It all started on a planet called Sto... (Theta)

Alonso was looking out across the crowd, smiling widely. There had to have been at least 3,000 people here today. It was a C&A (Cyborg & Android) rally that his mom had set up with several organizations around the capital city, Sto Central. He had been helping his  mother set up for it, putting up direction signs, helping set up the loudspeakers, etc. He was tired, but not too much.

 The actual rally hadn't started yet, but they had some techno music going on to keep peoples spirits high. Looking across, he could see a variety of people, from Zocci to Stoti. Of, course, there was a large amount of cyborgs and androids as well. There was a lot of flaunting it too. Cyborgs flaunting their enhancements and androids going full metal. There was no way this would happen anywhere else...at least not yet.

 This was both a rally and a celebratory event, really. You had the rally, but also the recent success of the allowance of marriage, both between themselves and with others. Th rally that they were at now, though, was an attempt to get protection for C&A's in housing and in the workforce, where they can be denied or fired respectively.

 He began pushing his way through the crowd, going to a kiosk of alcohol, and ordered a light Judoon light rum. He walked along the side, talking to some sponsors, thanking him on his mothers behalf, and then began to see if he recognized any of his friends here. He had asked a few of them to come along, but hadn't really found them yet.

Theta Sigma was one of many in the crowds of Sto's C&A rally. He weaved around the crowds of cyborgs, androids, and supporters, the techno music from the speakers up on stage loud in his ears. He chatted excitedly with the android at his side, a pretty young woman with a cyberkinetic right eye, as well a matching pair of metal legs.

"-little did he know, this bar was full of cyborgs and C&A supporters. So while he's going on about his rant, he didn't even notice by the way, the whole bar had gone quiet, just giving him the stink eye. Eventually this big android guy from the back of the bar had enough and walked up to him while he was still talking, flat out decked him. The entire place cheered"

The woman laughed, as did Theta, though the latter more out of politeness than anything. He'd been telling this story over and over again, what seemed like a half-million times. As funny as it had been at the time (only about a week ago), there was only so many times he could tell it before it got to be a little overdone. But everyone he'd told thus far had loved the story, so he continued to spread the story around, entertaining everyone and giving them hopes for the C&A rights movement.

Not that the C&A rights movement didn't have high enough spirits, already. In fact, the whole reason Theta was here was because this was it; this was the rally that finally tipped the scale in favor of the cyborgs and androids, the rally that had practically secured equal housing and job rights for all cyborgs and androids on Sto. He'd been meaning to come here ever since he'd heard of the event; the Timelord was extremely glad he came. The rally hadn't even started yet and still he was having a blast, giddy from the sight of so many people coming together to fight for what they thought was right.

The cyborg woman he was with spotted her group of friends and bid Theta goodbye, running up to embrace a vincocci woman that could have either been her girlfriend or sister, while the rest of her group closed in around them, mouths moving rapidly in chat. Theta sighed happily and turned from the sight, scanning the crowd for another lone victim to chat with. His eyes, after a moment, sought out a young male that walked alone, sometimes saying a word or two to people but overall keeping to himself, no friend groups, nor boy/girl friends, in sight. The Timelord's expression lit up like a Christmas tree, and he began to make his way over there. Perfect!

"Hey there, enjoying yourself at the rally?" Theta slipped in next to Alonso and easily matched him step for step "What brings you here, then? Supporting some cyborg or android friends? Or, sorry didn't ask, are you an android yourself? I know some people don't like flaunting their enhancements, but everybody here seems to be doing just that, so I just assumed..."

Alonso had spotted someone, and was just about to head towards there, only for someone to stop him, though he wasn't at the time paying too close attention. "Hmm, oh, yeah I'm having a good time, I mean, my mom is the one organizing this event! Also no, I'm not an and-" he was stating, before stopping, and turning more fully towards the man, eyes wide. "Oh my Vot, it's him, the guy that I had met at the bar a couple weeks ago!" he thought to himself in surprise.  He had not expected him to see Theta again, especially not on Sto.

