Jack begins the search for his team ...


Hide and Seek

Toshiko

The lecture hall was half full of lolling students taking notes, drinking from bottles of water – she hoped it was water – and whispering. Of the forty three men and women before her, Professor Toshiko Sato knew that thirty two had no hope of understanding her lecture on positronics and were there merely to get an attendance credit. Of the remaining eleven, the ones who were seriously interested, only two could comprehend the nuances of her proposals.

It was disheartening when looked at that way but she lectured solely because it was part of her contract. Six lectures each academic year, two a term, was the price of retaining her stipend and the Chair in Experimental Electrical Mechanics in the Computer Sciences Department at Keble College, Oxford. She also had to tutor at least one student a year and this year, remarkably, she had two. They were sitting out there now, Craig Reed and Jon Thompson, listening intently and assiduously taking notes. At the end of the lecture – just another ten minutes, she thought – they would pester her with questions and want to walk with her back to her rooms. They were nerdy and irritating and she wished they would leave her alone.

"… and so, the synapses of the cortices, when bombarded with protons form a matrix. Link three of these matrices together with subdurnal matter, as I outlined in my last lecture, and we shall have made a start." She looked at the clock on the wall opposite, above the tiered seats with their slouching occupants. "But now it's time to end. Good day."

Switching off the microphone, she had her papers in a folder under her arm and was halfway to the exit before the students had realised she had finished. A scrabbling from behind warned her that Craig and Jon were trying to catch her so she broke into a jogging run and was out into the corridor before them. Heading left, she pushed through the few people and opened the door to her hiding place. Closing the door behind her, she sat down on the chair in the darkened room and waited. Her pursuers would never look for her in here.

The sound of someone clearing his throat made her start in surprise and she dropped her papers on the floor in her hurry to turn round. "Who's there? Come out, whoever you are!"

"Hello there." A tall man with a wide toothy grin and long coat emerged from the shadows.

"Who are you?" she demanded again.

"Captain Jack Harkness." He stopped, his grin still in place but with a softer, more indulgent look in his eyes.

"Are you a student? Students aren't allowed in here," she blustered.

"Nor are professors." Jack looked round at the projectors and sound equipment. "Unless they're hiding." He cocked his head to one side, regarding her steadily.

"What if I am? It's no business of yours! And you still haven't told me who you are!" She was on her feet now; even at her full five foot seven she still had to look up at him.

"Yes I did. Jack Harkness is my name. And I've come to find you, Toshiko Sato." His gaze was penetrating now, boring into her soul.

"What …? Find me? You're talking nonsense. I'm leaving and you'd better not follow me!" She bent and retrieved her folder of papers. "Don't try and follow me," she repeated. She walked smartly to the door and opened it, refusing to look back at the impertinent American.

"You need four matrices," drifted out of the room after her as she hastened away.

In the projection room, Jack stood in thought, wondering how long it would be before she sought him out. Because she would, he was sure of that.

-ooOoo-

Toshiko's rooms were on the first floor of the oldest part of the College and generous by anyone's standards, but especially so for a single woman. The sitting room was large with two tall mullioned windows looking out onto a quiet quadrangle before which was placed her solid Victorian desk. Papers, a PC with three monitors and an assortment of books, discs and memory sticks covered the top of the desk, stacked up in what seemed to be abandon but was actually complete order to her. The rest of the room was dominated by a handsome fireplace and two sofas facing one another on either side of it. A gateleg table stood against the back wall and the tray and dirty dishes, yet to be cleared away by her scout, were evidence of her last meal. A large built-in bookcase to the side of the table had shelves crammed with tomes of all shapes and sizes and a laptop placed awry on top of the lower cupboard next to a decanter and glasses. A heavy, carved oak door led off the room into the slightly smaller bedroom and en suite bathroom.

