"Welcome…" The Doctor threw open the TARDIS doors with a flourish… "…to Caruya!" He looked so pleased with himself that Rose thought he was about to burst. This was a 'test run' of the new force field that he'd finally put in so that she could see things for a real, instead of on a viewscreen, and while it unsettled her slightly to think that this was (supposedly) the only way of finding out whether they'd be sucked into the vacuum of space and explode or not, she had to admit the view was beyond breathtaking.

"Caruya," The Doctor repeated, rolling the 'r' in a way that Rose found most distracting, "otherwise called the Rose Nebula. Closest planet – Nyustia, about a thousand light years in that direction. Fantastically old race who used to be good friends with the Time Lords when they were around. This is where they believe their goddess lives."

Rose could see quite easily where the name came from. Great red and pinkish-purple gas clouds swirled and spiralled to form the petals, dotted with stars, and after having it pointed out to her by the Doctor, she saw the constellation which when viewed from the correct angle, formed the stem of the flower.

I know this place.

An odd sense of familiarity came over Rose as she watched the beautiful spectacle below them, holding onto the railing through the dizzying sensation that the reality of standing on the edge of space caused. Assuming she was being silly, she shook her head and dismissed it, concentrating instead on a question.

"What's she called?"

"Mamanda."

"Does that mean something?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But the story is that she lived on the planet before saving the people from an army that came to their planet with fire to destroy them. She died from her wounds but her spirit made Caruya, and she sits in the centre holding all of time in the palms of her hands."

I've never heard anything so loud. I thought if I concentrated and blocked it out, it'd go away, but it turned into all those times and places. I should have gone mad but it wouldn't let me, so I made it into something beautiful instead. I scrawled the words across the universe as pictures.

"Rose? You okay? Makes you a bit dizzy the first time." The Doctor gestured to the apparently empty space in the doorway.

"I'm fine," she mumbled. "Fine. It's beautiful."

"How about we go and visit Nyustia when we're done here? You'd like them. Lots of pretty boys." He grinned, a reaction she would never have expected this time a month ago.

Rose smiled at him. "Yeah, okay." She looked back at the nebula below them. "I bet there's lots of stories like that."

The Doctor looked puzzled. "Yeah, there are. How d'you know?"

"I don't know. Just a feeling. What are we doin' here anyway?"

"I thought you might like to see something pretty. No screaming, no running for our lives, just something pretty. Don't you like it?"

"I love it! I just feel like I've been here before." Rose shook her head. "Never mind. Ignore me, I'm being stupid."

You made it.

I know.

They turned their backs on Caruya, and the Doctor shut the doors, watching Rose wander back into the control room with a sad look in his eyes. He didn't really know why he'd brought them here either, and now he regretted it. Rose knew there was something funny going on, and he knew that he'd probably end up having to explain. That was a scary thought.

But at the same time, he'd wanted her to see that Rose Tyler was far from stupid. He'd wanted her to see just what she was capable of, and how many humans could say that they'd left their mark on the universe in quite so many unique ways?

He'd just have to keep her away from any temples on Nyustia, and hope she wasn't recognised.