Torchwood Is Yours 9/12

[humantales]

Title: Torchwood Is Yours
Author: humantales
Beta: quean_of_swords
Artist: rotaryphones
Character: Captain Jack Harkness, OC's
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,585
Warnings: AU
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: When Jack lands over a hundred years past where he was aiming, he has some time to fill. Why not spend it baby-sitting the Rift?

Masterlist

1876

"Yes!" Jack shouted, throwing the list of patent requests up in the air. "Finally, we can start setting up communications."

"What's that, then?" Harry asked, picking up the list. "Most of this stuff never gets built, y'know that, yeah?"

"Jack has a way of knowing what will," Sarah said sharply. "Which one?" She pulled the list out of Harry's hands and started reading it herself. Then she yelped when Jack pulled it out of her hands. "I was looking at that."

"I'll give it back to you in a minute," Jack said as he looked for the details. United States patent number 174,465. He felt himself deflate when he realised the implications. Yes, the invention had been developed, but it would be years before the infrastructure was in place. In the meantime, they had to make do with shouting and sending messengers if they needed to communicate in the field. "Never mind," he said. "Here, knock yourself out."

As he left for his flat, he heard Harry inviting Sarah to dinner so they could discuss the patents, and her cheerful acceptance. When had that happened?

Later that evening, Jack was back in his office, writing up reports and thinking wistfully of his Chula ship's AI, of communicators of all types. Hell, even the mobile phones he'd teased Rose about being so primitive were infinitely better than what he had today.

"Captain?" Tom asked.

Jack looked up surprised. He hadn't realised anyone else was still here. "Evening, Tom. Why aren't you home?"

"Diana, my sister, is having an evening with a group of her friends." Tom's expression made it clear how little he wanted to be present.

"So, is she trying to set you up with someone," Jack asked with a smile, "or is there just too much femininity?"

"Bit o' both," Tom said, "and I wanted to talk with you, quiet like."

Jack sat up, worried. Tom was quiet; he did his job and otherwise wasn't much heard from, but he was good at his job. "What's wrong?"

"Stop worrying," Tom said, as if he could read Jack's mind. "What had you so upset this afternoon?"

"The list of new patents," Jack said. "One of them would have been really useful, but it'll be years before it's ready."

Tom dropped down into the chair in front of Jack's desk. "You're not from here," he said. "You're from someplace where the technology is more advanced, yeah?"

Jack nodded. "It's best if I don't go into a lot of detail, but, yes, you're right."

"Then why don't we use what you know?"

"I have to be careful not to change the timelines," Jack said with a sigh. "The wrong tech too early and the results could be catastrophic. It's best if we just stay at the front edge of technology, not in front of it."

"Why?" When Jack started to repeat himself, Tom held up his hand. "I understand why we can't make it public, but why can't we use it?"

"It's timelines," Jack started to say, but Tom interrupted him.

"When do we humans make First Contact with an alien species?" Tom asked.

Before he thought about, Jack almost answered. "I can't tell you that," he said instead.

"But you know," Tom said, leaning forward. "And there's no record of any aliens coming before then, is there?"

Jack leaned back, thinking. "No. That's why it's called First Contact."

"Are you attracting the ones we see here?"

"No," Jack said. It was something he'd wondered about; aliens on the Earth over a century before First Contact, but he'd just thought they were accidents, so he didn't worry about it.

"Then why can't we make some of this equipment you want?" Tom asked. "We wouldn't let anybody else have it, we could make it look like something else, something already around, but why can't we make what we need?"

Although his first reaction was to object, Jack stopped and thought about it. Materials would be a problem, of course. A lot of what he wanted to build couldn't be done without other innovations. Jack could make a blaster, if he had the component pieces. He could jury-rig some of them but, in most cases, he didn't know enough to make the components. Still, that wasn't as bad as it could be; it would limit what he could do and it wouldn't look out of place. "You might have a point," he said. "It's not as easy as you're making it sound, but it could be done."

"It never is," Tom said with a laugh. "Talk me through it. If I can understand it, anyone can."

