"It's locked in the drawer in his workstation. All we'd have to do is pick the lock and we've got it." Theta Sigma whispered to his friends as class let out, after quickly making sure that old Borusa wasn't paying any attention to his group. He may be the dead last of the class but, that was more because he tended to focus on things other than his studies. The reason he was in the Deca, however, was more for the amusement he provided as the class clown than because he was just as intelligent as the rest of them, despite the fact he wasn't at the top of the class like they were. He wasn't quite the hanger-on that most people believed him to be though, and was at times as close to being the leader of the group as anyone was.
"I'm not going to have any part in this. Besides, I have some extra-credit lab work I need to get done." a ginger girl who was called Ushas said before turning her nose up to him, breaking away from the rest of the group and heading out the door. She hadn't quite forgiven him for not asking her to that film festival that some of the art students had decided to throw. The best films in the history of the universe, and he'd had tickets thanks to his older brother Irving who'd acquired them from a friend who had been into the underground art movement. The fact that he hadn't gone himself and given the tickets away at the last minute when he remembered he had them was immaterial to his friend.
"We've got to study." Magnus and Mortimus said, looking more scared of the prospect of what he was planning than focused on passing the upcoming exam. Probably because Borusa could be really scary when he captured miscreants in the middle of causing mischief, and there was a good chance they could get caught before things went very far.
Sometimes, Theta Sigma suspected that Borusa's rather creative punishments for miscreants were more because the students had gotten caught, rather than that they were getting in trouble in the first place. He'd never been able to prove it though. Borusa had always been very good at playing things close to the vest.
"Well?" he said as he turned to his best friend amongst the group who was more than likely the only one brave enough to go along with what he'd begun plotting when he'd seen Borusa seal a certain key in a drawer of the Teacher Workstation at the beginning of class.
"I don't know how the hell you always manage to talk me into these things Thete." Koschei said, shaking his head as he followed his friend down the hallway to their next class. "This better not end with me almost regenerating like that incident in Low Town did."
"Well, I'm not the one who went and picked a fight with a bunch of drunk Shobogans who were more than twice my size." Theta Sigma countered.
"I didn't pick it, they started it when they called me small!" Koschei snapped.
"Well, you are small." Theta Sigma replied as he drew himself up to his full height, which was noticeably taller than that of his dark haired friend.
"Don't you even start!" Koschei snapped as he and his friend made their way into the room in which their next class would take place, no-longer in the good mood he'd been in since he'd answered one of Borusa's trick questions correctly.
"I can't believe we're actually doing this!" Koschei said several hours after the day's classes ended as he and his friend made their way into the empty classroom under the cover of darkness.
As they made their way through the darkened room past the abandoned study tables, the bright coppery light of Pazithi Gallifreya shone through the room's only window, illuminating their way in the darkness and eliminating the need to bring in an outside light, which would've increased their chances of getting caught despite the fact that the boys had already hacked into the school security system and programmed it to ignore them. Since the administration was well aware of the fact that some students, usually the sort who ended up being thrown out and ending up as Shobogans in Low Town, would - and in some cases could - hack the security system in order to pull pranks or get up to other mischief after hours, there was an actual person patrolling the hallways as a low-tech backup.
"What the heck is that?!" Koschei asked when something in his friend's hand started making a whistling noise moments after the two boys reached Borusa's workstation where Theta Sigma immediately got to work on picking the lock.
"I was bored, father wanted me to help him put up shelves in the storage room, and mother wanted me to replace the cabinets I damaged during a recent experiment." Theta Sigma replied as he held up a heavily modified Sonic Screwdriver that could apparently pick locks as well as drive screws through just about any surface a screw could be driven through, including diamond.
"So, that's what you were doing instead of asking Ushas out." Koschei said, remembering the day Ushas had been sitting around waiting for Theta Sigma to ask her to come along to an event he supposedly had tickets for, and how she'd been furious when he'd failed to do so.
"Yeah," Theta Sigma replied as the drawer gave a small metallic click and he slid it open revealing an object that looked like it was made of clear colored plastic, but was actually technology so advanced it may as well have been magic. The substance the item was made out of was actually crystalline in nature, and the entry authorization codes for a T. T. Capsule were directly written on its internal atomic structure.
"I've got it, let's go!" he exclaimed somewhat unnecessarily, seeing as Koschei was staring at the item with wide eyes as he backed towards the door.
Both boys fled from the room and the Time Lord Academy as quickly as they could, making their way to where Theta Sigma had discovered the T. T. Capsule that the key they'd stolen from Borusa's workstation had been parked. At the moment, the capsule was a rather plain grey cylinder, but when the Chameleon Circuit engaged at their destination, it could potentially become anything.
Nervously looking around to make sure nobody was approaching, Theta Sigma used the key to gain entry and both boys quickly piled into the capsule. After quickly shutting the door behind them, they stood there staring at the console that was meant to be piloted by six individuals but could be piloted by as few as one. So far, they had only flown a capsule in simulation, the reality, though nearly identical in appearance to the flight simulator, was so much...more somehow.
"So," Koschei said, breaking the awed silence. "Where should we go?"
"How about we go to that place where the Ginger Beer the Shobogans are so fond of comes from?" Theta Sigma said, his hearts hammering in his chest as he moved towards the console as if afraid to touch it.
"Sure," Koschei replied as he moved to take the spot at the controls he'd favored during simulation flights.
Eventually, the fear wore off and excitement took over as their hands moved to follow certain procedures they'd learned in class, and it became apparent that they would actually manage to get off Gallifrey. They didn't know where or when they would land on the Tellurian homeworld, but they were getting off of Gallifrey and going somewhere new and completely alien, which was exciting enough in and of itself. After the capsule was safely in flight, they made their way to the wardrobe, which should have adjusted itself according to the location and approximate era of the coordinates they'd set, so they could fit in with the local populace as much as possible. After grabbing a few things they liked, they threw the clothes on. There had been a few false starts with the trousers that had made them wonder how the Chancellery Guards could stand wearing them, but eventually everything was sorted out.
As the two boys were beginning to get bored with their adventure, the capsule finally decided to land. Cautiously opening the door, they saw that they seemed to be in some sort of wilderness area. As they made their way out of the capsule, commenting on the massive tree they'd parked next to, they heard the sound of scrabbling feet on rocks as someone moved amongst some that were currently out of sight and a faint cry for help. Being the more adventurous of the two, Theta Sigma made his way toward the source of the sound.
Standing at the edge of a short ledge and looking down, he saw a figure that resembled one of the Academy's recent graduates in both appearance and age. If he didn't know any better he'd swear she was a Time Lord, but the blood he could see and smell from where he was wasn't quite right. He wasn't sure what had happened to her, but it was clear that she was badly injured.
"Koschei," he called back to his best friend as he looked down into the dried-up creek bed. "Grab the medkit!"
Author's Note: For those of you who don't know, Theta Sigma, Koschei, and Ushas are the nicknames of a certain three Time Lords from back when they were in the Academy. Ushas is The Rani, Koschei is The Master, and Theta Sigma or simply Theta is the Doctor. Magnus and Mortimus are The War Chief and The Monk. As for my calling the TARDIS the Doctor and the Master stole a "capsule", please refer to the Fourth Doctor adventures "The Deadly Assassin" and "The Invasion of Time".
Edited 7-18-15