Torchwood/Dr Who
Chapter 1
Jack climbed into the driver's seat of the black SUV, he closed the door and poked his head out the window to find the rest of his team staring blankly at him. Their shocked faces were somewhat washed with relief now that they were rid of John Hart. Owen was the first to look a little more critical of the situation, not that Jack thought that was any different than usual, but oh, how he had missed them. He hid his content by being the cocky don't-take-any-crap kind of boss he usually was.
"Oi, are you lot coming? We've got a lot of work to do!" Jack turned to focus on starting up the car.
The rest of the group made their way into the car, forgetting about the other red convertible that was left in the car park, they had anonymously and silently all decided to deal with that later, if at all. Once all the doors were shut and everyone was strapped in and ready, Jack drove off heading for the familiar town centre. The traffic wasn't too bad and they were fairly close to the hub when Tosh made a small snuffled noise, a contrast to the previous silence.
"What is it?" Ianto, who was sitting next to her, leaned in to watch the screen she was holding.
"More rift activity, well a large surge of energy, I'm presuming it's rift activity, the quanto…" Tosh began but just as she was about to waffle on about some techno-babble, Gwen stopped her short with "Where is it coming from?"
Gwen was sitting in the front, she was used to taking control since Jack had left them and it was automatic for her to ask the questions, surprisingly this time Jack didn't even make a fuss. He was concentrating on the road ahead, but still intently listening to the conversation.
"I can triangulate the co-ordinates…" She trailed off again, but this time to her own accord, she did that every now and again, just stopped thinking aloud and instead talking in her head. "Ah, that's it. Bute Park, just off North Road."
"Right, let's go check it out then!" Jack said enthusiastically, a small grin forming on his face.
"Brilliant, just brilliant" Moaned Owen, "Clear up one mess, now we're right in the middle of another".
"Isn't that what Torchwood is?" Ianto's half sarcastic half desperate voice shut him up and they fell silent again as Jack sped up the car.
It didn't take them long to get there, in fact it was barely a few minutes, they were soon out of the car and wandering around the Park. Owen went with Tosh, Ianto with Gwen and Jack went by himself, despite much protest from the rest of the team that he might not come back.
It was still dark, the trees loomed over as the team searched for whatever fell through the rift. Owen was still a little grumpy; luckily Tosh was pre-occupied with trying to find the exact location of the opening in the rift.
Gwen and Ianto were a good team together, trying to get the job done, Ianto looked one way with gun out, and Gwen the other, also with a tight grip on her gun. They came into a small clearing and there, they saw a large rounded metal object, embedded into the ground. Gwen quickly pressed on her ear piece "We've found it".
"Right stay there, till I come" Came Jack's voice on the other side.
Gwen and Ianto, slowly moved forward, and they carefully circled the object, trying to determine what it was. Owen, Tosh and Jack quickly ran into the clearing and they all stopped when they saw what was in front of them.
"Everyone move back" Jack said slowly.
"Why, is it dangerous?" asked Ianto.
"Could be, I have no idea what it is…" Jack moved forward as he said this, trying to find an entrance to the metal object, it could be a small ship, or a piece of junk even, he hoped it wasn't, but it could even be a bomb.
Jack gently traced his hand along the metal till he found a little gap, where what seemed to be a door was slightly open, it had been damaged in the crash and looked like it was stuck with a corner folded back. Jack motioned for some help to try and open it. Ianto and Owen both came to help whilst Gwen pointed her gun at the entrance and Tosh used her alien tech to monitor it.
With a couple of large tugs from the three men the door fell off, it was clearly very damaged. Jack peered inside.
A little girl was curled up in the corner, metal was jutting out all around her and sparks were flying from the broken technology. She stared at Jack, tears were streaming down her face and her eyes displayed obvious fear.
"Hello there" Jack said, he smiled at the child "Come here, I wont hurt you, I'm just here to help, my name's Jack"
Jack held out his hand to the girl but she didn't even look at it, instead she was staring at his other hand, he looked down to see he was still holding his gun. He sighed and put the gun back in his belt "Put all guns away" Jack called back to his team "Nothing dangerous here!"
The girl was still curled up and refused to move, jack began to wonder if she understood what he was saying, after all the gun wasn't putting out a good message. He smiled again and this time held out both hands.
