Here is a sort-of-sequel to Buried, tho you don't have to read that first, it just makes sense to! ;)

Temporarily at least, this is now called 'Frozen'- sequel to 'Buried'


Frozen

Torchwood Hub, Cardiff 1901

Emily was working late. With two operatives in London, there was a lot of paperwork to keep up to date- and there was all that boring filing too. But dear Emily had an ulterior motive for staying late tonight; there was a new signal showing up on their machines and she was determined to track it.

How long since you first discovered it?" A Torchwood operative enquired.

"Three days now," Emily replied, "Just the one signal, regular as clockwork," she paused, her dark eyes dancing; "But I haven't told you the best bit: I can track it to a physical location," she drawled casually, leaning back on her arms.

In an open space on the outskirts of Cardiff

"It's here," Emily exclaimed, excitedly leading the way. "Twenty feet down, but it's definitely here;" she stopped when the large box-shaped machine hanging by a strap round her neck crackled wildly, the needle flaring at the signal beneath the ground.

"Start digging!"

A few hours later Jack's mind was swimming; as he struggled on the brink of death, he realised that the pressure on his chest was slowly being released. Before any further thought could reach him however, he slipped away into death once more.

The next time our Captain gave an involuntary gasp as he came to life, his lungs actually filled with air! He had gone so long with out it that he promptly choked, throwing up on the ground before him. He could barely move and was not aware of his audience until they spoke.

xxxxx

"Please," Jack begged, "Can we just stop with the questions?"

Emily and another operative whom he could not remember the name of had half dragged, half carried him back to the hub. She hadn't stopped asking him questions since.

Jack had been starved of oxygen for so long now, that when they found him he could barely move and had just lain there coughing up his guts; helpless. Now that they thought he had sufficiently recovered, Emily wanted her answers.

When he'd gone off to London with Harriet in 1901, he had been away for just over a fortnight. Emily reasoned he had until he past self returned to Cardiff, to recover- and prepare for his next ordeal.

At least this time he couldn't wake up choking; mouth full of dirt, lungs burning for oxygen that didn't exist, he reasoned. He had asked to be frozen, that would be the safest thing to do; that way he stood no chance of meeting himself and he wouldn't have to suffer, buried underground for another 107 years. Jack knew he would never willingly go through that ordeal again.

He helped to set the timer that would release him from the chamber when the right time came, keeping him frozen and locked away from himself and others until after he disappeared with John in his own time.

When Jack reached the drawer that was to be his home for the next 100 odd years, he was not expecting the overwhelming fear that suddenly gripped him. The space was small. Too small. It was too much like looking at that grave again. And Jack panicked.

He didn't want to do this! He couldn't- he wasn't ready. Jack quickly backed away, gasping for air; his eyes wide with pure fear, his body breaking into a terrified sweat. He stumbled, tripping over his own hastily retreating feet and landing flat on his back where he began to thrash wildly.

Emily's accomplice, who until now had been little more than a shadow, knelt beside Jack's writhing body. Muttering a quiet, heartfelt apology he held a drugged cloth over Jack's mouth and nose, forcing him to breathe the toxic chemical.

The drug on the cloth soon slowed his now feeble struggles to a halt, as the Captain's vision blurred, going grey around the edges before everything faded to black.


Okay- hope you like... As you might have noticed, it has no title, so if you would review and or make suggestions for a title it would all be appreciated!

That's All Folks!

Sept. 2008