At that moment, Toshiko was standing staring out of one of the sitting room windows into the dark night beyond. She had stood there, motionless, for several minutes, a habit when she was lost in thought. Her lectures were punctuated with such pauses which the students had grown used to, even going so far as to place bets on the number and duration of each one. To the professor, however, they were vital moments when ideas, equations and surmises coalesced into a theory. The man sitting on the right hand sofa was used to these moments, indeed welcomed them; it should mean that they were nearer achieving their goal.

"Dear God, he's right." Toshiko turned and faced her colleague, her face stricken and for once showing all her fifty two years. "Why didn't I see it? How could I have missed it?"

"More to the point," commented Rupak Moitra, "how did this man know?" His voice was cultured and calm, a reflection of his focussed and methodical working methods which were so at odds with the mercurial and eccentric professor. The fact he accepted her pronouncement without query showed his faith in her abilities. "Do you think the Americans are working on this?"

"We'd have heard. Worthington has said nothing about this man." She crossed the room and sat on the left hand sofa, running her hand through her already disordered hair. "But that's immaterial. Why did I miss it?"

"You didn't miss it, Toshiko. We were working on a theory of three matrices which, when we'd run trials and more simulations, would have led to us to revise it up to four. We were just a little behind this American. What was his name again?"

She grimaced. "John? James? Something like that. I can't remember!" She got up again and started pacing, her stockinged feet tracing a path from window to table and back again.

"You need to try. We need to check him out and, if he's legitimate, find him and discover what he knows and what he wants. We could bring him into the lab and add his knowledge to ours. Now, think, what was his name?"

It took thirty minutes of patient interrogation but finally Rupak had prised out as much information as he was ever going to get. Professor Sato was renowned for her absent-mindedness, especially for names; it was said that she couldn't even remember her own parents' first names. Rupak used his laptop to Google 'James Harper' and found a Sheffield United footballer, a mid-nineteenth century publisher, a funeral director in Bromley, an actor and a professional golfer. When he got to a chartered surveyor he gave up. Either the James Harper they wanted was not in the public domain or, more likely, Toshiko had got the name wrong.

"Well? Got anything?" asked the professor as she poured sherry for them both.

"No," he said with a sigh. "There's no entry for the James Harper we want. Maybe we're trying the wrong name."

"Or he gave me an alias. Wouldn't put it past the CIA." She handed him his drink and sat down beside him, pulling her legs up underneath her.

Rupak sipped his drink and let the reference to the CIA pass without comment. Toshiko had worked on joint Anglo-American projects involving both countries' security services and abhorred the surrounding secrecy. As scientists, both she and Rupak were used to sharing knowledge and findings, once they were supported by decent evidence at least. "I think it's more likely you don't remember it correctly."

"Then try some other combinations," she said airily.

"I have."

They sat in silence for five minutes, drinking and looking across the room and out of the unshuttered windows. Toshiko considered her next move. She could ignore the stranger – maybe he had made a lucky guess – and carry on with her own work. She'd just need to work quicker; there could be others working on the same theories and she didn't want to be pipped at the post. Sharing discoveries was all well and good but she wanted recognition as much as the next person. She had not won her A M Turing Award by being second. And she was close to a breakthrough, she was sure of that.

Artificial intelligence had been knocking around as a theory for decades but no one, so far, had made an artificial brain that could duplicate an organic, human one. Positronics were the way to go, she was confident, and the subdurnal matter Rupak had created was an ideal conduit. They just had to get a prototype - a working, thinking, prototype - in place before they could publish and reap the rewards. The papers they'd published so far, on minor discoveries, had been well received which showed they were on the right lines but they'd held back on the big breakthroughs fearing someone would steal the idea. And now this damned American had appeared on the scene.

"Thank you for the drink, Toshiko," said Rupak, packing up his laptop, "and your company."

"Going so soon?" She glanced at the ornate carriage clock on the mantelpiece: 11.06.

"I'm lecturing in Norwich tomorrow and have to make an early start. I'll come and find you when I get back. Around five, I should think." He smiled down at her and gave a mock-bow. "Good night."