"I'm Jack, What's your name?" Jack said, he paused and then asked "Can you understand me?"
The girl stuttered a bit then replied "Arianna". That was all she said.
"Is your name Arianna?" Jack asked just to be absolutely sure she could understand, and that wasn't some different alien language. But the girl nodded in reply.
"I'm here to help you, come on take my hand, let's get you out of this" Jack tried to sound comforting.
The girl paused for a few minutes, obviously debating her options, stay and get hurt whilst her ship fell apart or go with this strange man to wherever he was about to take her. Deciding that she was safer out of this self destructing cell she gingerly took his hand and he pulled her out into the clearing.
The rest of the team gasped in shock, they were expecting a large goo-y monster with lots of tentacles carrying a big threatening space-gun. But this was a little girl, what's more she looked human, perhaps 5 or 6, in fact she looked so human they each separately concluded in their heads she must be human. But Jack knew better, she was either a human from the future or an alien in human form. It was never that simple.
"Everyone, this is Arianna" Jack announced looking at each of them in turn with a 'don't scare her' sort of look. "We're going to take her back to the hub and make sure she's not hurt, okay?"
They all nodded and Gwen walked slowly forward, she was always the most caring of the group. But as Gwen approached, the little girl clutched to Jack, unaware of what was happening.
"Whoa, it's alright hunnie, I'm not going to hurt you" Gwen smiled "My name's Gwen"
The girl still clutched to Jack.
"Come on, we can do the talking and asking questions later, let's just get her to the hub" Jack said.
Gwen held out her hand for the girl to take but she just looked at Gwen, unsure what to do. With a little encouragement from Jack the girl managed to trust Gwen enough to hold her hand to the car and sit on her lap once they were inside. Gwen put her protective arms around the girl to help her feel a little more secure as they travelled back to the hub.
Once they were inside, Gwen and Jack took the girl, not into the usual threatening interrogation room but to Jack's office, where it looked more comfortable. Since she was only a child, they decided the best approach was the sensitive one.
Gwen put a cardigan around the girl's shoulder's to keep her warm and sat beside her on the bench. Jack took a chair and sat in front of them.
"Where am I?" The girl asked quietly, she had obviously relaxed since their meeting in the woods.
Jack smiled "You're in Torchwood"
"Is that a Planet?" She asked in confusion.
"No, no, this planet is Earth"
"Oh" The girl sighed "I've never been here before"
"Well now you have" Jack grinned "So, your ship crashed and you're here by accident?"
"It's not a ship" Arianna replied "It's an escape pod"
"Right, why are you here alone?" He enquired softly.
"My mother sent me away, she said I had to"
"And why was that?" Gwen asked, her first input in the conversation.
"She said it was too dangerous, that I had to go"
"And why was it too dangerous?" Jack asked, feeling like he was getting somewhere.
"The war of course" Arianna paused "The Daleks were getting closer, stronger"
Jack's eyes widened. He tried to find words but failed. This girl, she knew about the Daleks, but what war? He tried to rationalise his thinking, of course the Daleks were in lots of wars but still, what planet? What race were they fighting, how did this girl, Arianna, come into contact with them, so much so that her mother sent her away?
"You're not human are you?" Jack said quietly after some time of silence.
"No" Arianna said simply.
"You look human" Gwen said quietly
"No, you look Time Lord" Said Arianna, a small amount of confidence returning to the girl as if she were reminiscing on something "We came first."
This took Jack by even more surprise, he laughed and got out of the chair, walked around a bit and then sat down.
"Time Lord?" Questioned Gwen, but Jack was too happy to answer her questions, he was beaming. A Time Lord, he had found another Time Lord, he seemed to be attracting Time Lords at the moment, what with his recent journey with The Doctor and now this little Time Lord… Wait. Jack was putting the pieces together in his head. Surely this girl would know The Doctor, I mean he was quite a famous Time Lord wasn't he, The Master knew him. Jack checked himself; he didn't want to think about The Master. But The Doctor. That was a good question.
"Gwen, can I have a few moments alone with Arianna, meanwhile do you think you could get her a hot chocolate or something?" Jack murmured, trying to contain his excitement.
