"Well?" asked Koschei.

"I failed," Theta replied disappointed.

"Again?! Theta, you're ninety years old! If you don't pass your TARDIS exam, you're never going to graduate."

"I know! I mean, I thought I flew alright. Yes, the ride was a little bumpy…and I landed one year off, but it was only one year! That's way better than last time!"

"You weren't even in the right galaxy or century the first time."

"Nobody passes on their first try."

"I did. And nobody takes eight tries at all."

"Alright, don't rub it in."

"Maybe I can give you some lessons, come on."

"Alright. Where do you want to go?" asked Koschei as they stood in the control room of his father's TARDIS. "Someplace simple."

"Um… Earth," said Theta.

Koschei rolled his eyes. "I said simple, not primitive."

Theta glared at him.

"Alright, fine. Galactic year?"

"I don't know," Theta thought. "You pick."

"Okay." He came and stood behind him. He pointed to the console. "These are the time-space indicators. Set it for Earth, galactic year, um, 50,000,000,000.1569."

Theta set the controls.

"Now twist that knob to the right." Theta reached. "No, not that one. Here." Koschei curled around him and, more slowly than necessary, twisted the right knob.

"Now that's the oldest trick in the book," Theta smiled slyly.

"What's that?" Koschei feigned ignorance still wrapped around Theta.

"Trying to get into my pants under the guise of teaching me something."

"I don't need a guise to get into your pants." He moved his lips to Theta's ear. "Now hush or I'll have you right here on the console." He thrusted his hips into Theta's arse and casually walked to the other side of the console.

Theta shivered with delight. He loved the way Koschei took control. They had started having sex twenty years ago. They'd been all over each other since then. Theta smiled. "Now the ignition?"

"What? No! The stabilizers. No wonder your ride was bumpy."

"Which ones are the stabilizers?"

Koschei rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "The blue buttons there."

Theta pushed them. Twisted the quantum gyro-guidance flangilator, and cranked the ignition.

"Gently!" shouted Koschei as the consol room tipped. "We'll rip through the vortex at this rate!"

Theta eased the leavers back until they were gently floating in the time vortex.

"Well now you've eased them back to much. We're not going anywhere now."

"I'm trying, alright!"

Koschei sighed and went to adjust the controls, but before he could the TARDIS heaved and they both fell to the smooth black floor. "What did you touch?!"

"Nothing!" Theta said defensively. Then the room began shaking.

Koschei got up and raced to the controls. "Something's pulling us out of the vortex!" Suddenly there was a tremendous lurch and they were floating in space. "Where are we?"

Theta went to the monitor. "Oh my."

"What?"

"It's beautiful!"

Koschei came over to look. "The Medusa Cascade."

"I've seen it in books and videos, but I can't believe we're actually here." Theta hit the door controls and ran to the doors proper.

"Theta no!"

"I just want to see it in person!"

"Theta the council said they detected a…" he trailed off, gazing out the doors with Theta. It really was beautiful. He shook his head. "Theta, the council said they detected a rift here. It's probably what pulled us off course."

"Why haven't they done anything about it yet?"

"Well, it's not fully opened yet. They're having a meeting on what to do about it next week."

"Bureaucracy," Theta sighed. "What if something-" There was a huge CRACK and then, right in front of their eyes it looked as if space itself was splitting in two. "What if something like that happens?!" Theta shouted.

"Get to the door controls!" Koschei shouted over the roar of the rift. They couldn't tell if things were being sucked in or spewed out.
Theta ran for the controls, but Koschei lost his footing and was sucked out of the safety of the TARDIS. "KOSCHEI!"

Theta panicked. A Time Lord can survive in the vacuum of space without air for only five minutes. And it might take even less time than that for Koschei to be sucked into the rift. He thought quickly. He fetched an oxygen mask from the emergency cabinet and tied the length of bungee cord around his waist. He ran for the door and jumped out. The inertia sent him moving faster than Koschei had been, but with the pull of the rift, he was afraid he still might not reach him. Reaching out he felt that Koschei was just at his fingertips when in truth he was a few meters away, he watched him flail as he drew closer to the rift. Very suddenly the rift switched gears from sucking to expelling and Koschei's body, now limp, hit Theta like a ton of bricks as they were pushed back towards the TARDIS. Just before they reached the door the temperamental rift switched back to pulling things in, but Theta grabbed the doorframe and pulled himself and Koschei back into the TARDIS. Crawling back in, Theta ran to the controls and closed the doors. He rushed to Koschei's side. "Kos! Kos! Wake up, please!"

He wasn't breathing. Theta lifted one of his eyelids and saw that all the blood vessels in his eyes had burst. Suddenly his skin began to glow and golden particles wafted from his body. "No," whispered Theta. He stood back. This can't be happening, he thought. He's only ninety years old! We're just kids! This shouldn't happen until he's at least three-hundred! The glow burst out in beams from all his limbs. It only lasted about thirty seconds, but it felt like an eternity to Theta. He'd never seen anyone regenerate before. He approached the still body and looked it over. He looked so much older. He looked somewhere between a hundred-and-fifty to two-hundred. His hair was still dark brown, but he had a beard. He was slightly too big for his robes. Suddenly his eyes popped open and he was screaming. Theta dropped down and gathered him in his arms. "Shh, shh. It's okay. I'm here." Theta realized at the choke in his voice that he was crying. He buried his tear-stained face in Koschei's shoulder. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"What's happened?!" said Koschei. He didn't recognize his own voice. He didn't feel right in his body. "Theta, what's happened to me?!"

The TARDIS shook violently as it was dragged toward the rift. Theta didn't want to let go of his Koschei. He wanted to hold him until everything was alright, but he knew he had to close the rift somehow. He kissed Koschei's face and ran to the base of the console. He may not fly a TARDIS very well but he knew the wiring of every model inside and out.

"Theta don't Leave me!" shouted Koschei.

"I'm sorry. I have to. I have to close the rift and get us out of here!"

"Theta!"

It hurt to ignore the cries of his love, but he did. He connected wires and pulled others out in an attempt to rig something up that would close the rift, but when he looked up at the monitor he saw that they were too close. He didn't have time. He went to the doors and opened them. What could he do? Then an idea began to form in the back of his mind. On impulse he jumped out of the TARDIS. The cord was still wrapped around his waist, but he didn't have the oxygen mask anymore, which gave him only five minutes to do this if he could. He closed is eyes and tuned out the roaring of the rift. He searched deep within the recesses of his soul and found the word. His true name and all the power that it held. He whispered it into the rift and opened his eyes to see it closing, stitching itself up, his name like a surgeons thread on a wound. Then there was silence. Perfect silence, like space should be. He climbed the cord back into the TARDIS.

"What happened?" asked Koschei when he got inside. "What did you do?"

"I closed the rift," he said solemnly as he went to the controls.

"How?"

"It doesn't matter." He set the controls and hit the ignition. "I'm taking us home." And for the first time, he arrived where he intended.