Where we're going, there are no Boundaries

(For Theta and myself)

Tucking her hair into a ponytail, Sonya wandered down the TARDIS corridors, looking for Theta so they could plan their next course of action. For the past few weeks... No. She thought to herself, counting on her fingers again with a small frown. Month, they had been hopping from one place to the next, looking for something entertaining to do. But in all honesty, neither of them could stand to stay in just one place long enough to find anything interesting to them. So they had gone around the universe, looking at the planets and discovering small things that would keep their attentions occupied for perhaps a few hours at a time before they grew bored and wandered back to the TARDIS again.
Poking her head through a doorway, she finally spied him sitting in the study there, studying something on the desk in front of him. Keeping silent so she wouldn't disturb him, Sonya walked up behind him and peered over his shoulder at the book laid out amongst a small forest of papers scattered across the wooden top. "What are you doing?"

An Hour Earlier

Theta wandered down the halls of the TARDIS, bored. He and Sonya had just visited the planet Mougden, which, like any other planet they had visited in the past two months, had been a huge let down in problems going on. No invaders, no corrupt government, nothing. So now, naturally, the 32 year old was bored.

He poked his head into random doorways, looking for something in the TARDIS to do as Sonya took a shower. Library, nah, he wasn't really in the reading mood now. Kitchen, no, he wasn't hungry. Map room, no, bedroom, no, greenhouse room, no, Study, no...wait.

Theta back tracked and looked into the study. A pile of yellowed papers and a picture were sitting innocently on the oak desk. He walked in, the red carped underfoot poofing up dust. Wow, he hadn't used this room in what, two years? The last time he had, Theta had been planning on exploring the black hole that took him to this universe. It was ironic, really; he'd been looking into travel into other Universes, and he'd gotten just that...then his only way back had closed.

Theta stood by the desk and picked up the picture, wiping dust off the frame with a thumb. His eyes nearly teared up at the picture there; it had been taken the day he passed his TARDIS driving test, and in turn, the Academy. The head-dress of graduates sat on his shoulders, the same color of the red Academy robes he had been wearing. His pet Flubble clung to it with her six paws, wide eyes innocently looking at the camera while Theta attempted to remove her before the picture had been taken, looking irritated but amused at the same time. Kos and Romana were in the background, laughing their heads off at their friend's misfortune and leaning on each other for support. His brand new Type 57 TARDIS also sat in the background, new and un-flown at that point, gleaming in the light of the two suns.

Theta put the picture down and moved to the old papers on the desk. Detailed writings and diagrams littered the pages; information and theories about Universe travel. Looking back at the picture, then at the papers again, a fire started behind his eyes.

Back to Present

Theta jumped, having not heard Sonya walking up behind him. He held a hand over his now frantically beating hearts.

"Rassilon, Sonya, don't sneak up like that..."

He looked down at his work, where he had been continuing in his research of universe travel. Ideas about keeping pathways open and getting to a certain universe sat written on the page in Theta's loopy Gallifreyan, accompanied by diagrams of black holes and white holes and other things.

"I...was trying to figure out something" he closed the book on the Vortex, shoving it up to the top of the desk and away from himself. He stood up and stretched, his back popping.

"Never mind, it doesn't really matter right now. So you want to try somewhere else now?"

Sonya's eyes strayed to the book curiously before darting back to Thet's face with a smile. "Just curious to see if you had another place in mind. I'm bored already, and unless you know of a place that is just one big food court, I don't think we'll be leaving until we eat either." She added, a hand resting on her complaining stomach. She knew it was unusual for Time Lords to eat and rest as much as she did, but after reading through the Journal she kept, she realized when using her energy the way she did, her metabolism sped up to near-human levels, making her crave such things more often than she should.
Suddenly something sparked in her mind and she flashed Theta a large smile in excitement. "In fact... I've heard of a planet... I don't know where it is, but maybe you had it in your universe too. It was called DauMamur. I guess it's a carnival planet. Something for fun and leisure? I'm not sure though, supposedly year round they have this large carnival all across the surface of the planet save places to park whatever your flying." She said hurriedly in her excitement. Bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet as she studied her friend. "Can we go?"