When Sarah and Harry came back, after midnight, Jack was deep into an explanation of the inner workings of a telegraph. "Look who the cat dragged in," Jack called to them. "That must have been some dinner."

"Harry took me to a concert," Sarah said, a little shy. Now that Jack was paying attention, he noticed that she was dressed up, as was Harry. "Is Mattie still up?"

"It's Matthew," Jack said. Now that he went to grammar school, Mattie had decided that Mattie was a baby name and was insisting he be called Matthew. It was bittersweet; Jack was enjoying watching the little boy grow up, but he missed the toddler who looked up to him as if he could solve everything. And Matthew was getting near the age Gray had been when he was killed.

"So, is Matthew still up?" Sarah asked.

Jack shook his head. "He went to sleep a couple of hours ago," he said, "which is where we all should be. You'd better take advantage of it because I've got big plans for tomorrow."


Jack stood in the middle of the alley, looking around in shock. One minute, he'd been chasing a Hoix down the alley, ready to hit it with the new tranquiliser dart Ellie had created. The next, he was staring at an empty alley. "Tom," he shouted, "it's gone."

"Over here," he heard Sarah shout from his belt.

With a grin, Jack picked up the communicator he and Artam had created. It was big, bulky, had a range of a quarter of a mile, and everything interfered with it. Still, it was much better than they'd had before. Pushing the send button, he said, "Where's here? Do you have the Hoix?"

"It has us," Sarah said. Jack could hear the fear in her voice. "We're behind the bakery."

"On my way." Jack put it back in his belt and took off. Once there, he stopped, his anger rising. Three Blowfish had surrounded Sarah, Harry and Tom, with two Hoixes in front of them. Tom was down. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked, keeping his voice level.

"We require rights of residence," the one who looked the oldest said. "This world is pleasant."

Jack carefully keyed open his communicator. Ellie could get help from the police; there presence alone should be enough to get rid of the Blowfish. "That is in violation of the Shadow Proclamation," he said. "Section 1, Clause 12, in which it states that a world with a sentient population but no space flight cannot be interfered with. Now, do you leave peacefully, or do we call for the Judoon." Jack despised the Judoon, but they made great threats.

He didn't have enough time to move when he heard the sounds behind him; the Hoix jumped him and took a bite out of his throat.

The next several minutes were a blur. Blood loss and shock meant that Jack couldn't concentrate on what was happening. From what he could tell, the police were right behind the Hoix. Shots were fired, and an energy weapon, before Jack could hear the tell-tale sound of a transport. Then, Ellie was beside him, pressing something cloth to his neck and murmuring to him. The world went black.

He came to with a gasp. "Easy, Captain," Ellie said, her voice trembling. "You've lost a great deal of blood; you must rest."

"The Blowfish?" he asked as Ellie pushed him down.

"Gone," Tom answered. "They looked pretty worried when we told him the police were an auxiliary to the Judoon."

Jack grinned. "Not bad, not bad at all. How much damage control will we have with the police?"

"We convinced the police you were just badly hurt," Ellie said. She lifted the cloth. "Completely healed. We'll bandage you anyway; otherwise, there will be questions."

Harry snorted. "Right. You keep telling yourself that," he said. When Jack looked at him, the other man shrugged. "They probably will," he said, sounding grudging. "They didn't get a good look at your neck and it looked like you fainted from blood loss."

Jack groaned. "Great."

"The communicators worked a treat, though," Sarah said, her voice bright and cheerful. "Any ideas as to what we can build next?"

Jack had lots of ideas; the question was what to work on first. "Maybe we can get that stun gun to work over distance," he said. It wouldn't quite be a blaster, but it'd be nice to be able to bring down an opponent from a distance. Tranquiliser darts were great, if you knew which species you were dealing with.

Sarah's eyes got a gleam in them. Jack wasn't sure if she was thinking distance stun guns or something else, but he was looking forward to her next flight of fancy. Even the unworkable ones turned out to be useful in the end.

1877