Author's Note: My, my! Wasn't that last chapter exciting, boys and girls? We can never know what zany adventure our brave hero will get into next. He could be saving a town full of simple folk from the terrors of some fell beast, or rescuing a damsel in distress from a gang of rouge cyborg space-pirates. And all the while, he's learning the wisdom of his fearsome mentor. (Cough) At some point in there, I've probably booked my seat to Hell. Again. I do not own Doctor Who or FMA. Read and Review I want to know what you think! Feedback is important!

Chapter 6 On The Journey to Anywhere

After the meal the Speaker lead Envy and the Doctor to the spire the Paradox had shown him the day before. While the incident left a bad taste in Envy's mouth, this time it was at least the only scene he saw.

They stood at the base of the spire, in front of a basin filled with the wine-red serum that was life-blood of Homunculi. Sweeping out from the spire was a delicate sculpture of a phoenix in an eagle's dive, the trailing edge of the wings and body clothed in flame and a heron's head in mid-dart. Once in a while, a drop of the precious elixir would fall from its long beak into the center of the basin. Strange, how something so poetic could be thought up by beings that ate souls.

"Just put your hand in," the Speaker instructed. "You'll know when you've had enough."

Envy looked into the liquid, and tentatively placed his palm on the surface. His skin tingled from the souls wicking up into his body. Souls of different species did have a different taste to them, something he never thought about- never having anything other than human souls before. This type had a meaty, robust flavor, in contrast to human souls, which he would now describe more like the first honey harvest of the season.

"What are these souls from?"

The Doctor sighed. "You can guess."

"Oh! Yuurlnat?"

The Speaker grinned impishly. "We couldn't get the ones on the surface, but the ones in the ships inside the sphere were quite near at hand."

"Huh?"

The Speaker rocked back and forth on his feet, his odd-eyes sparkling. "You may have thought about it or you may have not, but a circle is what a sphere would be in a two dimensional space, and a circle from any perspective in a three dimensional space is a sphere. Now, while it is mathematically impossible to turn a circle- that's 2-D- inside out, it is possible to do it with a sphere, which is in 3-D*.

Envy took a second before he made the connection. "A transmutation… sphere… turned inside out… so that the planet… New Gallifray… is on the outside, and the rest of the universe is on the inside. It's… bigger on the inside." He grinned brilliantly. Math had always been one of Envy's aquantanices, but he now began to realize what a good friend he had in it.

"That's something only Time Lord Homunculi would do," the Doctor sighed.

"Hey, we only use the souls near death, so nothings' interfered with, temporally speaking," the Speaker responded.

"And what about the Yuurlnat on the ships?" the Doctor rebutteled.

"They were near death. They wanted to take the water we need for our lives. We have our rights. It's not like we let their lives go to waste."

The Doctor turned to Envy. "Well, we better get going. And don't give me that look." Envy stood on one foot; the other tucked behind, and shied away with his hands behind his back. His eyes had the look of a scolded puppy, but his mouth was curled into an upside-down smile. The Doctor sighed and shook his head. "Well, it's not like you're to be cured in a day. Come on."

Envy broke into a big smile and bounded after the Time Lord as the Speaker trotted along beside him.

Later on, the Paradox gave Envy the official send off to begin his apprenticeship, and he traded good-byes with the Speaker and Idle. As the Doctor revved up the TARDIS, Envy shrugged his knapsack ("it's kind of useful to be able to carry stuff with you incase you need it," the Doctor said) off his shoulder and explored the place a bit more. There was a room filled with an endless array of clothes with a spiral staircase ascending right in the middle of it, and beneath the floor grill there was a massive tangle of engine parts. Not even millenniums-advanced aliens seemed to get away from that. "Where're we going?" he finally asked.

"When is the right question, but where can apply," the Doctor said. "Past or future? Up to you."

Envy gaped. "Oh, um, future, I guess," he said.

"Okie-dokie, the future it is then. I know just where to go." The Doctor once again set about dashing around the column making adjustments to the controls. Envy once again stood mesmerized by the moving unearthly lights and the whirrings of the TARDIS's engine.

After a while Envy returned to reality and asked quite suddenly, "You don't seem like the fighting type- what'd you do?"

"Well, the Paradox caught the commander of the Yuurlnats and we all had a little talk. It's important that they need to understand the needs of others too."

"Vaguely stated: I like," Envy purred.

"I also suggested that the Paradox and the Leaver should do something about keeping unwanted guests out. Gallifray- the old one- had a quantum force field protecting it."

"You said that word- "quantum"- again. What's it mean?"

"Oh, broadly speaking, on really, really, really small scales- individual atoms and smaller- the differences between particles and energy become indistinguishable."

"Oh," Envy replied. What was going on in that level of existence was something he never fully understood, but Envy never really bothered to learn about it before. 'I could have asked Father about it;' Envy thought, 'he of all people would have known what's it like on that small a scale. But then again, if he wouldn't have said anything if he figured we didn't need to know it.'

"It's something any decent alchemic theory would predict if looked at it the right way," the Doctor continued. "But the quantum world is so unlike anything alchemists are usually used to that they often see it as hogwash. It usually takes at least a century or so for the idea to gain a foothold among alchemists. Probably all that dark matter- it really gets them that something exists that they can't interact with even theoretically."

