Hannah ran all the way to Claire's bedside. Silently she held her hand tightly and looked down on her unmoving figure. "Get better, do you hear me? You get better." She ran her fingers over Claire's face, pausing over the soft lips. They had removed most of her make up so she used some of her own to give them a healthier look.
The Doctor coughed. "There may be way to speed things up. The Sisterhood of Karn is renowned for a certain elixir. If I ask them for some then it could help Claire recover."
"Sure Doctor." Hannah could barely speak as she fought to hold back her tears. She had to put on a brave face for Claire. The last thing she would want to see is for me to be all weepy, she told herself. "I'll stay here, make sure she gets everything she needs."
"Of course." The Doctor turned to leave. She paused half way and looked at Hannah tending to Claire. She started to speak, to ask Hannah to accompany her but stopped. Hannah was better off here. Leaving the small hospital room she headed back towards the TARDIS, feeling more alone than she had done for a long time. As she got to the bay she spotted the familiar figure of Rodan standing outside the TARDIS.
"I just heard about your friend." Rodan pointed to the TARDIS. "I know you probably want to be alone right now and I can understand why, but I can't let you go to Karn by yourself. Not in this state. The Sisterhood still hate you, remember? Do you think a female face will save you from their wrath?"
The Doctor couldn't contain her anxiety anymore and she told Rodan of her worries. "I...I don't know if I can do this anymore Rodan. Things are so confused. The Valeyard's out there somewhere plotting to kill me. Claire's life hangs by a thread and right now I could really use a friend to listen to me complain. Things used to be so simple when I was out there wandering, lending a hand to those who needed it. My lives of late have not been exactly thrilling. Sure I made some great friends through the years and lost some but it doesn't seem like I'm doing anything anymore. All I'm doing is dragging my friends into a hell of my own making."
Rodan put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "Come on now Doctor, you're one of the last great believers in justice. There's a billion souls out there, who's lights would have gone out if it wasn't for you. You are doing the right thing, believe me." She helped the Doctor inside the TARDIS, activating the door controls once they were inside. She had redecorated it since she was inside it last, it was a lot nicer than before she considered.
Setting the co-ordinates for Karn, the Doctor tried not to worry about Claire.
"It may not be so bad." Rodan tried to calm the Doctor's rising panic. "I'm sure the Sisterhood will help you."
"They might, but who can predict what those harpies will do?" The co-ordinates entered, the Doctor engaged the dematerialisation circuit and the green plasma ball time rotor burst into life.

The Sisterhood circled the Doctor's body. "The walker in eternity is fading. See how his life force drains away." They chanted as Sam held the Doctor's head.
"Stop saying that," she shouted. "Save him, give him some of that elixir of yours."
The High Priestess stood over the Doctor and Sam. "We cannot save him child. You must save him, save him yourself." She pointed to the small wooden goblet perched below the open furnace door. "The price is high though, to save your friend you must abandon him. Can you do that child? Can you truly?"
Sam stood up. She had to save the Doctor. Whatever happened next they could sort out together couldn't they? "Okay, I'll become one of you. Just let me save him first?"
Taking in a deep breath she intoned a sacred litany in an ancient tongue before translating for Sam's benefit. "Behold sisters, the pledge of allegiance." The High Priestess flung her arms out wide in the air.
Quickly Sam ran over to the wooden cup and grabbed it in her hands. It was warm but not hot. She carried it carefully over to the Doctor and forced a few drops into his mouth. For what seemed an eternity nothing happened, then there was a flicker in one eyelid. Sam felt like shouting out loud just to show her relief at the Doctor's safety. "Doctor?" she asked. "Can you hear me? Can you hear me Doctor?"
"Sam?" He spoke, his voice cracked and edged with obvious pain. "What happened?"
Sam explained everything, the gravity bubble, the Doctor banging his head on the console, her dragging his body to this church-like castle and the sisterhood welcoming them and explaining how to save his life.
"Just as long as you didn't sign up to become one of them." The Doctor laughed softly and painfully.
"Err, well." Sam began.
"Sam you didn't?" The Doctor jumped to his feet, trying to hide the pain as best he could. His legs trembled visibly as he fought to keep his balance. His senses felt as though they were being pulled into the heart of a dark star.
"They said if I didn't you would die." Sam started to explain, but the Doctor waved her into silence.
"You took advantage of my companion?" he shouted. "You tricked her into becoming one of you? How low have you sunk? Once you were a proud and noble order with an ancient tradition of honesty and openness. Look at you now, preying on the fears of schoolgirls. I'm ashamed to see this. Come on Sam, we're leaving." He took hold of her hand and almost pulled it out of its socket.
"You cannot leave Doctor. The Sisterhood of Karn is not something you can mock so easily."
"The mockery is yours, you are the mockery of the Sisterhood." The Doctor shouted as he headed towards the exit.
"Do not defy us Time Lord," the High Priestess shrieked. "When you need us most our back shall be turned to you. Our ears will not hear your words. Be fearful of our wrath."