 "Theta, its you!"  He said, with a grin. "What a surprise! I didn't expect to see you here. I mean, was rather confused for a bit after you and Sonya left me at the bar...oh, and I still have the credit stick to give back to her, next time I see her, or is she here?" He was knocked into someone from behind, causing him to spill his drink, though luckily he managed not to fall...somehow. "Oi, please try to stay away from too much alcohol," he yelled back with a smirk, before turning back to Theta. "So anyways, you gotta tell me what happened? I mean, I left feeling like I entered some sort of confusion...thingy. And now your on Sto, for the rally,I expect, right?"

 He knew he was asking a lot of questions at once, and knew they wouldn't all probably be answered, but he had hoped to meet Theta again. He had been dying of the curiosity ever since.

Theta blinked astonished at the man who had given his and Sonya's names so easily, as if he was a friend who knew them. He considered this for a moment, but he couldn't ever recall meeting a man that looked like this, nevermind in a bar with Sonya of all people. He guessed he might have seen him back when he and Sonya travelled together...but no, they hardly had ever went into bars, mostly because Theta had looked too young to belong in one, also how would this man recognize him now if he ever did meet him in a bar when he was younger?

"Oh my Rassilon, are you psychic??" Theta didn't give the man a chance to answer "I mean, of course you're psychic, how else could you have known my name and her names? But, it's just, I hardly ever run into psychics, let alone someone so talented as you. I mean, you extracted her name and my name, and I didn't even notice!" he calmed down a bit when he realized how rude he must have been just then, but the excited grin still remained "just one question, though, if you don't mind...what am I thinking right now?"

pears, thought Theta, thinking the word but trying not to project it to the man's mind. Pears, dammit, if you read my mind without me noticing again I think I'll just die

Alonso looked at Theta curiously. Was he playing a joke on him? First, he acts like he knows him at the bar, but now he acts like they've never met."Maybe my mates are playing a joke on me...nah, they wouldn't...would they?I mean, they have...but never one this long running...maybe he just doesn't remember it to well...or maybe he got bonked in the head..." he thought, at the same time trying to get rid of another weirdly shaped fruit image in his head.

 "Theta, I'm not a psychic. Four weeks ago,a bar on a moon around Osiron. Apparently I looked like a companion of yours and you confused me for him. I was sitting with Sonya,who apparently you hadn't seen in a while...you sure you don't remember?" Alonso asked,a bit concerned. It really hadn't been that long.

 Suddenly, over the speakers, came a voice over the music. "The rally will be starting in five minutes! Please will all personnel get into positions! Let the fight for equality continue on!!" There was a large amount of clapping coming from the very large crowd, as well as some unrest near the back of the crowd, though Alonso took it to mean that the people were just moving forward."Here, come with me,"Alonso said, grabbing Thetas hand and weaving through the crowd. "You can come with me up on stage. I'm supposed to be up there..." he said, as they began nearing a large stage with a podium and several people standing up there preparing, all silver and black "C&A Equality" shirts, similar to what Alonso was wearing.

"Wait, if you're not psychic, then how do you know-" Theta was cut off as Alonso tugged him into the crowd, towards the stage. He stared bewildered at the young man, amazed at how easily he was able to lead a stranger with him. Either he was seriously FBI navy ducks (he didn't sound like it, though, nor walk like it), or he really had met him before. In that case...

Oh, Rassilon. This man was from his future, wasn't he? Theta knew the Doctor and other time travelers encountered this problem fairly regularly, but for some reason, Theta hadn't had to deal with it, not for a long time, at least. And now he had to make sure that he met this guy (Thet didn't even know his name!) on some moon bar, since the man had mentioned it and it was now a stupid fixed point. First time he got (preferrably not when they were going up on stage, as they were now, wow he wasn't expecting to get to stand on the stage when he'd arrived here!) Theta would let the man know that he was a timetraveller, explain to him that he could not keep on going about Theta's future unless he wanted time to blow up in his face. Figuratively, of course. Time couldn't really blow up in someone's face...at least, Theta didn't think it could...

