"Well. That was damn close."
"Sir?" Ianto questioned, setting a cup of coffee on Jack's desk.
"Nothing. Never mind. Just got a report from NASA on the Jupiter assist. The probe nearly didn't pick up the gravity they hoped. Actually… I didn't say this, but…," Jack lowered his voice, "I think it got a little more help than Jupiter's gravity. Anyway, like I said, nothing. Just kinda cool space history."
"Is that the Pluto study mission, sir?"
"Yeah."
"That's incredible, though, isn't it? A real 'giant leap', as it were. We'll be flying out there one day. People, I mean."
"Yep," Jack said, somewhat wistfully.
"Wonder if we'll be here to see the upshot."
Jack sighed. "Well, it'll be about 8 more years before the… uh… the scheduled fly-by."
"Bit of a slim chance around here, in other words," Ianto said doubtfully.
Jack finally looked up from the monitor at Ianto. "Don't say that," he said seriously, reaching for Ianto's hand.
"Yan! Look!"
Ianto set a cup of coffee on the table beside Jack's porch chair and maneuvered behind him to see what Jack had up on the tablet.
"New Horizons images? Wow. That's incredible."
"This is the first time humans have reached the edge of the solar system with this visual clarity… vicariously, anyway," Jack said softly. "Exceptional moment in linear history."
"Oh, I don't know. I've been out there," Ianto smirked.
Jack finally pulled his attention from the images of Pluto to look up at Ianto. "Yeah, but you're Ianto Jones-Harkness, no ordinary human," he said teasingly, reaching for Ianto's hand.