"Good night, Rupak."

-ooOoo-

It was almost midnight and the College was quiet. Faint music drifted out of individual rooms as students studied into the night and one group of half a dozen partygoers were loud as they crossed the quadrangle before disappearing up a staircase in the opposite corner. Toshiko Sato was at her desk, trying to discover the identity of the mysterious stranger. She had tried all variations of the name she thought she remembered and had turned up nothing.

"This won't do," she said out loud and pushed back her chair.

Searching under the table, she found her shoes where she had kicked them off while eating supper and stuffed her feet into them. Wearing a disreputable and baggy cardigan over her shirt and trousers she checked she had her keys before leaving the room. She walked down the staircase and through various corridors until she came to the projection room. Hesitating with a hand on the door knob she wondered if this was a wise move. The corridor, this entire floor of the building, was deserted and only dimly lit. The projection room itself was in complete darkness. What if he was dangerous? Looking around, she saw a fire extinguisher on the wall and picked it up, nearly dropping it before she adjusted to its unexpected weight. Armed with this dubious protection, she opened the door and stood looking in.

"You came back." The American-accented voice was calm and somehow soothing. "I knew you would."

"Well I didn't!" she retorted, hiding her nervousness as best she could. She reached for the light switch and turned it on, blinking in the sudden brilliance. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the same man she had seen that morning standing in almost the same place. She took a pace into the room, hefting the extinguisher in both hands.

"Are you expecting a fire?" he asked with a chuckle.

She looked down at it then at his amused expression and chuckled herself. "I couldn't find anything else. If you promise not to attack me, I'll put it down."

"I promise I won't attack you, Toshiko Sato." His voice was solemn and serious but with an underlying hint of amusement.

"Good, I don't think I'd have been able to hold this much longer. Why do they make them so heavy?" She put the extinguisher down gratefully, making a metallic clatter on the concrete floor.

Jack ignored the question and watched as Toshiko stood facing him, taking him in like a specimen under a slide. She was older than the woman he knew but she wore her years well even though she was dressed abysmally. She looked what she was, an archetypal professor more concerned with her research than her appearance or the rest of her life. In all probability, she didn't even acknowledge there was a life outside her research.

"I've forgotten your name."

"Captain Jack Harkness."

"No wonder I couldn't find you," she sighed, reaching for the chair and pulling it towards her. "I thought it was James Harper!"

"That's interesting," he said slowly. "I've only used that name once before."

"I knew it! You're a spy, CIA I suppose. Well you won't get anything out of me." She sat down and folded her arms across her chest staring at him defiantly. "You can torture me all you want but I won't tell you a sausage!"

He laughed then, the joyous sound filling the room. "Oh, Tosh, you are a caution. I couldn't hurt you if I wanted to, and I don't. You see, I'm not really here."

Toshiko narrowed her eyes and regarded him more closely. The traits that made her an excellent scientist – curiosity and single-mindedness chief amongst them – also made her fearless in the face of something new. She had to find out how things worked and while that didn't normally apply to her fellow human beings, she was convinced that if she approached this stranger in the same way as any other problem she would solve the riddle he embodied. And part of that riddle was why he had called her 'Tosh', only her brother called her that.

"How are you not here?"

Jack stepped forward, closer to her chair, stopping a pace in front of her. "I'm a hologram."

Raising her arm to shoulder level she brought it round towards him, halting just before it touched his coat to look up at him questioningly. When he nodded, she let the arm continue its progress and gasped when it travelled through his body. Ripples appeared in the image and slowly ceased as they reached his head and toes. Her arm fell back and she stared at him - at the image of him, she corrected - and began to piece together the evidence she had gathered.

"Stable holograms are impossible unless the source of the signal is close by. So, where are you really?" She stood and walked all round him, searching into the further corners of the room as she did so. A talking, reacting life-size hologram was also beyond current science but she ignored that for the present.

"In another dimension. Another reality. In my reality you work for me." He turned his head as Toshiko completed her circuit and appeared around his right side.