The Doctor was silent as they returned to the TARDIS; Sam's questions remained unanswered. His face was as if it had been chiselled out of the very ground itself.


Hannah had more or less moved into the small chair by Claire's bedside. All day she sat there, holding her hand, brushing her long dark hair or reading to her. People came and went, many of them having never seen an alien before. One of them may have been important or something but Hannah had more important things to consider. "I wonder if they deliver pizza here?" she wondered out aloud to herself and Claire. "You like that, don't you? A bit of chicken and mushroom sprinkled lightly on top, and one or two slices of pepperoni."


The TARDIS materialised on the barren, rocky surface of Karn. Furious winds howled around the solidifying blue police box shaped time machine as it popped back into reality. Its two doors opened and two Time Ladies of Gallifrey emerged. The Doctor closed and locked the doors afterwards.
The two figures trekked over craggy rocks and slippery stones as they made their way towards the stone temple of the Sisterhood of Karn. Rodan gasped at its rough beauty while the Doctor merely gave it a cursory glance.
"HALT!" A guard leapt out of her hiding position to challenge the two strangers. "Who are you?" She demanded, a spear pointed at the two Time Ladies.
"I'm sorry but I don't have time for this," the Doctor snarled. "Get out of my way." She subtly adopted a classic Venusian Aikido stance.
"No. The Sisterhood are not at home to strangers."
"Are you sure?" Rodan asked. "It's just that we've come a very long way and we would like to rest our feet," she feigned as if she had been on a long journey.
The guard stared at the woman. Why was she faking tiredness so badly? she wondered. "No strangers are to be admitted, no matter the reason."
"Strangers? Strangers? I am the Doctor," announced the Doctor loudly to the guard. "This is my friend Rodan. Say hello Rodan."
"Hello." Rodan said apologetically.
The Guard raised her spear slightly and looked quizzically at the Doctor. "The Doctor is known to us of old. He is not welcome here."
"That's what you said last time, however this is important." Putting her hands on her hips she glared at the young guard. "Well?"
"Well what?" The guard snapped.


The High Priestess chanted the holy psalm and the rest of the sisters the response to the psalm when suddenly the doors were thrown open with great force. A spear was flung into the room, crashing on the floor near the circle of Sisters. "Who dares defile our temple?" the High Priestess shouted.
"Hello." The Doctor waved as she entered the room, closely followed by Rodan and the young guard sporting a broken arm in a makeshift sling and bruised cheek. "Sorry about the noise but I like to make an entrance."
The High Priestess stared at the two strange women. "You are from Gallifrey," she announced. "Are they sending you to join our order I wonder? It wouldn't be the first time they have tried this trick to gain our favour."
"Look a little harder," the Doctor encouraged. "I'm sure I look very familiar to you."
The High Priestess stared at the blonde Time Lady again. There was something familiar about her, something to do with a young girl. Oh who is she? The High Priestess wondered. Who, who, who? Then it struck her, that angry defiance, the burning in the eyes. She was the Doctor! "Guards arrest these women! I want the Doctor to suffer for her crimes against our order."


They were tied up and all but thrown into a badly illuminated cell together. "You certainly have a way with people." Rodan snapped, squirming indignantly until she was the right way up. "Everywhere you go they want to lock you up and threaten to kill you. Have you ever considered therapy for it? What have I ever done to upset them? Nothing, except know you by the looks of it." Too tired to complain anymore, Rodan buried her head in her hands and tried to repress everything.
"I'll get us out of this Rodan," the Doctor whispered. "I have a way of escaping from danger. One quick burst of my sonic screwdriver on me...drat it's back in my office." Looking out of the small cell door she observed the Sisters in action. "I wonder what they need all that wood for? Maybe they're going to toast some marshmallows?"


