Dark purple streaks painted through the blue sky, fading into a scarlet red. The orb of the sun faded beneath the horizon of the Cardiff sky. People went about their daily lives, doing a bit of late evening shopping. A chill breeze swept through the almost silent streets.
A single man broke the comfort and ease of the evening. A handsome man, seemingly in his early thirties, dashed through the streets, long coat waving in the wind behind him and a gun attached to his waist. In his hands, he held some kind of a device, what could have been a tablet but seemed a little too steam punk. As the man ran, he looked down at this screen and it's unusual readings.
The readings fluctuated and the man halted, glancing around before dashing through a deserted ally way. He skidded around the corner, down the next street, chasing whatever it was his device was picking up. Then the screen went blank, all the readings faded. The man stopped, almost tripping over himself. He jabbed at the screen, flipped the device over and toggled all the switches. Nothing.
Static pierced through his earpiece, and then a female's voice. "Jack? Jack what's going on out there?"
The man, Jack, pressed the button on his earpiece. "I don't know. The scanner just stopped working. What are the readings on your end?"
"Everything just...stopped." The woman spoke again, through static.
"What do you mean stopped?" Jack spoke, accent obviously American. When a response didn't come fast enough, he groaned. "Martha! What do you mean stopped!"
Static, and another click. "It just...it stopped, Jack. All the scanners, the computers, even the lights. It all just...shut off."
"That's impossible." Jack rolled his eyes. "The back up generators would kick in."
"Well, they haven't." Martha responded, sass in her voice.
Jack groaned. "I was chasing the energy spike through the city, my scanner just went off."
"Like the systems here, yeah?" Martha responded.
Jack cursed, kicking the nearest wall. "Alright. I'm not going to be any good out here. I'll come back to Torchwood and we'll get the power back up and try again."
A long way away, universes away, a young woman stood with her mother and a man. In the heart of a star, planets away from home. Tears welled up in her eyes.
"But Mum." Her voice broke. "I don't want to go..."
Gentle hands cupped her cheeks. "Oh, darling. My darling daughter. You must. You've got to warn them. We can't save this world, but the fate of his rests in you." Her mother was crying.
The girl smiled softly, taking her mother's hands in her own. "But what about you? And Him?" She motioned to the man, flipping switches at the dashboard. The engines whined, strained.
"We have each other. That was more than enough." Her mother told her. "Don't worry about us, Jess. Just do...do one thing, alright? When you get there."
"Anything, Mum." the tears fell down her cheeks in silent trails.
Her mother looked to the man she loved, then back to her daughter. "You find the Doctor." Her voice broke with a sob. "You find him and you stay with him, alright? No matter what, even if he's different. You listen to the Doctor and you stay with him. Promise me, you'll stay with him."
"I promise, Mum." She took her mother into her arms, hugging her tightly. "I promise."
Jack slammed the lever down, the loud ringing resounding through the base. The lights flickered and he ran to another machine and flipped some dials on that.
"Micky, what's it reading now?" He called out.
Micky typed away furiously at his computer. "We're getting alpha waves and Beta radiation flooding the rift, Jack."
"Jack!" Martha interrupted, slamming through the door. "Jack, you've got to come with me! You've got to see this!"
"Not right now, Martha!" Jack continuously flitted across the room, moving levers and hitting switches and changing dials on screens.
"Jack, the Rift!" Martha almost screamed at him, over the sounds of the sirens.
Jack finally looked up at her. "Fine, I'm coming."
He turned to look at Gwen, ordering her to take over and help out Mickey. He followed Martha out of the building, chasing her down the street.
"Where are we going?" he yelled at her as they ran.
She glanced over at him. "It's just around the corner, hurry!"
They skidded around a building and stumbled to a halt, right in front of the anomaly. Jack's eyes widened, excitement on his face as he saw.
"What is it, Jack?" there was fear in Martha's voice.
Jack took her hand and pulled her close to him, staring at the road in front of them. "I don't know."
A ripple in space, hanging in mid-air, like the surface of a lake making waves in the atmosphere.
"It looks...like a door." Martha stepped closer, looking at it closer.
Her phone rang suddenly and she answered. "Mickey, what's going on?"
"Energy spikes." His voice was loud over the sound of sirens in the background, more than before. The breaking of open electric wires. "They're coming from all over, converging on the rift. Where are you?"
Martha looked around, "Just around the corner, near Brookstones Market and the 7/11."
"Martha." Mickey's voice turned serious. "That's the converging point."
"What does that mean, Mickey?" Jack grabbed the phone from her, holding it to his own ear. "What's converging?"
"Jack, something's coming through. And it's going to land right where you are." The phone went dead, nothing but static.
Jack handed it back to Martha, who pocketed it. Her grip tightened on Jack's hand and they stood, Jack's hand on his gun. Martha's tightened into a fist.
The ground shook beneath their feet and the anomaly swam before them, then something like a shock blasted through it, a great yellow light, shining like the brightness of a million suns, and the sound of the universe. Then it was gone.
Jack and Martha opened their eyes, moving their hands from their faces, lifted to block the light. The simmer in the surface of reality had disappeared, leaving in it's place a girl. Blonde, seemingly human, deep blue eyes. Unnervingly pretty. She wore a tattered white dress and the remnants of a brown coat, burned to around her knees, one sleeve missing, a little too large. Hair a bit of a mess, covered in ash. The light seemed to rise off her like steam, leaving her.
"Who are you?" Martha asked, voice cautious.
The girl looked at the two of them. She looked around, at her hands, at her feet, at the world surrounding them. Then at Jack Harkness.
"Hello, Dad." She smiled.
Martha and Jack shared a look, and then back to the girl.
"Excuse me?" Martha spoke. "Dad? How is Jack your dad?"
The girl smiled, an odd sort of smile. Like she knew too much, Jack thought. But his daughter?
He glanced at Martha. "Well, it's not that hard of a leap to make."
Martha shot Jack a look. "You actually mean you've got a daughter?"
"Probably have a dozen kids out there I don't know about." He said, almost joking.
Martha shot him a glare and then looked at the girl. "Alright, what's your name, then?"
"Jess." The girl spoke. "And I have to find the Doctor."