"You're mad."

He chuckled. "It's been said before, probably will be said again, but … what I've told you is still true."

The disciplines of evidence-based research stood Toshiko in good stead. She didn't believe him for one minute but his assertions also didn't faze her, her mind was focussed on the problem he posed. The two problems, she corrected. "I'll get back to the hologram later," she said, sitting down again. "How did you know about the four matrices? Who do you work for?"

Jack smiled and sat cross-legged on the floor, his coat flowing out around him. "That's my Tosh, never distracted from the real issue. Where I come from, and that's not where I know you, artificial intelligence is commonplace. Androids and thinking computers are the backbone of the Empire."

"Empire? What empire?"

"The Great Human Empire." He waved a hand. "But that's not important. Positronic brains are two a penny and everyone knows how they work, every child of eight and nine is taught it as the basis of more advanced study."

"More advanced?" she spluttered.

"Oh yeah. Temporal mechanics are the cutting edge now." He smiled at her reaction. "Don't worry about it. Just take it from me, what you're doing now is child's play."

She forced down her indignation and let her analytical brain mull over the information he had provided. He was, supposedly, from another dimension in which she worked for him; this dimension had holographic projectors more powerful than anything on the drawing board in this dimension; and her work, her ground-breaking and highly advanced work, was taught to children where he came from.

"This is preposterous. You are preposterous." She stood up and pushed the chair back where it had come from. "When you're willing to talk sense, maybe I'll listen."

"Tosh, don't go. Please!"

The urgency and passion in his voice halted her on her way to the door and she turned back to face him. He was also standing, his hands out, palms up in a beseeching gesture. It was his eyes, bright blue eyes, that held her attention. There was pain in their depths, a personal sorrow so profound that it hurt her to witness it.

"I can't lose you, Tosh," he said quietly. "You and the others, you're my family. I need you back."

"This better be good." She again reached for the chair.

-ooOoo-

"It's getting late," said Jack from his place on the floor. "You'd better go and get some sleep."

"I suppose." Sleep and leisure time meant nothing to Toshiko when she was engaged in solving a problem. She often worked through the night, more than one occasionally, and caught up on sleep later. "Can we run over this one more time? So I know I have it straight?"

"Of course." He checked his wrist strap controls. "I only have another twenty minutes before the projectors turn off."

Toshiko shuffled the scrappy bits of paper she had scrounged from the waste bin and looked at her notes. The story she had been told was out of this world, a fantastic tale of aliens and secret bases - in Cardiff of all places – and seemed impossible. And yet … and yet she wanted to believe this strange, holographic man.

"You work for Torchwood which is based in Cardiff. It protects the city and the UK from aliens that come through a Rift in time and space." She looked at him for confirmation and when he nodded, she went on. "An alien got into your base and attacked you and your team. It used the … that thing that opens the Rift."

"Rift manipulator," supplied Jack.

"Right, Rift manipulator to return to its home and sucked in the four members of your team. An Owen Harper, Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper and me." She smiled when she said the last. "Me, an alien hunter!"

"As I said, you're responsible for all the alien tech."

Toshiko's eyes glittered with excitement. She liked the idea of alien technology at her disposal, especially given some of the things Jack said it could do. "And that tech includes the holographic projector you're using right now. How does it diffract the light? And -"

"It's going to stop working in twelve minutes, Tosh! I'll tell you more later."

"Oh, right." She turned back to the notes. "You weren't taken into the Rift because you were dead." She shook her head. "That's the weakest part of the story, Jack, I'm finding that really hard to swallow."

"You think I'd make up something like that?" He raised his eyebrows in ironic query.

"Maybe not. Anyway, when you … revived, you started searching for your colleagues. Eventually you discovered they'd been taken into an alternate reality where they were living out their lives. Using this alien technology of yours, you were able to establish they were unharmed and oblivious of their previous lives." She looked up from the notes. "That's tricky too. I have memories of the whole of my life, nothing's missing."