Alonso and Theta walked up the side stairs onto the stage. It was a rather large stage,with a canopy coming up behind it and over the top of it. Near the front of the top was a silver banner with "C&A Equality" written on it, with a picture of a cyborg, and android, a stoti, and a zocci standing hand in hand. It had been rather difficult for him to put it up there, but he had managed. He was still holding onto Theta as they walked along the back portion of the stage, heading towards a a stout, fair, blonde haired women that was wearing a pair of khakis and the shirt.

 "No, no, no, that goes over there!" could be heard coming from her, with a southern twangy, if exasperated voice. She turned around to see Alonso and Theta. "Ahh, Alonso, so lovely you managed to get through the crowd back up here!" She said, giving her son a kiss on the cheek, bringing out a light blush and a low mum groan from Alonso. "Oh, and I haven't met you before? Are you a friend of Alonso, or are you one of his so called mates as he likes to refer to them? Well in any case, I'm his mum,and you can call me Mrs. Frame, or Maria if you like, head of this whole shebang. Now, I need to  go...we're having some problems with a group of some very...unsavory people,so I would like to get this started!" With that, Mrs. Alonso moves on towards the front of the stage. Alonso, who was blushing a bit harder after the word mates, nodded to some of the other volunteers, and turned to Theta, walking near the front left side of the stage.

 "So yeah, that was my mum. She has her own organization, and put this entire thing together, and can be a bit overbearing. Anyways...so are you sure you can't remember me from a couple weeks ago?" He asked, continuing on from before.

Theta stared after Alonso's mum as she walked to the front of the stage, flustered enough to forget to make a quip about Alonso's coloured cheeks.

"We are not mates, I only just met you!"

Of course, that entire sentence might have been drowned out by the roar that came from the crowd as Mrs. Frame took up the podium. It was deafening, and for that second in time, sight didn't matter, smell didn't matter, none of the other senses mattered except for that ginormous wall of sound.

The moment passed, and Theta was suddenly able to think again. He turned his eyes out across the crowd, full of full-metal androids and cheering cyborgs, the silver and black of the C&A flags and t-shirts making the masses seem like a pool of molten metal, moving and churning as one.

...he might not know Alonso, but dam, he had the best seats in the house.

Theta smiled and turned his mind back to talking with Alonso, through one of his eyes still remained on the sea of people.

"Yeah, she seems nice..." his smile disappeared, face turning serious "But you can't talk anymore about the last time we met; you see, I'm a time...traveller...?"

He trailed off, distracted by the crowd yet again, though this time focusing solely on the back. There seemed to be a rather large commotion in the back, and there were yells, though they didn't sound like they were just excited for the rally; they sounded more like angry yells. cyberphobes, perhaps? He narrowed his eyes and pointed the area out to Alonso.


"Do you see that? Something is going on over there..."

Alonso was listening to Theta, just as he saw some commotion in the back at the same time as Theta. He remembered the earlier fuss back there, and, squinting, taking a close look, sagged his shoulders a bit, groaning, a hand rubbing his forehead in annoyance."Oh Vot, not them again!" He aid in a blatantly annoyed voice. "That's The Purination, a group of cyberphobes. They always come at big events like these to cause trouble...and big trouble...they have been known to get rather violent."

 Alonso's brow went from one of annoyance to concern. This was not good...and where was the security! They were hired for this very reason. He turned around, and looked at several of the officials, some a bit nervous, as well as some of the event organizers talking angrily into their walkie-talkies. Before he could move along, his mother began speaking on the podium,not one to let a commotion to get in the way of what she felt was her duty. Her voice filled the arena, capturing the attention of most everyone, with still a bit of scuffle in the back.

 "We are gathered in this arena," she began, her voice acting like a vice on people,"because we are continuing the process of patching up the long, deep, jagged wound of injustice that has perforated this planet! We are here in a show of unity and equality, in a show of rebellion against the societal norm of hate and discrimination against the  C&A community and their allies!"A large wave of shouts and applause came from the audience, extremely loud. "We have recently taken a step forward in making marriage surrounding thee C&A community legal, and this has been fantastic!" At that, two Cyborgs walked down from the back of the stage, holding their hands together, showing the bracelets around their left wrists, their sign of marriage, causing a large uproar of cheers from the crowd, though the back was starting to get very rowdy.