Theta smiled softly, taking one more look at the picture on the desk then trying to get it out of his mind for the moment being.

"Sure, sounds fun. Deep fried food, rides, games..." he smiled a bit wider. Yeah, that actually did sound like fun. Who could be homesick when they were laughing their heads off as they went on a ride? Or ate candy floss? Or played ski ball? Maybe this is what they just needed; to not go looking for trouble, but go looking for fun stuff to do instead.

Sonya grabbed his hand excitedly and tugged Theta back to the control room quickly. "Come on then, get this girl going. I want to get there before we end up waiting in a mile-long line that will take us weeks to get to the front of." She grimaced playfully then gripped the edge of the controls, idly eyeing them with longing. After all the time she watched him pilot the TARDIS, she still couldn't figure out how he did. It was much more complicated than the one the Doctor flew, and without a psychic connection, it was near impossible for her to learn. Letting out a small regretful sigh, she looked over at him impatiently. "Come on, do your thing, Time boy, don't want to be late, do we?" Sonya added, tilting her head to the console in front of her to get him moving. The last thing she wanted was to be caught in a long line of aliens in sour moods from waiting in a line for too long. She had no idea if there was one at the entrance, but she didn't want to risk being caught if there was.

Theta laughed, shaking his head in amusement and starting up the TARDIS.

"We can go anytime we want; or if you've forgotten we can also travel in time..."

Not too long afterwords, the familiar wheezing and tendrils of energy appeared, and they began spinning and twisting down the Time Vortex. It was still fun, but something lacked from the experience. They had just done it so much, traveling had pretty much become routine.

A few moments later, a black box started to fade into view onto the Carnival Planet, DauMamur, between a few large space ships. In the distance, colorful lights lit up the night, coming from various rides and attractions. Theta stepped out of the TARDIS, looking around and smiling.

"Hey! I landed in the right place for once!"

Sonya clapped him on the back and laughed brightly, her eyes squinting slightly in the bright sunlight that shone down from the two suns above them. "Whew... Its going to be hot today. We might want to make sure we can find some shade to sit down in when we get overheated." She commented idly, raising a hand to shade her eyes while looking up at the sky. "Anyway, come on!" She said quickly, pulling the TARDIS door shut behind her and grabbing his hand as she wound through the other spacecraft around them towards the front gates excitedly. "I don't want to miss a second of this! Can you imagine? A carnival that stretches over the entire surface of the planet! This is big, it's huge!" She crowed to him once the front gates were in sight. Her eyes sparkling in excitement when she looked back at Theta behind her with a grin.

Theta grinned back, just as excited, and allowed himself to be dragged. Ooh, yeah, this was going to be fun.

As soon as they reached the gates, what looked like a human sized squid in a purple carnival uniform walked up from behind the booth, four tentacles used to keep it up, like legs, while the others hung freely, like arms. When it spoke, flaps on the sides of it's body moved. It had a very monotone voice; like a bored squidward.

"Please state the number of members in your party, what race, and how long you will be staying on DauMamur. Also, the staff of DauMamur is not responsible for lost or damaged items, vortex manipulators, guns, pollen sacks, body parts, children, mates, other members of your party..." the squid like alien continued on listing a number of different things, and Theta quickly grew impatient, especially so with the monotone voice. Rassilon, it was like listening to a history lecture back at the Academy!

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Two members, Timelords, all day passes" he fished out some credits and placed them in the alien's hands...er, tentacles. It stared at the amount with six wide eyes.

"Enjoy your stay at DauMamur..."

It walked away, looking like a very happy squid. Theta was also very happy to have that over with. He dragged Sonya with him past the gates and into the park. Inside, a variety of aliens walked around, or some slithered, or some flew...well, you get the point. Many were creatures like the squid-like alien they had just encountered, there were some humans (or at least aliens that looked like humans), Raxacoricofallapatorians, lizard people, trees, strange bug creatures...you name it. It was certainly a mixing pot for species.