"That's because you exist in this reality as well as mine. You slotted into your lives as they're being lived here." He looked at his watch again. "Just accept it for now, please."

"Not sure I can, not completely, but …" she shrugged. "One thing I can vouch for is that I've never heard of Torchwood before now."

"And yet you do remember." Jack saw her surprise.

"No I don't! Believe me, I'd know if I'd come face to face with aliens! And besides, I've never even been to Cardiff."

"James Harper, you thought that was my name. It was the name I used when we were stuck in 1941." He watched her closely. "It was just you and me and I've never told anyone else that was the name I used. So how did you know?" He stood up; it was almost time to leave.

"I … I don't know. Coincidence?" She did not sound convincing even to herself. And what did he mean by 'stuck in 1941'?

"Never believed in them myself. Time's running out. I have to go."

"You'll come back?" she asked quickly, also standing. "I'll look into all these other things, see what I can do." She waved the notes around.

"I'll be back. Midnight tonight." Jack smiled at her warmly. "Thanks for believing, Tosh." He pressed some buttons on his wrist strap and faded away.

She stood for several minutes and then walked forward and waved an arm through the space where he had been. He was gone. "Trouble is, Jack, I'm not 100% sure I do."

Back in her room, Toshiko sat at her desk and typed up her scrappy notes into a spreadsheet of so called facts and a list of things to do, adding comments and queries where appropriate. The tale really was fantastic and she wondered why she at least half-believed the stranger. She was eccentric but not gullible and not prone to being taken in by smooth-talking men no matter how handsome. At 2.10 she went to bed, setting the alarm for 5.00; there was a lot to be done tomorrow and she needed to talk to Rupak before he left Oxford. Drifting off to sleep, her last conscious thought was that perhaps she trusted Jack because his story was true.

A strident beeping woke her from a deep sleep and she scrambled to turn off the alarm flopping back on the bed when the noise ceased. A moment later she raced from the bed to her desk and started scribbling, her hand racing over the paper as she tried to remember the strange dream. There was a woman with short blonde hair and a transparent … thing with tentacles for hair and spiky hands. The images faded and gradually the pen slowed and then stopped. They may mean nothing, the result of cheese for supper, but they might not. The transparent woman, she somehow knew it was female, had looked like an alien and was not unfamiliar; she had had the dream before. Was she remembering her previous life, the other one? Until she could check with Jack, she planned to record any such dreams as best she could.

Shivering, she got up and walked slowly back to the bedroom lost in thought. Showered and dressed, an hour later she was on her way to Rupak's rooms, on another staircase of another quadrangle, to share his breakfast. She had a lot to tell him.

-ooOoo-

"Please, Toshiko, promise me."

Rupak was holding her hands in his as they stood in his small, neat room. He rarely touched her – their relationship was strictly professional – but he was determined to make her agree. She had appeared in his rooms and told him a story of holographic men, alternate realities and aliens and seemed, at least in part, to believe it. Rupak did not; he was a scientist and required proof. His difficulty was that Toshiko was also a scientist, a good one, and she was never taken in by unsupported claims and outlandish tales. If he could, he'd have cancelled his trip to Norwich but it was a long-standing commitment and he felt morally obliged to attend. Now he was concerned that Toshiko might blurt out her story to someone else, someone less understanding.

"I promise, Rupak, I won't tell anyone what I've told you." She smiled and squeezed his hands, enjoying his cool touch. Being this close to him, she could also smell his aftershave, a refreshing sandalwood, which she particularly liked. "Besides, I'll be too busy."

He sighed and dropped her hands. "And that's another thing. Be very careful, you don't know what that thing is that he wants you to build."

"I'll be a good girl, don't worry so." She patted his cheek. "Now, I have to get started."

"And I have to get my train." He picked up his briefcase and checked his notes were inside. "I'll be back as soon as I can, Toshiko. Call me if anything else … strange happens."