 "However, we have but scraped the surface!" She said in a fiery passion. "Hate and intolerance still runs rampant on Sto. There are still places that disregard the new laws, there are still places were those in the community can be fired without a word for being and android, or kicked out of a home for being a cyborg. There is still a sense of shame of showing who you are. People hide their modifications in fear of being found out, and this must end!" She yelled, firing up the people, slamming her fists against the podium, causing yet another wave of sound to smack against the bodies up on stage. They're was a series of yells coming from the back, followed by a sudden large surge from the back as Purination wormed its way into the crowd, tossing out foul words and throwing things at various crowd members.

 Alonso was already halfway down the steps of the stage. He didn't  know what he was going to do yet, but he needed to do something. People wwere getting hurt, innocent people, and he needed to help them before anything got worse. He had witnessed several riots on Sto in the past, and didn't want this to turn out like those.

 Mrs. Frame continued in the face of the Purination. "The C&A will fight for its rights to be treated as equals among everyone, and not to remain second class citizens! There will be Unity!" The loud sounds of cheering blasted off from the crowd. "Justice!" Her voice brought forth another round of screams and shouts from the crowd."And C&A Equality!" Hollers and screams drowned out all other sounds as the crowd surged around. Several fights were beginning to break out, though the majority of the audience was still to enraptured by the speech to notice.

Then, the entire crowd went completely and utterly silent, for not even half a second, as Mrs. Frame stood with her hands over her now blood soaked abdomen, the sound of the bullet having been lost in the screams. For just that half a second, the entire audience, was silent. For that half a second, Alonso's mind went into shock as he saw his mum get shot. It was then that, after that half a second, utter chaos ensued. People were running left and right, fights and screams were breaking out everywhere, and Alonso was running as fast as he could back to the stage in a wild fervor, his mind still trying to catch up with his body.

Theta hadn't heard the shot; of course he hadn't heard the shot, nobody had heard it. But he didn't have to hear the sound of the gun discharging in order to know something had went terribly, terribly wrong. The silence and the gasps of several people around him was indicator enough.

As if in slow motion, he turned around to face the stage, only just catching a glimpse of Mrs. Frame holding a hand to her abdomen, the dark blood staining her shirt almost unnoticeable except for the way it dribbled down the silver lettering. Then the crowd surged, more frantic and heated than ever, and he lost sight of the injured woman. It didn't matter that he didn't have a view of her anymore; the image was stained forever into the back of his eyelids, there whenever he blinked.

In the swarm of people Theta lost Alonso, the midshipman undoubtedly going to go check on his mother. For a moment Thet considered following him; despite the extremely short encounter he had with the woman, it terrified him that she might be dead. But then he saw a scuffle out of the corner of his eye, people converging on the shooter who was trying in vain to get away, and Theta knew that this wasn't the time to go check on Mrs Frame. Not now. With that slight hesitation, he jumped into motion and began elbowing his way through the crowds  in order to get to the shooter.

When he finally got to the place where everyone seemed to be converging, there was a fight going on. A bulked up android was holding up the presumed shooter by the back of his shirt, practically screaming in his face, looking about two seconds from murdering the guy. On the android's back several people clung, both C&A supporters trying to get at the shooter and C&A haters trying to help out their fellow Purination by bringing his attacker down. On the ground several feet away, the gun sat innocently, as if it hadn't just (possibly) killed someone.

Somebody picked it up.

It was the android woman that he'd been talking to earlier, the one with the metal eye and automaton legs. Her arms shook with the weight of the gun, even though it probably didn't weigh much. Everybody froze in place, and while it would be fairly easy to steal the gun away from her, nobody made a move.

"Put him down, I'll give him what he deserves"

The commotion started up again, Purinations trying to get the gun away from her but the C&A supporters guarding her, cheering things like 'see what happens when you try to bring us down!' or 'our movement will not be stopped!'. In all fairness most people were looking very uneasy at the thought of shooting someone, but the few radicals from both sides were enough to make everything into a big jumble of chaos.

