Title: The Space Between 2/?
Rating: PG-13. Rating may go up to NC-17 in later chapters.
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Jack, Ianto, Tosh, Owen, Gwen, mentions of other canon characters; various permutations of pairings
Summary: Torchwood! In Space! Escaping from the Game Station, Captain Jack Harkness finds himself in the 29th century. Conscripted by Torchwood, when a Rift in time and space reopens, he finds himself sent to the abandoned space station Torchwood Three, with his own ragtag team. Alternate Universe. Written for the longliveianto Halloween Challenge.
Warnings: Swearing, nakedness
Disclaimer: If I owned Torchwood, the boys would have had more screentime together, more sex, and Ianto would still be alive. Unbeta-ed, feel free to point out any mistakes.
Chapter 2
"Jack, what do we do?" asked Gwen, hovering over his shoulder. "Jack-"
Owen was swearing under his breath. "Fucking One, never telling us anything. Just ordering us to get our butts here-"
"Enough!" Jack thundered. "Tosh, I hope you're watching the CCTV for this. I need you find out everything you can about the Torchwood Three Archivist."
I'm on it.
"Thanks. And you two," he turned to the other two members of his team, "shut up."
"Don't tell me to shut it, Harkness."
"I don't have time for this, Owen."
He turned and studied the message again, still shimmering in front of the door.
Awaken Archivist?
Yes No
Jack ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Bloody Torchwood One. When he got planetside he was going to wring Yvonne Hartman's neck. Why hadn't she informed him of this? Though a thought continued to niggle at the back of his mind; maybe Torchwood One didn't know about the existence of this Archive. Torchwood Three had been known to be a rogue organization before it shut down. Maybe this was its carefully guarded secret? Still he found it hard to believe that no one from Torchwood One had come up here to check the place or to retrieve information. Or had the entire placed been abandoned by the entire organisation? There had to have been clean up crew here at the very least to remove the mess left by the last director's massacre.
Jack, there's nothing.
Jack started out of his thoughts. "Sorry?"
There's nothing, Jack. Should I send a message to One?
"No. Just be ready for lockdown, just in case. I'm going to awaken the Archivist or whatever it is."
Okay. He could hear her worry clearly. Be careful.
He turned to Gwen and Owen. "Ready?"
Both had their guns drawn with the safeties of any pointed toward the direction of the door. "Yes, Jack," added Gwen, while Owen powered up his gun dramatically.
Awaken Archivist?
Yes No
YES
There was a loud clank, then doors opened slowly with a rumble. Guns held before them, they stepped into a small antechamber illuminated by soft blue lights.
"Well, that's anti climatic," said Owen, looking around the room. "There's nothing h-"
"Jack!" Both of the men swung and turned in the direction she was pointing. One of the walls of the antechamber had slid aside, revealing a glass wall covered in what looked like frost. Owen approached it slowly, tapping it once with the butt of his gun, before swiping a hand over.
"Bloody hell, Jack, look at this."
The captain holstered his gun and hurried over looking over Owen's shoulder at the clear patch of glass. Gwen wasn't far behind and squeezed next to Owen, when rubbed a wider patch clear so that they could both see.
"It's a cryo-unit," the doctor murmured.
Though the glass was slowly fogging up again, they could clearly make out the features the dark-haired young man frozen inside. Naked, his skin was deathly pale and frost rimmed his eyelashes, hair and body hair. None of them could resists running their eyes over his entire body, but Jack was the one who licked his lips. Owen caught the movement and frowned. "Don't you dare think of shagging him when he comes out. God knows how long he's been in cryosleep and he may be dangerous."
Jack held up his hands defensively. "I was just looking!"
"Yeah, right. We all know what your 'looking' involves, Harkness."
"Boys! Shouldn't we be checking on him?" Gwen nodded at the cryo-unit.
"Well, if there was a way I could monitor his healths signs."
A hologram shimmered into appearance.
CRYO-UNIT #TW3-407-670
Intelligent Archiving NeuroTechological Organism
Biosigns:
"He's all yours," said Jack, and the doctor quickly ran through the biosigns while the captain contacted Tosh.
Everything all right, Jack?
"Yep. So far anyway. We have uncovered a cryo-unit which may or may not contain the Archivist. We're not sure what the system meant by that. Either way, could you please prep the infirmary for cryosleep recovery. And also get the bioscans ready. I'd like to know everything there is to know about our friend here.
