Without Jack
Summary: An alternate universe where Jack never comes to Cardiff. What would have happened to each member of the Torchwood team?
Timeline: Some time around season one.
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or any of its characters. If you do would you be willing to lend them out for children's parties?
Chapter 1: Toshiko
Toshiko Santo crouched against the stone wall of her cell and thought about numbers. Words had started to loose meaning but the numbers remained.
159,427,384. The number of seconds she had been here. It was a guess. Her calculations were correct, working out the number of seconds in 5 years, 3 months, 2 days, 5 hours, 23 minutes and 4 seconds was simple mathematics even without a calculator or paper. The amount of time was a guess. They didn't tell her the date or time and they rubbed out any markings. Toshiko had kept it straight in her head for a few years but then she had got sick and she wasn't sure how many days she had been delirious. They wouldn't tell her. Well they might have, but she was too afraid to ask, they'd only lie.
923,443,200. The number of seconds she had left to stay here. The number of seconds she had left to live. There was no difference. Although her family had impressive longevity she thought she would only live into her early sixties. This place wasn't good for the constitution. She was noticing significant signs of muscle atrophy and her chest rattled with a cold that never quite went away.
17,493. The number of pounds that would be in her savings account now, as long as they hadn't frozen it. Determining the compound interest calculated daily at 4.21% p.a had kept her busy most of the morning. She was slowing. She used to be able to do sums like that over breakfast.
Toshiko Santo heard the sound starting again and flailed in her mind for a number. She found one. An imaginary number. The square root of negative one. Equations involving imaginary numbers flew through her head. It wasn't enough. They'd been there before and her mind couldn't hold them. The noise was louder more insistent. Sobbing was turning to howling. There was a new inmate. She wished they would stop. But this was just the first step in the sequence. There was no stopping the sequence. She knew what came next.
She heard the door of the adjacent cell opening. Calculate pi. 3.141592653589793... a thump... 238462643... a scream... 3832... a sickening thud and a squelch... 79... more screams... 5028841... laughter... 9... begging... 716939... more thumps... 93... quieter sobs... 75105... a thud and a crack... 8... another scream... 2097494459... silence... 2307816406... the door closing... 28... retreating footsteps... 62089986280... hitching breath and small whimpers... 3482534211706798214808651328230664709384460955058223.
For some this cycle happened again and again. But eventually there would be silence. After a while they all stopped crying. Eventually there was always silence.