"You worry too much. Good luck with the lecture."

They walked down the stairs and separated, him to the station and her into the science block. Toshiko walked briskly along corridors and down stairs until she reached her personal laboratory, a large basement room with four work benches arranged in two rows; a mass of equipment covered each bench. Heading for her inner office, a small room which smelt of lavender from the bowl on the desk, she sat down, logged on to her PC and checked her notes once more. The devices looked fairly simple to build and while she didn't understand how they worked – assuming they would – the components were fairly standard. Unfortunately she did not have all of them in the lab so she started searching the College database for those of her colleagues that did.

Seven hours later, the work was nearing completion.

"I'm sorry, Professor, I just don't understand this." Jon Thompson stood with the graphics board with one hand and stared helplessly at Toshiko.

"You don't need to understand. Just build it as I said."

"But, Professor, what's it for? How does it relate to positronics?"

Toshiko stopped her own work and looked across to Jon. It was a pity she'd had to involve him and his nerdy friend, Craig, but she couldn't build this by herself. Not in the time available anyway. "It's an experiment, one I need to try quickly. If you'd rather not help, I'm sure Mr Reed and I'll be able to manage." They wouldn't but she knew Jon was competitive and hated to feel of less value than his friend.

"Just do it, Jon," added Craig from his place across the room. "The Prof has her reasons." He had no idea what the devices were either – the box of electronics he was building had nothing to do with artificial intelligence – but was willing to go along with her in order to get into her good books.

"Thank you, Mr Reed. Well, Mr Thompson?"

"Okay," he said with a sigh.

The three bent to their work. They had been in the lab since nine that morning with only one short break for a sandwich lunch. The rest of the time had been devoted to building the devices required by Jack. His instructions had been specific and detailed and by calling in a few of the favours she had earned during her long tenure at the College she'd got together the required components. It was exciting and she wanted to tell everyone what she was doing, however, Rupak had advised against it - had actually ordered her not to say a word - and she trusted his judgement. Toshiko wondered what the two students were thinking and started as the image of a pendant, a golf club and a man bent on murder flashed into her mind. She quickly jotted it down; another thing to ask Jack about tonight.

"I think this is finished," announced Craig, straightening up from the bench. "How do we test it?"

"Not necessary," Toshiko assured him, stopping her programming to go to his bench. "Let me see." She examined the rectangular box minutely, humming softly to herself, then smiled brilliantly. "Excellent, Mr Reed, excellent. This is just what I wanted. You can go now." Taking the box she went back to her bench.

Craig shot a startled glance at Jon then said, "But, Prof, don't you need me for anything else?"

"No. Not unless Mr Thompson needs a hand."

"No, I can manage." He physically hunched over the bench attempting to hide the work from his friend. "I'll find you when I'm done, Craig. Won't be much longer." He actually left an hour and a quarter later.

Alone in the lab, Toshiko took the two devices they had built and checked them against the notes. They would do. Turning back to her PC, she wrote more of the computer program that would activate them and put them into synch with Jack's projectors back in the other reality. The silence in the room was complete but for the tapping of the computer keys.

Lost in her work, she was oblivious when the door of the lab opened and Rupak Moitra entered. He stood watching her and smiled. The small frown between her eyebrows and the intense concentration was so typical of her. They had been working together for eleven years, eleven productive years, and he believed he was the person who knew her best. He had cared for her - and protected her from the administrative demands of the College authorities - for the past nine years. And he had loved her for seven years while knowing she was completely unaware of his feelings. Rupak had not wanted to complicate their relationship by mentioning how he felt and was content to stay close to her as a valued colleague. He put down his briefcase and took off his jacket, replacing it with a lab coat. Unlike Toshiko, he did not like getting his clothes dirty. When he turned round, she was looking at him with a bright smile.

"Look at these, Rupak. Aren't they marvellous?" She held up the two boxy devices.

