Jack marched through the side entrance of Torchwood three, glancing, briefly, towards the rolling door, with the metal gates firmly closed in front of it. He paused, then turned, waiting for the others to catch up with him.
The hub was quiet, no constant clicking from her keyboard, as Toshiko worked away on some programme or other. His gaze wandered reluctantly towards her workstation, the chair was tucked neatly out of the way, the desk top was uncluttered. Blue and white images, generated by the computer, swirled idly across the bank of monitors.
There was no familiar sound of swearing, echoing around the walls of the autopsy room, jumbled up with rhythmic, metallic tapping, as Owen Harper idly knocked a scalpel against the edge of the autopsy table. No random humming and mumbling to himself, as he worked.
Jack stood, engulfed by the silence. The worst part of all this, the familiar footsteps that he found himself listening for, their sound would never come back- lost with their owners. They would be pushed into the lumber room of his memories, along with all the others, where they would fade away.
He closed his eyes, how many more? He wondered vaguely, how many more before...
The sound of someone approaching, echoed down the corridor, bringing his thoughts back to the here and now. Jack gulped, and took a deep breath, time to start all over again.
Martha appeared in the doorway and smiled at him, "Sorry about that... that security door never liked me when I was here before!"
"If you ask me, the whole lot needs binning-it's ancient!" Mickey grumbled, clearly peeved that a little box on the wall had seen fit to refuse him access to where he wanted to go. "And how old is that!" he enquired, flipping the casing of the red warning light with his finger.
Jack smirked, "I take it, it wouldn't let him in either?"
Martha shook her head and laughed, "Well, it eventually saw the light, and let me in. It was his own fault, he would insist on checking that his swipe card worked as well as mine."
Mickey puffed out his cheeks and shrugged, "There's definitely something wrong with your system-needs a complete overhaul," he grumbled, the embarrassment of being stuck outside the door, and eventually having to let Martha use her swipe card to let him in, still fresh in his mind.
Jack and Martha exchanged amused glances, "I wouldn't say that too loudly if I were you, it might not like it," Jack said, shaking his head.
"It's a computer system," Mickey said, wearily, "Inanimate object," he added, fed up of people who insisted on giving machinery a personality.
"That's what Owen said, when it refused to give him his swipe card back," Jack laughed, "He should never have hit it with that crowbar!"
Martha winced, then mouthed the words "Crowbar?" at Jack, who nodded and smirked.
"He ended up having to use the Tourist Information entrance for the best part of a week! 'course the lift was fine- until he swore at it... then it kept stopping between floors!" Jack shook his head, laughing at the memory of Owen, arriving red faced and bruised, from constantly colliding with the rough metal panels of the lift walls.
"I take it, he decided to use the stairs after that?" Martha asked, then raised her eyebrows enquiringly, "Or did it have other ideas?"
Jack grinned back at her, "How did you guess? I prefer to think that the light going out, when he was coming down the stairs, was due to dodgy wiring."
"Was he alright?" She asked, concerned.
Jack nodded, "You know Owen, he bounces very well," he said, laughing, "I took him to X-ray, he demanded more lead shielding than all the Apollo rockets put together."
"You know what us doctors are like, when we need a hospital," Martha murmured, glancing around the floor of the hub.
"He could have survived a nuclear..." Jack's smile vanished, blinking rapidly, he turned away from her, the realisation of what he had just said, suddenly hitting home.
Martha touched Jack's arm lightly, then looked desperately towards Mickey. Clearly taking the hint from Martha, that a change of subject was needed, Mickey announced loudly, "Blimey! You weren't kidding . This place is weird."
Jack took a rather shaky breath, straightened his back, then marched purposefully towards the steps, turned back to face them, he grinned as cheerfully as he could, then announced, "Welcome to the hub."
"Bit old fashioned," Mickey murmured, staring at the rolling door, "Made in Wales," he read out from a metal plate attached to the centre of it. "Where does that go to?" he enquired, nodding in its general direction.
"Up top, there's a lift and emergency stairs," Jack told him.
Martha looked around her, "Could be worse, " she glanced across at Jack.
Jack nodded, "Yep," he murmured, sighed and forcing himself to smile back at her added, "Gwen should be around here somewhere."