"Now come on! I want to get some candy floss and chips. We have a whole planet to explore, here!"

Sonya squealed with excitement and drug him to the first stand she saw. Metallic items gleamed under the twin suns, immediately catching her eye as she walked through the gates. Leaning closer to the display, she curiously studied several arm bands, necklaces, torques, rings, earrings, everything that could be worn on the body forged into priceless works of art. Her attention lingered on a thin bracelet with several handfuls of charms laid about it that she could buy to add to the small circlet. Reaching over, she fingered several different ones until, with a loud laugh, a small phone booth caught her eye. It wasn't like the TARDIS at all, but the idea behind it was enough to make her giggle while holding it up for Thet to see. Turning back to the owner, she pointed at the circlet and gathered several charms to go with it. "How much would this be?" Sonya asked curiously, rolling the small charms around on her hand while looking up at the birdlike face.
The creature clacked it's beak while glancing over the items then tilted it's head to the side in thought. "For a pretty creature like yourself? Fifteen credits. No more, and I'll toss in a small ring to go with the odd box charm you picked out. No one ever buys it." It said with a huff of air, the feathers around it's neck ruffling slightly while Sonya turned around and shuffled in Thet's pocket for a moment before producing the credits and handing them over.
Thanking the owner quickly, she drug him over to a bench so she could attach the charms easily. "Let's see, phone booth, waves, a planet with rings, Diamond, a door and last but not least, a Ferris wheel." She said triumphantly, holding the circlet up to the light for him to see then slipping it onto her wrist. "Right, I'm happy. Let's go!"

Theta laughed, rolling his eyes. No matter what species, women loved their jewelry.

Thete stood up from the bench, looking around at what there was to do. There were common Earthly rides, like rollercoaters and tilt a whirls, but then there were odder things, like a bumper car like ride that flew and a slingshot ride that went underground instead of into the air. He looked to Sonya.

"You can choose first...as long as we don't go on something strange like the 'Abzorbaloff Tunnel of Love'"

Theta eyed the ride, grossed out by the fact that it was a love ride and that it was for Abzorbaloffs.

Sonya let out a laugh and tugged on his hand again, leading him deeper into the park, looking over several different rides before settling on one that would suspend them in midair and swing around in a circle like a giant swing without the seats. "Come on, hurry up." She said, pulling him into the line and hopping from foot to food in anticipation while waiting for her turn. "We should be next to go on." She said after quickly counting the people in front of them and turning to face him with excitement shining in her eyes. She felt like a child at the fair with her parents again, all the new sights, sounds and rides to explore. The food smells were making her stomach complain, but the ride had caught her attention before any food stalls had. "Thanks, Thet, this is just brilliant." She said quickly, leaning over to kiss his cheek and turning back to see how close to the front they were again.

Theta stuttered nonsense, cheeks lighting up a bright pink. But before he could really say anything intelligent, it was their turn to go on the ride. The contraption loomed over the two as they neared it, and Theta gulped nervously.


'Oh Rassilon, here we go'


five minutes later

Theta stumbled off the ride with Sonya, breathing heavily and laughing. He felt like he would barf at any second, but that...that was fun. He attempted to walk straight and not just subject himself to gravity.

"I'm dizzy" he laughed again "We need to come to planets like this more often"

Sonya giggled and fell against his shoulder as she struggled to make it to the bench a few feet away from them. "That was wild, I can't see straight at all. On the ground that thing did not look like it was going that fast! I think I even have windburn if that is even possible." She reached up and touched her cheeks lightly before falling onto the bench and leaning her head back to stare up at the clouds passing by overhead. "Alright, we had our ride... Now what?" She asked breathlessly, tilting her head over to stare at Thet with a wide grin spread across her face. "Food? Another ride? More shopping? Anything you think would be fun, I'm up for. Just not that ride again, not for a little bit anyway." Letting her head fall back again, she closed her eyes and mumbled something in a foreign language under her breath as her breathing slowed back down again.