He crossed the room to her bench and drew out a stool to sit beside her. "They'll be marvellous if they work," he said, tempering her enthusiasm. "How did you get these done so fast?"

She waved a hand airily and looked back at her PC, not willing to meet his gaze. "Got the students to do it. Might as well make use of them."

"Oh, Toshiko," he said with a long-suffering sigh, "I told you not to say anything."

"I didn't." She smiled at him. "You may not believe it, Rupak, but I do listen to you. And I appreciate your concern for me." They shared a moment of silence, a brief connection about something other than work. "I told them they'd get a credit it they helped with a small experiment."

"They're bright boys, they might put two and two together."

"And come up with a holographic alien hunter from another reality? They're not that bright!"

He laughed, a contained laugh that was heard all too rarely. "I can't fault your logic there. I don't think I believe it. Now, tell me what you're working on now."

-ooOoo-

At 11.55, Toshiko and Rupak were in the projection room setting up the equipment. The devices were wired to the projectors and then connected to Toshiko's laptop which contained the program she had written following Jack's instructions from the night before. She'd tried to follow what he said to the letter but some of it seemed … iffy so she'd made a few adjustments along the way which she was just beginning to regret. Perhaps now it wouldn't work as it was supposed to.

"Relax, Toshiko," said Rupak coming to join her by the small table they'd brought into the room. "Take deep breaths."

"What if I've done it wrong?"

"No one could have done better. Now, remember what I said? We need to be convinced that this man is not dangerous, to you or anyone else, before we let him through this … portal we've created."

"You are so practical, Rupak. What would I have done without you these past years?"

Impulsively she hugged him, her arms just meeting round his substantial middle, and he automatically put his arms round her slight frame. Neither would normally have dreamt of doing anything so physical but their shared involvement in this project had removed some of the layers of propriety and restraint that had grown up between them.

"Ahem. Sorry to interrupt. Want me to leave?" The two scientists broke apart sheepishly, not looking at one another.

"Jack!" Toshiko smiled at him – at the image of him, she corrected – and tried to forget how pleasant it was to hold, and be held by, another person. "This is Rupak Moitra, my highly esteemed colleague. He knows everything."

"A rather wide-reaching claim, I'm afraid, and not one I'd make for myself. And you are Captain Jack Harkness." He had recovered his composure and surveyed the man standing before him, thinking Toshiko's description of him as 'dashing' was an understatement.

"That's right. Good to meet you, Rupak." Jack smiled, surprised by this unexpected turn of events. Toshiko with a man? This really was an alternate reality! "I see you have everything ready, shall we -"

"Before we do anything, Captain," interrupted on Rupak, his voice as calm as ever, "Toshiko has a few questions for you."

"Fire away, Tosh." Jack crossed his arms and stood facing her.

"Oh dear, now you're cross with me. But Rupak's insisting I do this and, well, frankly I need him too much to upset him." She looked from one to the other of the men with a small smile for both. "Plus he's here and can stop me whereas you're only a hologram."

"I understand. And Rupak's right, you should be cautious."

"Good." She reached behind her and got a small notebook, flipping it open. "This first question is from Rupak. We've searched the records and the only Captain Jack Harkness died back in 1941. Why isn't there one of you in this reality like there's one of me?"

"Because I've not been born yet."

"That's no answer," commented Rupak. "The records say you died in 1941. Yet you say Toshiko and the rest of the people you're seeking are alive now and working for you."

"It's a very long story and a very complicated one. But, simply, I was born in the 51st century and travelled back to 19th century Earth. Where I got stuck, in time and with Torchwood, and have been living there ever since. In this reality I don't do that, don't know why."

Rupak stared at him. "The 19th century?"

"Yes. I lived though half of it, all of the 20th and this one so far." Jack smiled at him then looked at Toshiko. "You didn't tell him?"

She pulled a face. "There was so much else to take in …"

"Tell me what?" demanded Rupak, turning to her. "Toshiko?"

"Jack can't die. He's immortal."

A pause. "I see."

