Jack peered through the windscreen, the heavy rain wasn't making driving exactly easy! It had been a beautifully sunny day, then suddenly the heavens had darkened and rain began pelting the SUV so hard the droplets were bouncing noisily off the bonnet.
Toshiko sat in the passenger seat beside him, holding her PDA, hand twisted awkwardly as she attempted to get a descent amount of light on the screen so she could read her notes.
Glancing quickly towards her, he then checked his wing mirror, the distant headlights danced and blurred in the rain soaked glass.
"Do you think there was anything we could make use of?" He enquired. The conference had been practically useless for him, but he had noticed Toshiko showing an interest in various pieces of technology being showcased, making him hopeful that perhaps the trip hadn't been a total waste of time.
Shrugged and sighed, still trying to read the screen of her PDA. "Not really, most of it was just downgraded versions of what we already have and from what little they were saying, I don't think it would be that compatible with the hardware we're already running, most of the alien tech. definitely wouldn't like it."
"So, it was a waste of time?"
"Not entirely, I mean it's always useful to know what new systems are coming and I need to be sure that we can over ride them and they can't hack us... "
"You think we're still secure?"
Toshiko straightened up and glanced out of the side window. "Yes, I would say so, I mean things move pretty quickly these days, but I've not heard of anything that's even close to matching what we have."
Finally satisfied by her answer, Jack turned his full attention back to the atrocious driving conditions that surrounded them.
Toshiko stared out of the rain drenched window, the rhythmic sound of the windscreen wipers making her eyelids droop.
Suddenly something caught her attention, "What was that?" she asked, staring back the way they had come.
"What was what?" Jack asked absently, checking his rear view mirror briefly.
"There was a light, I'm sure..."
"Not around here, just hills and sheep, probably a reflection."
Toshiko shrugged, whatever it was, was long gone. Glancing through the windscreen she yawned then stared, the light was back again. "There," she yelled, pointing then twisting to look backwards as they passed.
Jack immediately checked each of his mirrors in turn. "There's nothing out there, can't be."
"Unless something has come through the rift," Toshiko glanced across at Jack nervously, "We would have heard something though wouldn't we?"
Jack steered the SUV onto the hard shoulder. "Well, I would hope so, but ..." He peered out of the side window, "You sure it was behind us and then here?"
"Yep, definitely, no doubt," she said, nodding positively and then waiting expectantly for Jack to decide what to do.
Jack glanced at the SatNav, "Okay, there's a turning coming up, we'll go take a look."
Toshiko brightened up immediately, "Right and I'll see if they've picked up anything at the Hub."
The road rapidly turned into little more than a rough trackway. Jack sighed as he fought the wheel for control, "Anything?" he demanded, bouncing up and down and trying to keep the SUV going in a straight line.
Clinging to the door handle with one hand, she tried to talk on her mobile without hitting herself on the side of the head with it. "Yep, okay, thanks Ianto... yeah if anything does crop up..."
"Nothing?"
"Nope," she sighed and ended the call.
Suddenly the light appeared directly in front of them, Jack stood on the brake and they skidded to a halt. "Where the hell did it go?" He demanded, peering out over the bonnet.
Tosh twisted around in her seat. "Maybe it went under and behind?" She suggested, trying to see if it was visible through the back window.
Jack glanced in his rear view mirror then the wing mirror, shaking his head, "Not as far as I can tell."
Rubbing her hand across her lips, she looked nervously at Jack, "So you saw it this time right? We couldn't have both imagined it?"
"There's definitely something down here." Nodding, he powered up the engine and they drove slowly forward. "If this damned rain would stop we might..."
He never got the chance to finish the sentence, almost as if it was listening to him the rain suddenly stopped completely. Glancing slightly sideways at Tosh he grimaced, "Convenient!"
Tosh bit her lip nervously, "Wasn't it just!" Then she suddenly yelled, "There," pointing to the right.
The SUV nudged forward a little faster, then Jack spotted a gap in the hedge and drove through it.
"Stop! Now " Toshiko yelled urgently and Jack immediately stood on the brakes once again.
Toshiko tapped her PDA and grimaced, "There's something... or at least I thought..."
"Okay," Jack drawled, pulled the hand brake and leaned back in his seat. "I think we've gone far enough, lets get the others out here with extra equipment."
Toshiko suddenly grumbled something in Japanese, then thumped the side of her mobile phone with the palm of her hand. Jack glanced over at her, then raised his eyebrows, "I take it that suddenly we're out of contact with the hub?" He commented, not sounding in the least bit surprised.
Nodding, Toshiko turned her phone off and then on again, hoping that perhaps whatever has passed them had disturbed the technology and simply restarting everything would solve the problem- it didn't!
"Okay, so we either sit her until they decide that maybe we need rescuing or we go take a look," Jack said, already reaching for the door handle.
"So, instead of them thinking we need rescuing, we're going to go out and see if we can actually manage to make it so we really will need to be?" Toshiko said, watching Jack pushing open the door.
"Yep, something like that. Might as well give them something to do." Peering around him, he walked towards the front of the SUV, trying to use the headlights to pick out a possible path.
"Here we go again," she mumbled under her breath, climbing down and slamming the door behind her. At least the headlights provided reasonable view of the ground in front of them.
Toshiko's mobile phone suddenly began to ring, relieved that it was finally working she answered it. "Hi Ianto. Think so. Jack wants you all out here. Don't know I'll ask." Moving the phone away, she looked over at Jack. "Ianto wants to know if he has to get Owen in?"
Jack considered the options for a moment, Owen was hardly going to be thrilled at being dragged out to look at a grass track. "No, just tell him to bring the back-up equipment out here stat. Not really anything for Owen to do out here yet- well apart from complaining about being dragged out here for nothing."
"Did you hear that? Good. Have you got the co-ordinates? Okay fine, see you in about half an hour?" Cancelling the call, she turned back towards Jack, he must have stepped outside of the light beam she thought, peering into the gloom and trying to pick out his outline. "Jack?" He didn't respond.
As suddenly as it had arrived, the darkness suddenly lifted, leaving Toshiko blinking in the bright sunlight that had replaced it. Where the hell had Jack gone?
Moving cautiously forward, still partially blinded by the sunlight, she suddenly felt as if she was walking on something soft, squinting down at her feet, she stared in surprise. Sand!
Jack was sitting on a rock, arms folded across his chest. "Hi. Welcome to... wherever!"
To be continued...