"Be humble for you are made of earth.
Be noble for you are made of stars"
-Serbian Proverb
Constellation of Kasterborous
"Just hang on Peri..." the Doctor murmured as he piloted the TARDIS toward Karn. He glanced down once more at his injured companion, unconscious and ashen from blood loss. He had fashioned a pallet on the floor of the control room and tucked Peri in carefully once he had gotten the bleeding under control.
The Doctor clenched his jaw and drummed his fingers upon the console, glancing between the scanner and his patient anxiously. He tried not to see the blood splattered on his cricket jumper and striped trousers. If she died... he shook his head. It didn't bear thinking about. She was his responsibility. She was young, just eighteen, and was eager to travel, to see new things.
When he'd encountered her on Lanzarote just two short months ago, she had been on holiday with her step father. She'd only gotten tangled up with him when Turlough had saved her from drowning. And then of course she'd been accidentally carried along on an adventure involving Turlough's people, a volcanic planet and the Master. Despite her age she'd proven to be brave and resourceful. Which was why he had given in when she'd asked to join him for a while. Well, that and because Turlough had gone back to his home planet and the Doctor hadn't exactly relished the idea of kicking around the TARDIS with only himself for company.
The TARDIS was rematerializing and he knelt down to check on his young friend again. "Peri" he said gently, checking her pulse, adjusting her tourniquet. "You're going to be just fine. I've brought you to a group of women who will help you. They'll fix you right up and you'll be just as good as new." He stood and made his way to the door controls. He figured he'd better get help in moving her. Her condition was precarious and he didn't think toting her around carelessly seemed the wisest decision.
When the doors opened, he headed out onto the rocky surface of Karn. He was unsurprised to find a small group of the Sisterhood awaiting his arrival, standing in formation on the rust colored ground just outside the entrance to their cave. He stopped before them, silent. He waited.
The Reverend Mother, Maren came forward in her blood red robe, limping ever so slightly. "Time Lord." she accused. "You come here wanting our help?"
The Doctor looked skyward impatiently. "Yes Reverend Mother. I have a friend. A young woman who will die without the Sisterhood's intervention." He leveled imploring eyes at her. "Please."
Maren stared, unspeaking for a beat. Then she commanded, "Ohica, Cassandra, bring the girl." A roughly hewn stretcher appeared and was brought forward by two of the red-robed women. They entered the TARDIS and returned swiftly, carrying Peri out on the litter between them. The rest of the small group that had gathered followed them in to the gloomy mouth of the cave. Maren remained, unmoving.
The Doctor put his face in his hands, sighing deeply. Just seeing Peri in their capable hands brought immense relief. He knew they would never let her die.
"What is the girl's name Doctor?" Maren was looking at him, a smug, knowing look on her ancient face. She knew just who he was. It should have come as no surprise. The Sisterhood, it seemed, knew all.
The Doctor folded his hands in front of him. "Peri- er, Perpugilliam Brown."
"Human?" Maren wondered.
He nodded, wondering where this was going.
"What business had a human on Salutaris? What business did you have there for that matter?" Maren demanded of him, an unnameable sentiment behind her eyes.
The Doctor rubbed his blood stained hand across his forehead, remembering. He himself was still perplexed about what had gone wrong. "I had taken her to the Malum star system to show her a meteor shower. I figured we'd stop in to visit the locals. I'd never been to Salutaris or even Partaisen for that matter." He shook his head. "I never anticipated hostility. The entirety of the Malum system is said to be peaceful. Quiet." He gestured helplessly.
Maren smiled then and took a few steps toward him. "Do you know Doctor, the people of the Malum solar system have a name for you?" He narrowed his eyes. She continued "They call you 'The Cause'."
The Doctor tried not to show that he was disconcerted. He cleared his throat, his voice a bit more hostile now. "What's that supposed to mean, hmm? What am I supposed to have caused?"
Maren laughed now. "Oh Doctor. You haven't caused anything. Yet. But you will. And every planet in the Malum solar system knows of the prophecy. The prophecy that one day, you will be the cause of the destruction of all life in Malum." She stared him down, enjoying his thunderstruck response.
"That's preposterous!" he sputtered. "A bunch of hysterical simpletons." He paced a bit. She watched him silently. He turned back toward her, now truly angry. "Are you telling me that my friend was attacked because of some ridiculous superstition?"
Maren cocked her head to one side. "Why no Doctor. I assure you, the prophecy is quite correct. You will be the cause. You will be the reason. Your actions will change the entire universe forever. But no change will be so consequential as the death of every living being on the planets of Partaisen, Salutaris, Vogn and Zweiherzen."
The Doctor felt sick. She'd named every planet in Malum that contained life. He knew the powers of the Sisterhood well enough to trust Maren's certainty of the future. Her accusation cut through him. Why? How? He stepped away aimlessly, his hand to his head. What role would he some day play in the genocide of an entire star system? He spun back around to face her.
"Why would you tell me this? Why the hell would you inform me of something from my future, something so significant? Do you expect me to-to change my own timeline?"
Maren narrowed her eyes. "There is nothing you can do to stop it happening. There is no way you can change it. It is a fixed point. As are all the events that result from it."
The Doctor was incensed. "Then why tell me about it at all?" he demanded, his blue eyes ice cold.