Envy felt somewhat slighted by the universe. "I don't like it."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just don't. Alchemy is what created me and it can't- it can't… I don't know," Envy said at last. He shrugged in defeat.

"You're just not used to the idea that you know that what you know is nothing in comparison to what you know that you don't know, and that that pales in comparison to what you don't know that you don't know. You'll get used to it. It's fun." And with that the Doctor shot Envy a bemused glance and said, "Earth, the year six-thousand four-hundred eighty-three."

"Really?"

"See for yourself."

Envy drew a big breath and rushed to the door and swung it open. He almost stumbled outside of the TARDIS as the Doctor strolled in tow. They landed in a plant conservatory that shared its place with city streets. The humid air was trapped within a glass film that stretched between the buildings hundreds of feet above them. Beyond the barrier there were the buildings reaching into the heavens, an army of mirrors sending sunlight into the flourishing realm below.

"This is so… different. Four and a half thousand years into the future…"

"Yeah," the Doctor said. "A lot can change."

" 'A lot can…' Doctor, what has changed?"

"Do you want to see? Come along then. It's something you got to see for yourself." The Doctor lead Envy to a nearby building, where before getting into the lobby, they were stopped by someone imposing figure, with no natural movement or change of expression. Its voice was a mechanical monotone and it never blinked. The Doctor talked their way into the building as Envy listened intently. At the end, the Doctor pulled a small metal rod out of his pocket and pointed it at the guard. It emitted a high chittering and blue light that seemed to have a pacifying effect on the figure.

As they walked on, Envy asked, "Was that full body auto-mail, or do they accept binding human souls now?"

"That was neither," the Doctor said. "That was an android, an artificial intelligence, something programmed. Nothing about it is or had been alive."

Envy turned, peering back at the metal figure. "You said that things have changed. Humans are as now inane as they were back in the old days. They're just asking for trouble now."

"I said 'things can change', not that they necessarily do. And yes, you're right, they still like to play high risks with their lifestyles." The Doctor led Envy to two brushed steel panels set deep into the wall. He pushed a button on the wall and after a few moments, the two panels slid apart revealing a small, boxy room with a strip of steel railing at hip-height running around the room.

Elevators had only just been invented in Envy's time, but this was the first time he had been on one. He had heard that they were clunky and noisy and they moved jerkily, but this one- having several thousand years of between it and its origins, only whirred quietly and moved between a set speed and nothing.

The two had continued talking until three other people got on. The arrivals stood, facing the door, expressionless, and said nothing. Envy faltered mid-sentence when he noticed this. It was like they were the perfect soldiers, stock-still and awaiting orders. Envy began to feel antsy. It didn't feel right. Something about the damn box. In due time each got off on their proper spot. But others came and went, doing just as the rest did.

At last they got to their stop, top floor. Envy followed the Doctor to a window, where he saw a vista of countless mirrored towers, and far off in the distance… Nothing. A barren wasteland. "This is Chaermane, originally called West City," the Doctor explained.

"What happened? It never was like this."

"The Great Desert spread west. As Amestris became heavier populated, there were more people to feed and water. The city is completely sealed off from the outside, so that water for the plants isn't lost."

"They've created their own ecosystem, in other words. Like New Gallifray. Are the other cities like this?"

"The main ones are, but the smaller towns and villages turned to the desert lifestyle. Cities like this aren't even possible without the aid of alchemists."

"Are they isolated from each other?"

"No, they're still in contact, but there's still no consensus on how to right this."

Envy leaned against the window, staring off into space, conflicted. On one hand, it was just what the humans deserved; they brought it on themselves. On the other, if Father were here, he could correct this, and there would be willing sacrifices for him. 'Idiots.' "It can recover on its own, can it," the Homunculus said, more of a statement than a question.

"Yes," said the Doctor, " and it's probably for the best."

Envy sighed, and feeling chilled in the high atmosphere, he placed a hand on his queasy stomach. "Seems like every time anyone tries to change something in a big way, they fuck up in a bigger way and don't know about it until years later," he said softly.

"Feeling homesick?"

"Maybe a little. It's not my fault," he added on.

The Doctor didn't reply. Envy felt vilified; for all that the Homunculi would have done, Humans still did worse, and they never challenged themselves about it. His family was hated for being the incarnation of the Human emotions that cause misery, but the Humans never thought that they should have avoided the sort of things that bring about Homunculi in the first place. And they never learned.

"So what's so great about here? And now?" Envy asked finally.

Just then the tower shuttered and the glass facade shattered from the building. "Don't know," the Doctor said. "Let's find out." Envy grinned wickedly and took off with the Doctor.

Several floors down (they took the stairs), and they located where the shake originated. A young woman tumbled out of a room, righted herself and smashed a black tablet over the dome of a large canister, then took off in their direction when the Doctor shouted "Over here!"

He handed her over to Envy, and carefully approached the object.

The thing spoke. "We have been detected," it said. "Exterminate! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

*See .com/watch?v=BVVfs4zKrgk and .com/watch?v=x7d13SgqUXg&feature=related to see how.