"Hello," he yelled, his voice echoing around them, "Anybody home?" When no one answered, Jack shrugged, "Apparently not!" Then laughed, as a high pitched scream filled the air.
Mickey ducked instinctively, as something dived towards him, screaming excitedly, "What the..."he yelled, cowering against the gates, arms around his head, then hearing Martha laugh, he realised he had over reacted somewhat, and stood up, glancing nervously towards the ceiling.
Pointing upwards, he mouthed the words, "What was that?"
"Pterodactyl," the other two said in unison.
"Yeah, course it was, I'll believe you... millions wouldn't," Mickey grumbled to himself.
"I think maybe it's time we got a little work done?" Jack said, cheerfully, climbing the steps to the platform, "This way, lady and gentleman."
"Looks like this one is up and running," Jack said, peering at the workstation that had once been used by Toshiko, then looking towards Mickey, added, "Why don't you make a start here, then check out the others later?"
Mickey nodded, pulled off his jacket and dumped it over the back of the chair, then turned his attention to the keyboard and the bank of screens surrounding it.
"I suppose I should go and check out the autopsy room," Martha said, looking sadly at Jack, who nodded, and turned away.
"Martha!" Gwen rushed towards her, delighted to see her again.
Martha turned and smiled, the two hugging each other, "How are you?" she asked, concerned.
Gwen look a deep breath then shrugged, "Okay, I suppose, the Daleks did us a favour, in a funny kind of a way," she murmured. "We came out fighting... had to," she added.
Martha nodded, "I know what you mean!"
"So," Gwen sighed, "You're our new doctor?"
Martha hesitated, "Temporarily."
Gwen looked surprised, "Oh? I thought..." She glanced towards Jack's retreating back, but didn't call out to him, instead she looked back at Martha.
"Who's he?" Gwen murmured, nodding towards Mickey.
Martha smiled, "That, is Mickey," she said, then yelled across to him, "Mickey, this is Gwen."
Mickey looked vaguely in her direction, waved his hand briefly and then looked back at the monitor in front of him, transfixed by what he was watching.
The two women laughed, "Give him a couple of days and he'll suddenly start complaining because you haven't been introduced," Martha said, shaking her head, "Men!"
"Tell me about it!" Gwen replied, shaking her head and looking up at the ceiling.
They walked together to the top of the autopsy steps, Gwen stopped on the landing, and watched as Martha went down into the work area.
Stopping at the end of the autopsy table, Martha touched it absently, she sighed, then looked up at Gwen.
"It's funny, I didn't know him for very long, but all this still feels like his!"
Gwen folded her arms tightly across her chest, "I still keep expecting to see him in here," she murmured, "Same with Tosh, out there," she nodded towards the work stations behind her. "Every time something doesn't seem to be working..." Her voice trailed away.
"How's Ianto?"
Gwen shrugged, "Alright- I think. It's not always easy to tell, " she paused, biting her lip, "He should be back soon," she added, not looking at Martha.
Martha nodded, "Considering everything... maybe it would be best to start with a medical?" She glanced enquiringly up at Gwen, who looked relieved that she hadn't had to go into too much detail about him.
. . . .
Mickey was just about to relax, satisfied that he had checked what seemed to be the most important files, when an alert box flashed up, closely followed by the sound of a high decibel alarm.
Jack sprinted out of his office, and Gwen almost collided with him as she ran from the autopsy landing.
Mickey turned towards them, his hands in the air. "What the hell is that?" he demanded, then moved back to the keyboard, hit a selection of keys, swore and then looked at Jack. "It's locking me out," he wailed in frustration.
"It's okay, " he looked towards Gwen,"It's the Torchwood four alert."
"What's Torchwood four?" Mickey asked, still trying to access the alert information.
"Long story, basically it disappeared!" Jack commented, trying to see how much information was being displayed. Pushing Mickey to one side, he input his personal access codes,"This needs me to deal with it... sorry."
Mickey looked puzzled, "How come?"
Jack shrugged, "It's for everyone's peace of mind," he said, evasively.
"I usually have access to everything," Mickey said, pointedly, looking at Jack, obviously expecting him to agree.
"Not here," he replied, looking straight back at him, and leaving Mickey in no doubt, that he would only get to see what Jack gave him clearance for.
