Author notes: Written for Fan-Flashworks Challenge 58 - Backward
It turned out that a kinetic temporal reversal was a dangerous thing.
Somehow time was not going backwards, but everything was moving backwards through a forward moving temporal space. Everything, that is, except for Team Torchwood.
Somehow they'd been at the epicentre when the reversal had happened, so that everything and everyone around them starting moving backwards.
At first it hadn't seemed like the world was ending but more and more as the day grew on they were realising that they needed to fix things, and fast.
Owen and Gwen had been sent out to capture a wayward weevil but it turned out that it wasn't so easy trying to chase down a weevil through the middle of the city centre when it was running backwards. Everytime they tried to dodge people who got in their way they ended up crashing into them instead. They were used to anticipating where people would move based on them going forward, not backwards.
In the end it was sheer luck that they'd managed to corner the weevil and apprehend it.
Meanwhile on the other side of the city Jack, Tosh and Ianto had been caught up in a firefight between two blowfish who were both intent on defending this particular patch of the city as their own. At least that's what they thought they were arguing about. It was all rather hard to translate what they were saying when it was all backwards.
They hadn't realised just how dangerous their situation was until Jack was forced to fire on one of them. The bullet fired, but a split second after it left the gun it changed course completely, switching back round at the speed of light, trying to correct it's path and hitting Jack straight on, killing him instantly.
Tosh screamed involuntarily. It was just so unexpected.
Luckily for them it was Jack. If either of them had been the first to fire, they'd have been making a one way trip to the morgue. So it turned out their firearms were useless. Even Tosh's PDA computer program couldn't cope. Even time she tried to action a request it just hung, trying to undo the command before it had even executed. Electrical surges were firing through its computer chips and bursting back from whence they came. In the end the whole thing overheated from the effort and sparked madly before dying completely. They were forced to abandon the standoff for their own safety, and it turned out that this was easier than expected, since the blowfish actually thought they'd only just arrived instead of that they were leaving.
Driving the SUV anywhere was totally out of the question despite Jack's best attempts to dodge cars and drive on the wrong side of the road to match the backward flowing traffic.
Reconvening at the hub, it seemed almost insurmountable a problem to solve. They were at a loss without any diagnostic equipment that could be relied upon to produce a result, without crashing or blowing up. Even Jack's vortex manipulator was totally confused, and it was used to dealing with random temporal events.
Yet the world outside was moving on regardless, even though it was all happening in reverse.
Just when it seemed like they'd run out of options, a familiar sound met their ears. The Tardis.
Jack expressed his relief as the pinstriped, sneaker clad doctor waltzed out through the blue police box door.
'Doctor! Thank God you're here!'
'Hello to you too, Jack. Is this your little team? Hello! Wasn't planning on stopping by mind, but when the planet started spiralling around the sun in the opposite direction I thought, what the heck, might be something worth seeing. Although, just watched a bloke eat four pasties in a row in reverse. Not a pretty sight.'
'Time seems to have reversed, but not reversed. Actually, I don't really know.' Jack admitted.
'Yeah, sorry about that, I think that was me,' he said, scratching the back of his neck and looking a bit sheepish. 'Was playing with a kinetic disruptor, measuring the fragmentation of nanotechnology particles as the approach the circadian vortex, and the Tardis may have flown a bit close to a solar flare at the time. Most unpredictable events in the universe, solar flares. And voila, instant kinetic temporal reversal.'
He turned and looked at the five of them. Three faces displayed a blank look of confusion, one had a disdainful look that cried unimpressed, and the last was Jack.
'So how come we weren't affected?' asked Gwen.
'Sitting on top of the rift aren't you? Time and space are already completely screwed up just here. Nothing I did could muck that up any worse than it already is!'
Jack crossed his arms. 'So you're saying this is you fault? You caused this?'
'Mmm, probably. Well, yes actually.'
'I got shot by my own gun!'
'You really need to stop with the guns. What is it with you people and guns? Still not sure I like this Torchwood business you've gotten yourselves in to. Too much violence of my liking.'
'They're necessary. To protect people.' Jack bit back on any further retort, and his hard stare forced the Doctor to move on.
'If you insist,' he replied, oblivious to the frustration. 'Right well just need to pop back and get this sorted. D'you mind if I borrow someone clever, whoever's the cleverest. No offence Jack, I mean not that you're all not clever. I'm sure you all wonderfully clever, brilliant even. Well, maybe not as brilliant as me, actually not even close to, but, ah, never mind, I'll just shut up now.'
'Please do,' snarled Owen.
'Right, so just need someone capable of operating the transindental axiochronograph while I send back a reverse pulse wave from the ethersonic antidisruptor when we pass near the solar planosphere. Too easy.'
'Tosh, would you like to do the honours?' Jack asked.
'Really? Her face lit up excitedly whilst the others showed a shared sense of relief that they weren't being chosen for the task. However good the Doctor was, there seemed to be a manic element of uncertainty about his plan.
'Excellent! Allonsy then!'
The rest of the team watched as Tosh, with a slight trepidation, followed the Doctor into the Tardis and the door shut behind her.
Suddenly the door burst back open and the Doctor's head leaned out.
'What are you all standing around for?'
Jack looked perplexed. 'What do you need us to do?'
'Nothing,' he replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 'I said I needed someone to operate the axiochronograph, I didn't say the rest of you couldn't come along with us!'
Jack's eyes glittered with excitement and he rushed forward and into the Tardis. Gwen Owen and Ianto hesitantly followed.
Jack had told them stories about the Doctor and the Tardis but nothing compared to seeing it in person.
Each of them could be heard quietly muttering their amazement. And this is just the main control room, thought Jack. Wait until they see the rest.
'Still got that swimming pool Doc?'
'Even better. Got it upgraded to a fifty metre model.'
Jack just shook his head. God he loved travelling with the Doctor.
In the end solving the problem wasn't nearly as complicated as the Doctor had made it out. At least not for how it looked. Pull and few levers, press a few buttons and away they went.
Jack was a little disappointed that the Doctor hadn't thought he could assist, but far be it from him to steal Tosh's glory. Besides, he got the lucky task of taking the others on a grand tour, and the Tardis, knowing she was being shown off, made sure Jack found all the right rooms, including the ballroom, the library, and of course, the swimming pool.
Despite the adventure, it was a great relief to them all when they finally disembarked from the Tardis, right into the middle of Roald Dahl plass, to find people wandering about aimlessly, taking photos and doing all of the things that were commonplace for the area. Only now they were doing them in the right order. Everything was just how it should be. With one exception.
The water tower had water running up its glistening edifice, appearing seemingly out of nowhere from the ground below and disappearing at the top of the tower just as mysteriously.
Jack made to point it out to the Doctor but Ianto grabbed his arm before he had a chance.
'Don't. I kind of like it that way.'
Jack just smiled. Who was he to argue?