Everything was going to plan. Very soon now the Doctor would be punished for all her past transgressions against them, against her. It was a pity that this incarnation of the meddlesome Gallifreyan turned out to be female but that would not save her from the flames, far from it. "Is everything proceeding Sisters?" the High Priestess asked. The two piles of wood were built up now; they would make excellent pyres. "Soon now Doctor, soon you will pay for your insults to me." She looked again at the massed wood and imagined the Doctor screaming for mercy as she burned.


Rodan tested the ropes around her wrists again. They were still fastened securely, no, wait, they moved slightly. Working quickly she teased the bonds loose and finally she was able to free her hands. Rubbing her wrists for a second to massage some feeling back into them she then set about untying the ones around her legs. The Doctor was luckier; they had only tied her hands. Obviously they knew the Doctor would not escape unless she was also free. "Stand still and stop squirming," she chided the Doctor again. "They'll never come off if you keep fighting like that."
"Hurry up, I don't think its marshmallows they intend roasting after all." Now free, the Doctor too massaged her slender wrists for a second. "The door's locked, how do we open it?"
Rodan smiled and produced a key from the sleeve of her top. "I managed to palm this from the belt of one of the guards." Eagerly she unlocked the door before motioning for the Doctor to leave first.
They sneaked quietly over to the furnace chamber where the elixir was made. The Doctor opened the heavy metal door that sealed it shut when the elixir was not needed. She gasped; the goblet was not there.
"Looking for something Doctor?" the High priestess called out from behind the two Time Ladies. "Something like this perhaps?" She held the goblet up.
"Yes," the Doctor replied. "I need it."
"Oh so you need us now do you? You need our help do you? Well Doctor behold our scorn." The High Priestess turned the goblet over, it's contents sloshed out of the small wooded cup.
"Noooo!" the Doctor and Rodan shouted together.
"See our wrath Time Lady of Gallifrey. Learn that our favour cannot be taken for granted." The High Priestess laughed at the look of shock on the Doctor's face. "Seize them Sisters, prepare them for the sacrifice."
"No." One of the Sisters, Tamilla, stepped forward. "We do not sacrifice women in our temple. She is not to be harmed."
"So you wish to challenge my power, little Sister?" The High Priestess laughed. "You too will feed the sacrificial flames. Burn her, burn them all!"
The Sisters did not move.
"BURN THEM!" The High Priestess screamed. "I command you."
"They will not obey you Magdalene." The Doctor called the High Priestess by her name, a minor insult.
"No." Magdalene shrieked. "I will not give up my power."
"You have no more Power. From today you are no longer High Priestess of our order." Tamilla pointed at the disgraced former leader of the cult. "Take her to a place where she can be looked after. Her mind must be cleansed of this sickness." She then turned to the Doctor. "She has destroyed a lifetimes work but we shall go on and salvage something from this madness. I'm sorry that we cannot offer you help. Your past actions against our order will be forgotten if you forget the actions of a mad woman."
"Sounds like the mending of a few bridges to me Doctor." Rodan said, trying to be helpful.
"I think that perhaps we've all been a little too harsh of late. Tell that guard I said sorry would you?" The Doctor looked upwards for a few seconds, working the crick out of her neck. "I don't know what to try next to help save Claire's life." She turned to leave. "Come on Rodan, there's work to do."


Hannah sat by Claire's bedside and read a few articles from Capitol Today to her. She stammered on a few of the Cardinals' long names but somehow she managed to make a civil activities list sound like an interesting adventure. She heard footsteps and the Doctor's face appeared at the door.
"Ah I thought you would be here Hannah."
"Did you get the cure?" Hannah leapt up, sending Lucky flying. Fortunately the critter managed to get a hold of some of the blanket on Claire's bed and clambered to safety.
"I'm sorry, things didn't turn out as I had hoped. The Elixir was destroyed before I could get some of it. It may have been her last, best hope..." The Doctors words trailed off.
"What is it Doctor?" Hannah asked.
"Of course, the last, best hope." The Doctor turned her attention back to her companion. "Hannah pack an overnight bag, we're going to visit an old friend and to apologise to several more."
"Where are we going Doctor?" Hannah demanded.
The Doctor smiled. "Why to Babylon 5 of course. There's something there that may just be of use."