Okay. Again, be careful.
"We will." He closed the frequency but left the line open. "Anything new?" he asked, turning to Owen.
The doctor was frowning. "According to the data here, he's not just in stasis, he's brain dead. Yet there's no sign of the unit malfunctioning, nor does he seem to have any head trauma or show any signs of it. Other than that, lifesigns are the normal for stasis; very low heartbeat, low pulse, minimal breathing and all that. It'll take a while, the unit's going slow. Poor bugger must have been in here for a century."
"Since the station shut down," murmured Gwen, placing her hand on the glass directly over the man's heart. "Poor sod." She looked up at Jack. "Is this the Archivist? What will we do with him?"
Jack shrugged. "We'll let him recover, then run some tests on him. And if he's up to it, maybe he can answer some questions about this place."
Her eyes went wide. "You're not going to hurt him, are you?"
"As long as he doesn't prove to be dangerous and complies to our instructions."
She gazed at him with a wide eyes look that seemed to see right through him before she returned her gaze to the man in stasis. "Okay. I trust you."
Jack turned away, slightly unnerved. He'd hired her because he thought she'd bring some humanity to his jaded team, remind them what they were fighting for. Torchwood One had the habit of turning people into mindless drones, and he was glad to have gotten out of there, Owen and Tosh in tow. Still, sending him to guard a newly reopened, highly unstable and possibly dangerous Rift through time and space with a tiny team on an abandoned space station; this could have simply been a way to get rid of him. Or maybe there was another purpose to this. Still, if they'd wanted control over the Rift, they'd have chosen a mindless lackey, not the most infamous maverick in the entire Torchwood organization.
The unit's console bleeped, and Jack turned his attention back to Owen. The medic looked up briefly from the hologram. "His biosigns are steady, and brain activity has started and is slowly increasing." Peering through the glass which was loosing most of its frost, Jack could see the man's eyes rolling beneath his eyelids.
"He's entering the REM stage of sleep and may be showing signs of dreaming soon."
"I think he already is," observed Jack. Besides the rapid eye movement, the man in the cryo-unit was also sporting an erection.
Owen grinned. "Perfectly healthy human male, then. Oi," he added, this directed to Gwen, who was staring unashamedly, "You're not jumping him either."
"He's cute," she protested.
"Whatever," muttered Owen, rolling his eyes. "You can shag him once he's recovered in a few days."
Grinning Jack slung an arm over the acerbic man's shoulder. "You're just jealous our new guy here is going to get more ass than you."
"I get plenty of arse," snapped Owen, shrugging off the other man's hand. "Just because I'm the only person here you've not shagged-"
The thump of flesh hitting glass cut him off, and he hurriedly turned to check on his patient.
"Just a reflex, it seems," he reassured Jack, who was peering with concern through the glass. "He'll be awake in a moment."
System Diagnosis
1%
2%
5%
"System diagnosis, what the fuck? What system?" Owen yelled as he tapped angrily the console.
11%
In the cryo-unit, the man's eyes opened. Jack stepped back in surprise. The Archivist's (he was pretty sure the man in the unit was the Archivist) eyes were glowing blue, almost as though there were lights shining from behind them. He bent nearer and even through the glass, could see tiny strings of words and numbers run through the iris. Further down, next to his sides, the pads of the man's fingers glowed a faint blue too.
"Owen, look at this." He beckoned to the other man who was swearing at the console.
Owen came over, still countering under his breath, until he caught sight of the blue glow. "Great goddess," he muttered, and like Jack, bent nearer for a closer look. Once he'd scene enough he hurried back to the console, bumping into Gwen, who'd come to see what the commotion was all about.
27%
"System diagnosis, system diagnosis," the doctor mumbled repeatedly as he manipulated the hard-light console. "Jack," he said finally, looking up, "he's a cyborg. I don't think he's just the Archivist, he is the Archive."
35%
They watched as the numbers slowly climbed. At around 80%, Jack drew his gun. "Jack," started Gwen, but he shushed her with a wave of his hand.
89%
"Should we stop it?" asked Owen.
"Bit too late now. Besides, according to the system, he's the only one who can access the Archive."
"Or he is it."
Jack frowned at reviving body in the unit. "I don't think so."
98%
"Better get ready."
100%
System Diagnosis Complete
To be continued...