Theta himself was one of the ones trying to get at the woman before she could do anything she'd regret. Before he got two steps, however, he got decked in the face; somebody obviously had became too wrapped up in the situation and was not differentiating between friends and foes. Then the gun went off, and somebody screamed.

Alonso had finally made his way to the stage, and jumped onto it, not caring for the stairs. Several people were surrounding Mrs. Frame, one of which had an open med-kit lying next to him as he attempted to staunch the blood flow coming from her abdomen. Alonso went forward, still slightly in shock as the person tried to help, crouching down next to her. "I called a med-vehicle," someone off to the side said. Alonso winced, looking down at all the blood, lightly holding onto her arm, biting his lip. She had to make it...she had to...blinking back the tears, he gave a ragged breathe, and stood back up.

He turned around, and looked at the rioting crowd. He took a deep breathe, and pulled up his sleeves. He had to help stop this madness. There were people running and screaming, and many of fights occurring and dissipating. Near the sides, he saw the police begin to come in full riot gear to break up the event, and off to the other side he could hear a gun shot being fired. "Oh Vot...this is completely and utterly terrifying.'' With that, he went off to the side of the police, getting into the calm, determined mode he had learned at the naval academy, to work with them to get this under control.

... ... ...3 hours later

 Alonso was leaning against the side of a med-vehicle, getting several of his wounds looked at. Most were nothing more then scrapes really, but better be safe then sorry. It had taken close to three hours and the entire police force of Sto Central to help things dissipate. Alonso had been with them as well, breaking up fights as quickly as possible. He had feared that the police might have ended up using some of their more more harming riot equipment, but other then water hoses and a couple uses of a baton, they managed to eventually disperse the crowd. A ll the people that were left were either being arrested, getting treated for wounds, or just stragglers.

 He had gotten word that his mum, while in critical condition, was stable for now. He wasn't that surprised, really, she had the will and strength of an Avilom. The damage would be hard to repair though, and she would have to remain under supervision and hospitalized for at least half a year. Also, they hadn't figured out if they had captured the shooter yet or not, and the gun had yet to be find

He gave a sigh, standing up as the medic finished with him, and began walking back through the now torn ground of the field. Right now he was looking for anymore stragglers that needed help. As well as Theta. He hadn't seen him since they  had been standing on stage, and he hoped he was not one of the ones being carried by med-vehicle to the healing centres.

"Oi, ouch, it's not that bad you can just staaa-OW-stop"

Theta resisted the urge to rub his arm where one of the medics had pulled out a bullet with a pair of tweezers, small and metal and coated in dark orange. He supposed it wasn't too bad; he had, after all, convinced them that he didn't need to go to the hospital, and could just have his wound treated here. But Rassilon that had hurt; if only he could have gone back to the TARDIS. The med bay had instruments that could make even surgery painless, a bullet would have been nothing. But the stupid, idiotic, frankly nice and concerned but idiotic Stotians had wanted to keep him here, idiots.

Well, he might be being a bit overdone, but that was probably just the meds talking.

The last few hours had seemed like a blur. After an innocent man had been shot by the cyborg lady, on accident of course but still shot, all hell had broken loose...well, more so that it already had.

There had been screaming, more fights, the shooter slipping away through the crowds unnoticed. Of course, Theta had tried to follow him. Idiotic ideas like that were his specialty. But then there'd been a large group of Purinations with guns, and Thet and the other people who had been trying to follow the shooter had been shot at. Some had only gotten a few scrapes and bruises, and Theta had gotten shot in the arm (thankfully it hadn't been higher, otherwise it would have hit his nerve bundle in his shoulder and the situation would be much worse). But there had been others that weren't so lucky. One woman and two men now lay under blankets, now being wept over by their respective families. There might have been more in the crowds other than those three, but he wasn't sure. Rassilon, he hoped not.

Theta wondered what ever had happened to Mrs.Frame. He hadn't heard any news on if she was alive or dead; the medics' priorities weren't on being newscasters at the moment, after all. Or Alonso; gosh he hoped the man was alright. He had seemed nice, and Theta would hate to have him injured or dead, especially after such a tragedy had befallen his mother. Not to mention the Timelord had never found out who he was, other than someone from his future.

