amused.

River ignored that and handed him a folded up piece of paper. The Doctor glanced at Amy and sat down beside her while he unfolded it. Amy and River listened while he read aloud to them.

"In the early part of the year 2011, a religious group called the Time Lord Disciples was started by a group who were convinced a mysterious man known as the Doctor would save them from the apocalypse of 2012. The group thought that the world would end on the 21st of December, 2012 and only the Doctor could save them, taking them with him in a vehicle known as the TARDIS to a new world."

The Doctor groaned as he lowered the sheet of paper and River nodded.

"The world doesn't end in 2012. The human race experiences a spiritual shift in their thinking but it's not the biblical apocalypse. Humans, you lot are such skittish creatures. So these Time Lord Disciples, what do they do? How is this religion run? Do they dress up like me and spout off pretty platitudes that they think would be things I'd say. Do they build a TARDIS out of a refrigerator box and pray in it?"

"I don't know, Sweetie, I figured we could investigate and find out. That's what you're good at, isn't it?" River said.

"Where is this…religious group?" the Doctor said.

"London, as far as I can tell," River said. "But their members come from all over the world."

"They recruit via the internet then?" the Doctor asked.

"Don't know, I wasn't given access to the world wide web in my prison cell, love," River said.

"Fine, I'll have the TARDIS search for this group while we head to London," the Doctor said. "I believe Amy is nearly healed, this should be the last IV bag so once that's done, we can all head out and try to locate these people who think I'm a god. See ya in a moment!"

The Doctor hurried out of the room. River watched him go and then looked at Amy.

"Let's just hope when he finds this lot, he doesn't start asking them to bow down and lick his shoes," River said.

Rory walked back to his house in Leadworth, his hands holding bags filled with groceries. The old familiar sights of his home town comforted him but at the same time, his heart ached knowing Amy was still with the Doctor. Since they were married, Amy had moved into his house and her stuff was everywhere, compounding the heartache. He thought once he left the TARDIS that adjusting to a normal life again would be easy but he was surprised to find that he actually missed the steel interiors of the time ship and he was warring with himself, resisting the urge to just phone the Doctor and ask to come back. His stubborn pride was telling him to make the Doctor and Amy phone him and beg him to come back to them. Not to mention he figured Amy would have some smug comment to say to him if he came back too soon.

No, he thought to himself, I need this separation. I need to rest and think things through.

Even though it was a separation, he didn't consider it a separation in the sense that it was one step away from divorce. He loved Amy with all his heart and divorce wasn't an option for him. He didn't know if she felt the same way but he hoped that she also wanted him and not the Doctor. He pushed images of his wife in the Time Lord's arms out of his mind while he climbed the steps to the front door of his house. He set the bags down, pulled out his key, unlocked the door and entered with the bags. He set them down on the kitchen island and walked over to the remote that was resting on the sofa. He turned on the TV, turned it to the news channel and walked back to the island so he could unpack and sort the groceries. While he put the groceries away, he was half listening to the news when something caught his attention. He paused, putting the milk in the refrigerator, when he heard the newsreader mention Time Lord. He closed the fridge door and walked over to the island, leaning on it while he stared at the TV.

"This religious group is calling themselves the Time Lord Disciples," the female newsreader said. "They're currently based in London but they have been gaining converts from around the world with the help of their website. They believe that a man called the Doctor will save them from the end of the world which is supposed to happen on the 21st of December, 2012. Speculation is running rampant about who this mysterious Doctor could be."

Rory snorted.

"I know exactly who he is. Typical that he has a bunch of nutters worshiping him and looking to him to save them," Rory said to himself. "He probably founded the religion himself, knowing his ego."

Rory was about to turn back to the groceries but he paused and turned to stare at the TV again, his thoughts conflicted again, except this time he was debating whether or not to travel to London and check out the group just to see what they were up to. He had the money to go to London but the point of coming back was to get away from investigating weird things and having a rest. But what if this group was dangerous? Rory sighed as he put a carton of eggs in the fridge and closed the door.

"You know, I'm probably gonna regret this," he said. "But I gotta make sure these people aren't dangerous and find out what they're up to. I'll go online then and see if I can find their website and find out where they live in London."

He finished putting away the last of the groceries and then went into the other room so he could go online.

Meanwhile, the Doctor hooked Amy's IV bag onto a pole so she could have mobility. River walked with her to the console room and once the three of them reached it, the Doctor asked the TARDIS to check for any information about the Time Lord Disciples. The TARDIS ran a scan and brought up their website. Amy sat on the seat and the Doctor shifted his body so she could see his monitor while River stood beside him. On the front page was a picture of their headquarters in central London. An old square two story brick building that dated to the Victorian era. Steps led up to a heavy wooden door with a small gold knocker on the front and all the windows had heavy drapes so they were unable to see anything inside it. River pulled out a pad and pen and wrote down the address under the photo. When she was done, they went through the website, searching for clues. The Doctor snorted when he saw a photo of the founder. The founder's name was Astra and he or she was wearing a heavy brown monk's robe with the cowl up over their head. A black mask was on the person's face so all they could see was the person's brown eyes. There were no other clues but the Doctor couldn't see any breasts and made a comment about that.

"She could be binding them,"River said, "or have very small breasts. Astra sounds like a female name to me."

"But don't you find it odd that this person is gaining hundreds of converts, yet he or she shows nothing of him or herself except this."

"People are worried about 2012," Amy said. "Maybe they have some information on you that helps convince them."

"They do have information on me but it's a bit sketchy. Just refers to me as their savior and has some evidence of my being on Earth through the centuries to prove that I've been there. Also has some writings from eyewitnesses that I've helped or seen me helping people on Earth. A few of the writers are people I recognize actually. But looking through this site, it seems that they don't have a current photo or drawing of me, but they do have drawings of my previous tenth life, so they know about him."

"Really? What's this drawing look like?" Amy said, standing up.

The Doctor pulled up a photo of his tenth self. It was a drawing of his head and shoulders, semi-profile since he was slightly looking to his left. River and Amy studied the drawing.

"He's cute," Amy said.

"I'll say," River said. "Have you always been this cute, Sweetie?"

"I like to think so," the Doctor said with a smug grin. "But…never mind that. I have an idea."

"We're going to go investigate?" Amy said.

"Yes, but…from what I've seen, they have no current photos or drawings of this body. Which means I might be able to pose as a new recruit and gain entry that way. And I didn't see any evidence of you or River, so you might be able to go in as well. The three of us will pose as ordinary humans who want to join their cult, since I have a feeling it is a cult, and we try to find out as much as we can about it before we shut it down. Sound good?"

"You know me, I love an adventure," River said.

"Amy, will you be strong enough to do this?" the Doctor asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine now," she replied.

"Brilliant. So…the three of us will brainstorm and come up with cover stories so we can keep our stories straight while we're inside. Then when we're ready, we go to London and become Time Lord Disciples."

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