"Aren't you going to explain about this Time Lord thing, you obviously know something" Gwen stared at him, observing his bizarre reaction to Arianna's statement. "She's an alien right?"
"Yes Gwen she is, and I need to have a little chat with her, now please can you get her a hot chocolate?" Jack said still grinning.
"Okay" Gwen sighed as she walked out the room, only to be met with the faces of Owen, Tosh and Ianto. She shut the door and motioned for them to follow her as she went to get the drink, on the way she told them what had just happened.
Once they were out of the room, Jack turned to Arianna again still beaming.
"I know there's lots of Time Lord's, but, by any chance do you know The Doctor?"
This time it was Arianna's turn to be shocked, her eyes widened at first with surprise and then with delight. "You know him, have you seen him, where is he? Does he know I'm here?"
"Woah, woah, woah" Jack laughed, "I have seen him recently yes, I do know him, and no he doesn't know you're here, but how do you know him?"
"He's my father" Arianna said with glee "Can I see him?"
"Ok…" Jack stammered, he didn't see that one coming. Usually he wouldn't be so quick to believe someone, but what reason did Arianna have to lie to him. "Wow, erm, I'll see if I can get hold of him in a minute, just wait one minute, Arianna"
Jack smiled then raced out of the office and down to Owen's medical room, there was one way he could be sure she was a Time Lord. He pulled out a stethoscope and raced back up to his office. He didn't know that The Doctor had children, and there was no way to prove that was true until he talked to him, but if he could be sure she was a Time Lord, then it was most definitely certain that she was his daughter.
Jack entered the office again, this time to find Arianna smiling, he knew she trusted him now; it was enough for her to know that he knew her father. Besides she had been treated well so far, she had no reason to be scared of Jack.
"Right" said Jack, "Just want to check you're okay," that was a complete lie, he wanted to see if she was a Time Lord, perhaps she knew that too.
"Alright, but I feel fine" Arianna said and Jack placed the pieces in his ears and lightly pressed the stethoscope to the left side of her chest, where you would normally find the heart, and as he expected there was a steady beat, then he moved it to the right side of her chest, and listened intently.
There it was, the second heart pumping away, now, in his mind there was no doubt she was a Time Lord, and he believed everything that she had said. Indeed she did strangely seem an awful lot like the Doctor.
"Arianna," He smiled "I'm going to try and call your father, then, I'm going to show you around, you're going to love this".
Arianna just smiled.
Jack went to his desk and dialled the TARDIS' number, it rang and rang, but there was no answer. He paused and tried again, but still no answer. Well this was The Doctor, after all, and he was notoriously hard to contact. He turned and smiled at the little Time Lord sitting on his bench, swinging her legs.
"He won't pick up the phone, but don't worry sweetie" He soothed as he picked her up. She put her arms around his shoulders and looked at him curiously. "Uncle Jack's going to look after you for as long as you need, and we will find your Dad".
Arianna sighed and placed her head on Jack's shoulder, she trusted him now, he knew her dad and he was going to look after her, she just wished that her father was there to comfort her after everything that had happened. But she knew she had to be strong, she couldn't disappoint her Dad, and she was determined to find him.
"Thank you Jack"
"Thank you Uncle Jack" He replied with a laugh, she laughed gently too "Okay Uncle Jack then" She paused then looked at him "How do you know my dad anyway?"
Jack smiled and began telling her stories of his adventures with The Doctor whilst carrying her down to the room that contained all the alien tech that Torchwood didn't understand.
"Let's have some fun shall we" Jack said finally after the brief recollection of his journeys, "I bet you can tell me what most of this stuff is."
"Of course I can, my Dad taught me a lot you know" Arianna giggled, just as Gwen walked in with the hot chocolate.
"Well you too bonded fast" She smiled.
"We have quite a few things in common" Said Jack, placing Arianna gently on the ground, "And luckily for Torchwood, we've landed ourselves with an alien expert."
"Fantastic" Gwen said whilst clearing a gap in all the alien technology and resting the hot chocolate on the table.
"By the way Gwen, Arianna's going to be staying for a little while, until we can get hold of her Dad, so can you just let the other's know?" Jack asked, watching as Arianna inspected a rectangular device.
"Of course, is it alright Jack, if I go now, I should get back to Rhys?"