"Perhaps you need to be reminded that even a good man such as yourself, even someone with the best of intentions is capable of setting off a chain of events that leads to destruction. You try to fix things, solve the problems of the cosmos. Did you learn nothing at the Academy? The universe is not yours to save. You can try to make sense of the order, but you will never resolve the chaos." She turned and left him standing alone in the rocky wasteland, wind blowing in from two directions.
She paused at the entrance to the cave. She spoke, her back still to him. "You may leave Karn. Return when you are summoned. When Perpugillium is fully recovered." She disappeared into the cave. He had been dismissed.
The Doctor boarded the TARDIS, feeling numb. He wished to Rassilon that Maren hadn't told him about his future. Because he knew he would be haunted by the knowledge until he knew more. He headed to the console and immediately began to search the TARDIS database. The past, the future. They were all relative to the TARDIS. Time happened all at once for his ship. She knew secrets about all that was to come in his lives. Most she would never reveal.
But just now, before his computer search could even pull up results, he received a premonition. Nothing so mystical, a premonition. It was just remembering backwards after all.
He gingerly decreased the space-time throttle as the TARDIS spun gracefully through the cosmic dust of the Malum Star System. He heard the ominous BONG of the Cloister Bell sounding.
He shook his head, trying to clear the eerie time echo from his mind.
A deafening alarm joined the Cloister Bell as a warning light began to blink on the console and the scanner suddenly displayed the detection of a pair of neutron stars.
He leaned against the console, feeling dizzy now.
The Doctors eyes widened as he realized the stars were on a collision course.
A blinding flash. And then blackness.
He opened his eyes and realized he was shaking ever so slightly. He noticed some results had come up on the computer monitor. He took a deep breath and pulled his reading glasses from his pocket to take a look.
A neutron star collision. The Malum Star System. 2012. He put his glasses away slowly, now puzzled. He entered space-time coordinates into the input keypad. Pulled the dematerialization lever. What control did he have over the stars? he wondered as the familiar wheezing, groaning sound of the TARDIS filled the control room.
Kirkmore Chemical Dependency Rehabilitation Center, October 2017
She sat by herself. She usually did. It was cool and gray outside as she sat on a bench out on the lawn, smoking and scribbling into a journal.
Four more hours, she told herself. Four more hours and no more Dr. Sladen. Four more hours and no more of those assholes in group.
Sienna Woods took one last drag off her cigarette then poked it into the hole of a nearby cigarette butt receptacle.
She wasn't ready to admit to herself that she was actually quite scared of leaving rehab. She didn't want to go back to using, she knew that much. She knew she was sick of hurting her mom and dad. She knew she was tired of feeling dope sick when she ran out of money. She knew she wanted to give college another try. What she didn't know was if she was strong enough to stay clean.
She closed her journal, wiped ink from the pad of her left hand. She was definitely writing a lot if nothing else. She seriously doubted she'd ever allow anyone to read the venom and feelings of hopelessness she'd recorded in her book over the last 28 days. But it had helped keep her mind together.
She headed back inside, passing through the day room. The day room was a big open space shared by all the facility's residents. There was a communal television surrounded by plenty of seating, board games and even a small library off in the corner. An array of addicts inhabited the space there.
There was Kelly, a coke head watching Teen Moms on MTV alongside two drunks named Anna and Violet. Silas, a fellow opiate addict was playing solitaire at one of the tables. Silas was ok. At 20, he was three years younger than Sienna but he was definitely an old soul- albeit an old soul who dressed like a skater boy. He was currently wearing jeans, a Theories of Atlantis t shirt and a brown stocking cap. He looked up and gave her his cute half smile. She nodded and smiled in reply.
There was Ethan the douchebag who had avoided 90 days in county for his third DUI thanks to his rich daddy. He was playing chess with one of the nurses who obviously had a crush. There were two meth heads named Karen and Joel who didn't really interact with anyone but each other. They were sitting drinking coffee at a table, deep in conversation. Sienna suspected they had hooked up while in here. She was the last person on the planet to speak of propriety but even she knew that was a bad fucking idea.
She looked them all over, wondering if she'd have cause to see any of them again out in the real world. She headed down the hall to the small room she'd called home for the past month. Her parents had made sure she'd gotten a private room. Nice in some aspects, not so nice in terms of the jealousy of some of her peers.
She was mostly packed. The only things she had left to do were to visit with Dr. Sladen one last time and to process her discharge papers. Her dad would be arriving at 2:00pm to pick her up. She sat on her bed, watching the clock on her bedside table. She chewed on her bottom lip. Was she ready?
Kirkmore Restwell Motel, Later that evening
The television was on, tuned to a WWE wrestling match.
The announcer's overblown commentary floated through the smoky room.
"Oh! And there's the move! AJ Styles just did the Styles Clash on Dean Ambrose!"
Sienna sat propped against the headboard in just her underwear and a white cotton cami, her brown eyes vacant. Her ex boyfriend Chris was passed out on the bed naked, his head across her lap.
The audience on the television cheered like crazy and the end of match bell dinged.
Sienna released the belt tying off her arm, dropped the needle onto the bedspread. Her head nodded, her eyes half closed.
"And it's over!"