"Oh, don't look like that! Everything else is strange enough, why can't he be immortal as well?"

"When you put it like that, I suppose I can't argue." His tone was ironic but she decided to take the words at face value.

"Good. Next question. I had some dreams I don't understand and wondered if they're anything to do with my other life, the one with you. There was a blonde woman and a tall, transparent, floaty … thing with tentacles for hair and spiky fingers. Ring any bells?"

"Yes. That was Mary, an Arcateenian fugitive, who took on human form, also in the 19th century." Jack smiled at Rupak then went on. "She survived by ripping the hearts from people and eating them, the hearts not the people, until we found her transport. She befriended you, Tosh, to get it back. Used a pendant that gave you the power to read other people's minds."

"Ah! What about a man who wanted to murder his wife?"

"There was one. You overheard him and stopped him. Bashed him over the head with a golf club. Four iron, I think." Jack was grinning now.

"That's right! That's just what I remember. Rupak, we can believe him."

Rupak was not convinced. "I'm not sure."

Jack spoke up. "Rupak, I am not going to harm you or Tosh. Or anyone else, come to that. I merely want to come through to that reality so I can talk to my team."

"You want them to go back with you."

"Yes, I do. They're my family." He smiled at Toshiko. "Plus, they don't belong here."

Rupak looked down at his feet, thinking about how to say what was worrying him without giving too much away. "And if they don't want to go?"

"I think they will. I know them. When they understand the consequences, they'll come willingly." Jack paused then added. "Don't worry, Rupak, I only want to take my Tosh back. The Toshiko who belongs here will remain."

Jack had realised that this tubby man was in love with Toshiko and did not want to lose her. He judged that Toshiko was oblivious of the man's feelings, which was nicely ironic given her feelings for Owen in his world. In the growing silence, Jack had time to really look at Rupak. He was part-Indian, about the same age as this Toshiko and meticulously neat in his lab coat covering dark trousers and white shirt with a spotted bow tie at his neck. They would make a good couple, decided Jack; Rupak would look after her.

"Rupak?" Toshiko put a hand on his arm. "I believe him."

He smiled at her, burying his disappointment. She did not understand that his concern was about being left behind if she went with Jack. He loved her and his life would be empty without her. She meant so much to him but even after a decade she did not feel the same way. And yet Jack, who did not know him and was not even a real person, not yet anyway, understood his – Rupak's - feelings. He looked at the image, staring into the blue eyes. Could he be trusted? Was this the right thing to do? Toshiko had made her decision and he had followed her lead for a long time. Her instincts had not let her down - yet.

"In that case, let's continue," said Rupak finally.

"Before we do," said Toshiko, biting her lip, "I have a confession to make. When I was writing the program, I did what you said but …"

"Changed some of it?" suggested Jack with a smile. "Don't worry, I'm used to that brilliant mind of yours and the way it works."

"Oh good," she said with relief. "Come on, Rupak."

Ten minutes later, with a flash of white light the portal sprang to life and Jack stepped through into the room. He grinned at them both before helping them to deactivate the portal; it dissipated slowly. It would not be needed again until he had his team together. When the equipment had been turned off and disconnected he went to Toshiko and gave her a big hug.

"Thanks, Tosh. And you, Rupak."

"What now, Jack? What happens now?" Toshiko was delighted with their success and unaccountably excited, almost giddy. The cool and measured scientist of mature years was gone, for the moment at least.

"First, we collect all this equipment and store it somewhere safe."

"My rooms. It'll go in the bedroom."

"It would be better in your office," objected Rupak, "where it can be locked away and the scouts won't see it."

Toshiko smiled at him. "You're right, of course you're right. My office it is. And then?" she asked Jack.

"I go to Cardiff. Once I've made contact with the others, I'll need you – and Rupak, if you like – to join me there. And bring this equipment with you. Hopefully in just a few days." He grinned at them both.


In the next chapter, Jack meets the Owen Harper of this reality. What will he be like?