"Oh yes, sorry, of course, everyone can go if they want, I'll take care of things here and look after this little one" Jack grinned
"I'm a lot older than I look you know" Arianna murmured, still fiddling with the device.
Gwen's eye brows rose, not from what Arianna said, she was used to alien's being different than they looked, but the fact that Jack was letting a child play around with the device, for all they knew it could be dangerous.
"Right, well I better be going, see you tomorrow Jack, bye Arianna!" Gwen waved as she walked out the room. Although not long after she had walked out the other's walked in.
"Jack? What's going on?" Owen asked.
Jack smiled and leaned against the table, he was about to say something but Arianna suddenly said "Yes!" and she did a sort of hop. Jack noted to himself, that was something The Doctor would do. "You've figured it out?" Jack asked curiously.
"It's a Loigrane sub-dimensional currency integrator" Arianna smiled.
Jack gave her a look that clearly said – in English please.
Arianna sighed "Humans" she then took a breath "It triangulates your current position calculates the dimension in time and formulates the correct form of currency for that exact co-ordinate in space and time"
Again Jack just looked at her, bewildered.
"It's a currency converter"
"Ooooh" Jack grinned, "Brilliant, we can add to the room with all the things that we know how to use are."
Jack took the Loigrane sub-dimensional currency integrator and tossed it to Ianto, who still in shock; barely caught it.
"Place that in room 45 will you please?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded silently and made his way out of the room.
Jack passed Arianna her hot chocolate and smiled again "Well done, I have a feeling you're going to fit in just fine around here."
Owen and Tosh still looked amazed. How did she do that?
"Erm, Jack? Who exactly is she?" Owen asked. Tosh was still too shocked to reply. She was the one who dealt with alien tech, if she didn't know what things were, then no-one did. Maybe this girl was going to put her out of a job? Tosh pushed that thought from her mind, she was just a little girl, probably not even human, besides she did other things in Torchwood than just alien tech.
"This is Arianna, she is a Time Lord and she's staying with us for a while until we can get hold of her father". Jack explained as Ianto returned.
"And you know her father then?" Ianto queried.
"Yes, but he won't answer, he's quite a busy man you see, but that's alright, until then she's going to help us. After all the Time Lords are much more advanced in technology and science and well pretty much everything, compared to us humans anyway" Jack said grinning again.
"You're not that bad" Arianna said giving Jack a friendly poke.
"Yes but you're very clever, I bet, even though you look about human age 5, you know as much as about an university student?" Jack asked
"I don't know, what sort of things do you learn in university?" Arianna asked.
"Well, do you know about string theory?" Tosh asked.
"She's a kid, she's not going to know about string theory, I don't know about string theory, other than it's a theory" Owen laughed.
"Well isn't string theory a developing theory of quantum mechanics and general relativity. The strings of string theory are one-dimensional oscillating lines, but they are no longer considered fundamental to the theory, which can be formulated in terms of points or surfaces too." Arianna paused "But then since its inception as the dual resonance model which described the strongly interacting hadrons as strings…"
But Owen cut her off "How is that possible?"
"Told you she was clever, in comparison with humans, it's quite normal amongst her race, you should meet her Dad, she talks exactly like him" Jack smiled and picked Arianna up. She put her arms around his neck.
"Anyway, bed time for you missy" Jack said whilst carrying Arianna out the room.
"I have a bed?" she asked.
"Yes, here's a spare room, it looks a bit boring at the moment, but tomorrow we'll sort things out, I promise" Jack smiled gently.
He put her down on the bed and she crawled in.
"Good night Uncle Jack"
"Good night Arianna" He smiled and kissed her fore-head.
"I miss my Mum and Dad" She sighed and closed her eyes.
"Well you can dream about them now and we'll find your Dad soon" Jack sighed, he didn't even want to ask what happened to her mother, he knew what that the sad tone she used when she was talking about the Daleks meant. He doubted she'd see her mother again. But there was hope for her Dad yet.
Jack promised himself and Arianna, that he'd look after her until they found The Doctor; he owed that to The Doctor at the very least.
Jack dismissed the rest of his stunned team and made his way to bed. He liked sleeping in the hub, then he could always be sure of what was going on, but this time he had a reason to.