Theta followed Sonya to the bench, leaning on her for support almost as much as she on him, and plopped down heavily next to her.

"No food; I feel like I'm going to barf. I just want to sit here for a while, get not so dizzy..." he blinked blearily. Why was the world spinning? He slumped onto Sonya's shoulder for a second, closing his eyes. Oooh, even the darkness spun.

Sonya nodded in silent agreement, letting her own eyes close again as she rested against Theta, trying to get her head to quit with it's tilt-a-whirl impressions. "Still glad I mentioned this place?" She finally asked curiously, unwilling to move more than her lips as her hearts slowed their paces to a more reasonable beat. "Because I have to say, I would have never imagined coming here more than two years ago. To me, a carnival lasts a week and it usually isn't much bigger than a small town." She peeked open an eye and looked down at her friend with a wide grin. "Thanks again."

Theta nodded, eyes still closed, giving a thumbs up. Yes, this was more fun then they had been having for the past two months. Why she hadn't mentioned the place earlier, he had no clue. He was already having a blast, and they had only gone on one ride so far. Letting loose a deep sigh, he sat up straight.


"So where do you want to go next? I bet we could find a map somewhere, pick which rides we want to go on there. As long as the next one isn't a dizzy ride; I think I've had enough dizzy for now"

He laughed a bit. Maybe they could do some sort of water realted ride; it was hot out, and that would be sure to cool him down. Like a log flume. Oh! Or if they had a water wars place here. He remembered going to one planet, called Treth, where Kos had decided to get the two of them into a huge water festival going on. It had been huge; spanning most of the planet, many inhabitants had a huge water festival each year to celebrate their independence from the Suncorcans, which were a fish like species. Supposedly throwing the water balloons 'popped the life water of the Suncorcans and scattered it around to be trampled upon by the Trethians', but all Theta had cared about was that he got to pummel his friend with water balloons. Well, with a carnival this big, they were bound to have something similar here. He voiced his thoughts.

"Maybe something with water? It's pretty hot out here, could cool us off"

Sonya nodded her head, thinking quietly for a moment until dragging herself to her feet along with Theta. "Come on, might as well ask around and see if there are any maps or at least see if someone can point us to a ride with water anyway." She said cheerfully, the small bracelet on her wrist tinkling and flashing in the sunlight as she pulled him from the bench. Linking her arm with his, she wound their way through the crowds until they came to a small booth that looked like it was giving out information. "Excuse me, do you happen to have any maps?" She asked curiously to the humanoid figure standing there. They turned their head and smiled slightly before holding out a small disk-like device before turning back to help another customer. Pulling Theta away, Sonya examined the disk before holding it out to him with a confused look on her face. "Any idea how to get it to work?"

Theta shrugged, squinting at the device and poking it experimentally. It was the size of a human CD disk, just with lots and lots of colorful buttons. He liked buttons, sure, but buttons didn't like him; pressing buttons sometimes made bad things happen.

"I dunno. I've never seen a map like this. I've seen paper maps, holographic maps, even liquid maps...but never a disk" he shrugged again "Must be unique to this quadrant. I haven't been in this area of the galaxy much, so they're bound to have some different technology"

Sonya studied it for a moment before pressing the large green button in the center to cause a small 3D model of the planet pop up above the disk. "Oh... Green means go. Alright... Now how do we zoom in or search for something?" She murmured to herself, fussing with the device for a moment before reaching up and brushing her finger over the hologram, causing it to enlarge the area she poked at. "Oh... Right." She said sheepishly, holding out to Theta with a wry smile on her face. "I guess its a simple interface. But I'm not exactly the best after figuring out the basics, you can finesse the finer details, yeah?"

"Oh" Theta laughed sheepishly "It's just a touch hologram interface; like the TARDIS controls. Now lemme see here..."

Theta took the device from Sonya and began to zoom in to where they were. He was surprised to find it was real time; he could even see little tiny hologram models of himself and his friend.