Mickey shrugged off Jack's comments, but his expression clearly showed his determination to crack the system, and get full access, with or without Jack's approval.
Jack cancelled the alert, then turned to Gwen. "I think maybe we should go take a look... Ianto shouldn't be long, you'll be okay 'til he gets back?" he asked, turning towards Mickey, who nodded vaguely, his interest clearly focused on the computer.
"Come on, we'll go and see what's happening," Jack paused, then yelled, "Martha... we've got to go out and check on something, you okay down there?"
Martha's voice echoed up towards them, "Yeah, fine, see you later."
Leaning towards the keyboard, Jack hit several keys, "Right, that should send the information to the SUV, Mickey... when it updates, can you patch it through?"
"Yep, no problem," Mickey confirmed, taking over the keyboard.
Jack headed across the hub, "Gwen, where are you?" he yelled, breaking into a trot.
"Coming," she responded, grabbing her coat from the hook, and following him towards the garage.
. . . .
Jack steered the SUV into the curb and looked across at Gwen, watching as she attempted to access information from the tiny computer that she held in her hand.
"Anything?" he enquired, not feeling all that hopeful.
Gwen shook her head, "Not much, the signals all over the place, it keeps trying to update, then it..." she sighed, then stared at it, "Hang on..."
Jack's eyebrows raised slightly, "Well?" he asked.
"Hang on... A465," she said, waiting for the map to update, "And we're heading for a place called... Llancillo, although..." she paused and held the small computer towards Jack, so he could see what was displayed on it's screen.
"I hope your going to tell me that line is a road?" Jack said, peering at it, not entirely convinced.
"Oh yes- definitely,"Gwen confirmed, nodding her head enthusiastically, then peering nervously at the screen, she murmured, "Probably."
Jack sighed, glanced at a nearby road sign then back at the readout, "Well one of them has to be right... I hope!" He murmured, as he drove the SUV back onto the road and hit the accelerator.
Gwen glanced at the speedometer, "Erm, I don't like to worry you but..."
Before she had time to finish, Jack hit a button on the dashboard, blue strobing lights, flashed around the windscreen, and an alarm wailed loudly.
"Torchwood four probably won't be around for very long, we could already be too late, " he said, twisting in his seat as he attempted to change lanes. "Move, dammit," he growled, hurtling up to the car in front and then thumping the horn.
The car moved reluctantly out of his way.
"Finally!" Grumbled Jack, then accelerated hard and raced the engine of the SUV, leaving all the traffic in his wake.
. . . .
Gwen and Jack stood together in a narrow country lane, ditches on either side of them, Gwen had turned her computer off minutes before, when it had finally refused to display anything at all.
She watched Jack as he paced up and down, getting more and more frustrated at the loss of the signal from Torchwood four.
"Damn it!" Jack spun around, trying to get a clear signal from his wrist strap, "Too much interference... must be the leyline."
"Thought those things were supposed to be a fantasy," Gwen said, surprised.
"Nope, they're a weak magnetic current most of the time, just guidance really, but it looks like all the planetary movement has created a problem," he sighed and gave up, the chances of getting any usable information from it, were non existent!
Gwen looked down into a ditch at the side of the road, there was a pile of paper under what looked like a filing cabinet drawer.
"Some people will dump stuff anywhere," she murmured, then stared, a logo on the top of one of the pieces of paper seemed familiar! "Jack!" she yelled jumping down into the ditch.
Jack turned, then sighed, "What have you dropped?" He grumbled.
Gwen straightened up, waving one of the sheets of paper at him, then said, "Nothing, as matter of fact... this familiar?"
Jack stared at the letterhead, with it's honeycombed 'T', and a large number in the background, "Torchwood four!"
"Yep," Gwen reached up, waiting for him to grab her hand and haul her back out of the ditch.
"Looks like were definitely in the right place," Jack murmured looking around him, "If they had to reappear anywhere I suppose this would be as good a place as any-doubt if anyone would notice."
Gwen wondered up the road, then stared at something, "Well someone must come up here, there's a church!"
Jack caught her up, and they pushed open the gate to the church yard. "Would've thought the only congregation they'd get up here would be sheep!" he murmured, all he could see for miles around were fields.
"Well, well, Captain Jack Harkness, what a pleasant surprise!" A familiar voice suddenly announced from behind them.
to be continued...