Walking about a bit more, it was a very grim site. Lots of trash and broken things littered the ground, wounded people were still making their way to the med-vehicles, and fights still broke out between police and the others they were taking into custody. Directing some people towards the make-shift check-up centre, he heard a familiar shout on the other side of the med-vehicle he was passing. Quickly running across the side and around the back, he saw Theta, his arm being worked on by a medic. Quickly worrying, but seemed to be alright, and Alonso's face changed from worried to relieved rather quickly.

 "Oh Vot, Theta, I was so worried about you," he said, trotting over to Theta, clasping him in a side hug to avoid hurting the shot arm. "I'm so very glad your okay. Well, not entirely okay, but you'll heal up, which is good," he said, rubbing the back of his head, getting a good look at the bullet hole, wincing a bit as he remembered when he was shot. Sighing a bit, he says "I am really sorry this had to happen when you came to Sto, especially your first time. Unfortunately, that Texeraxof a person got away as well, the one who began shooting," he said, jaw hardening, before giving a saddened sigh. "But what can you do. At least they didn't kill too many this time, though the deaths are heartbreaking...I wish I could have done more to prevent that...my mum's alive and hanging on though, so there's that silver lining." He leaned against the med vehicle as the medics continued.

Theta grinned in relief at seeing a familiar face and accepted the awkward half hug, despite the medics protests at how he still had yet to be fully bandaged. Just when he'd thought Alonso might have gotten hurt...and Mrs. Frame! That was a relief, finding out the woman was alive.

As Theta stepped back, something roughly 50 meters away caught his eye. It was two men; one with a brown tweed jacket, the other dressed like a ship captain. As he watched, the captain man stopped and looked right in his and Alonso's direction, pointing and saying something that Theta couldn't hear. The other man, which he now recognized as himself, seemed rather nervous about something. As he watched, the other him tugged the other Alonso on, walking towards the lingering crowds. Just before the two disappeared out of sight, the other him turned and looked straight at Theta. He made a 'shush' gesture, then the two were gone.

As if snapping out of a trance, Theta blinked once. Twice. His gaze shifted back to Alonso, who was probably wondering why he'd grown so silent. Okay, pretending he'd never seen that...

"So, uh... your mother is okay, then? That's a relief" as he talked Theta could feel himself slip back into the naturalness of the conversation "no other family or friends were hurt, were they?"

Alonso had gotten worried at Theta's silence and far away look. He really hoped that it wasn't due to any wounds that he had gotten, or any concussions that he might have been dealt with. He fully let go of Theta, smiling at his asking of his family and friends.

 "Yeah, they're fine. My dad wasn't here, thankfully. And my friends Terry and Tetra managed to get out of it for the most part unscathed, though I feel more sympathy for the people that Terry undertook, to be fair," he thought to himself, turning back to the crowd to see if he could view them, but was unable to, so he shrugged.

 ''Thanks for asking though, I really appreciate it,'' he said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hands. He leaned against the med-vehicle, rolling his shoulders, relaxing a bit after that ordeal.  He  the remembered their earlier conversation. ''Oh, you know, you still haven't told me what happened to Sonya and and yourself after you left the bar? I'm really curious how the stone thing went?"

As soon as Theta heard the words Sonya and bar in the same sentence together, he clamped his hands over his ears and squinted, as if that was going to make him forget what he'd just heard, or prevent Alonso from continuing. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the little information he had gleaned from the simple question.

"Nuh uh, I don't want to hear it!" he looked at Alonso with a wide-eyed and slightly pleading look, hands still over his ears "Promise me you'll say nothing more about what you were just going to say"

After a moment of watching Alonso's face, not seeing him mouthing any more words, Theta dropped his hands. He chewed on his lip and avoided the midshipman's eyes, though he tried to not look in the direction their future selves had gone. He ended up gazing at the stage; it had become almost a sacred ground, no one daring to step onto the surface where Mrs. Frame had been shot.

"You can't tell me anything about other times we've seen each other, got it? I, well, I'm a time traveler. And that hasn't happened for me yet" Theta watched the Stotian's face, wondering how he would respond, a bit wary that he'd keep on going on about the bar.