"Water wars have to be here somewhere...ahah!"

After much scrolling, he ran across a large area about a quarter mile North where aliens were attacking each other with various water pistols and water balloons. It was very complex, with walls to hide behind and a bunch of small caves; like laser tag on steroids. He grinned and looked in the direction they had to go, pressing the maroon button on the other side of the map to shut it off then stuffing it in his pocket. He pointed North.

"That way!"

Sonya grinned and linked her arm with his once more before heading in the direction he pointed in. "Water wars here we come. Though..." She said wryly, glancing down at her stomach before casting her friend with a small apologetic grin. "We might want to stop at a stand and get some food?" She stuck out her lower lip in a pout. "Please? I'm starving for some reason. Its killing me." Rubbing her stomach, she grimaced in an exaggerated fashion before glancing over at Theta out of the corner of her eye then returning to rubbing her stomach again. "My stomach is going to eat me alive if I don't put food in it."

"Sure, just don't joke about that; I've seen a species where that actually happens. Not a pretty sight"

Thinking back to the map, Theta turned to the East and started walking, arm in arm with Sonya. It didn't take long of walking through the heavily packed crowds to find the food area. Shops of all kinds were set up in a giant circle. Some smelt good, some smelt bad, and some just made Theta want to barf. There were Earthly shops, and the young Timelord decided to drift over to that area. It was a very sketchy area; some shops were vegetarian, but many alien ones sold both cooked and raw meat which looked suspiciously like some of the other aliens around. Yep, stick to the Earth sector. No way did he want to become another alien's lunch; he could have sworn that Abzorbaloff across the food court was eying him hungrily, though he was probably just imagining things.


"Let's eat quick; I'm not so sure about this area" Theta stuck close to Sonya as they walked up to the Earth shops that sold things like chips, burgers, and hot dogs.

Sonya eyed the earth foods before wandering over to a stall that held exotic fruits from other planets and eyed them with interest. "Oh... Those look amazing." She sighed, pointing at a basket full of large star-shaped fruit. "Thet, have you seen anything like them before?" Glancing up at the owner, she smiled brightly and picked up one of the fruits to sniff at curiously. "What is this called?"
"Zane-Pa. A very sweet fruit, the rind is even edible if you can take the side-effects." An eyebrow shot up on her face as she listened. "What kind of side-effects?"
"Well, it doesn't work on every species. Just some of them, their skin turns a bright purple for a few hours. At most, a day." Sonya grinned at him brightly and handed over a few credits for the fruit before walking back over to Theta with her prize. "I think purple skin would be fun if you ask me." She mumbled and took a tentative bite of the fruit.

Theta eyed the fruit that had Sonya held cautiously. He had never seen it before, though it was much like a larger and more colorful version of some fruit found in central Andromeda. He looked up at Sonya, searching her face for any signs of purple-ness. Nothing, just the milky white color that her skin normally was. He grinned.

"Nope, I guess it doesn't work on Timelords..." of course, as soon as he said it, a purple tinge started to appear on her cheeks. A few seconds later, the color had taken over, and her whole face was a bright purple...but only her face. It stopped around her neckline. Theta snorted, pointing to Sonya's face.

"Erm, y-you might have something..."

Unable to contain it any longer, a chuckle bubbled up out of Theta, quickly turning into a full out laugh, making his face turn a bright pink, as if he had also eaten a fruit with similar side effects.

Sonya giggled and pointed at his face, her lips pressed together in the effort of keeping the laugh inside. Failing seconds later, she burst out into laughter herself and clung onto his shoulder for support as she leaned over and gripped her side with her other hand. "Oh! Your face looks like a Watermelon! Pink, bright pink!" she managed to gasp out between sharp breaths. Sucking in a lungful of air, she held it in and let it out in a loud gust. Letting her giggles subside, Sonya looked over at Thet again and giggled again, weakly this time from the pain in her side. "Oh lord, we look like a couple of dorks."