"It feels like there's no one."-Ninth Doctor in 'Dalek'

Chapter Four

The Doctor sighed as he looked at the console of the Tardis. Travelling through time and space had used to be somewhat of a thrill for him. He had been able to go throughout the universe, visiting different planets, and more often than not, helping its inhabitants.

But for some time now, his travelling had become something of a necessity; something he did to keep his mind from wandering. These days, there was one thing that seemed to occupy his thoughts constantly. And it was the one thing he knew he could never have back again.

Rose.

It had been over a year and a half ago that he had been able to contact her to say goodbye. But he hadn't wanted to say goodbye. All the Doctor had wanted to do on that day was rip another hole in the universe so that he would be able to hold Rose in his arms and never let her go.

But that wasn't possible.

There was no way that the Doctor could do that. Ripping a hole in the universe was bad enough, but when there was no one there to repair it, the damage would be catastrophic. And Rose wouldn't want that. Rose would understand. She knew that he would have come back if he could. She knew he had done everything he could just to say goodbye to her.

At least…he hoped she did. Again, he sighed.

The Doctor was interrupted from his thoughts by the appearance of his latest companion, Martha.

"So, where're we headed, Doctor?" She asked curiously. "I heard about this one planet, Barcelona, and it seemed nice."

The Doctor was shaking his head before she had even finished speaking.

"Anywhere but Barcelona." He informed her shortly. "I don't really fancy going there. Ever."

"Erm…Alright then." Martha said slowly. "Then how about we go back to Earth. We haven't been back there in ages. We can stop by and visit Jack."

"Sure." The Doctor said, turning back to the console once more. "Earth, 21st century it is, then."


"Sir, we're picking up strange readings from the rift. It's almost as if something just appeared out of nowhere on top of it." The technician said, looking up at his boss.

Captain Jack Harkness leaned in closer to see the computer screen, with a serious expression on his face. His eyebrows knit in concentration at the readout, but then an expression of familiarity passed over his face.

"He took his time before showing up here again." He said softly, delight lighting up his features.

"But what is it, sir?" The technician asked, turning to face Jack.

"Nothing you need to worry about." Jack said offhandedly, turning around. "I'll handle this one myself. I should be back in a few hours."

And without another word, Jack was gone. Once he was out of the Torchwood building, Jack set off at a brisk pace towards the heart of Cardiff.

About ten minutes later, he was standing in front of the thing that had haunted his mind for years. He had waited for it to appear for more than a century, before finally finding it. After their reunion, the Doctor had promised to stop by for a visit. Of course, that had been a while ago. Knowing the Doctor, he had most likely forgotten his promise the moment he had said it. Martha was probably the one who had suggested the visit.

Reaching out, Jack stuck his key in the lock and turned it. It gave a resounding click, and he pushed the door open.

"Hello!" Jack called out, stepping inside of the Tardis. "Doctor? Martha? Anyone home?"

"Jack!" Was all he heard, before the blur that was Martha appeared out of nowhere and nearly knocked him senseless as she hugged him.

"So, did you miss me much?" Jack asked as Martha finally released him and he tried to regain his breath.

"Nope, not at all." Martha said with a wave of her hand, a grin spreading across her face. "But you should have heard the Doctor. Poor man, he just missed you so much…"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure he did." He paused here, and looked around the room. "And speaking of the Doctor, where is he?"

Martha shrugged. "He disappeared somewhere when we landed. He might be off trying to fix something. It was a bit of a rough landing. But who knows?"

Jack narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "He's not going to get out of seeing me again that easily."

"He went that way." Martha said wearily, pointing into the depths of the Tardis.

As Jack walked off in the direction Martha had pointed, she followed behind questioning him about everything that had been going on since they had last seen each other.

"So, how have things been going at Torchwood?" Martha asked.

Now it was Jack's turn to shrug. "Just the usual. Nothing too interesting has dropped down to Earth in the past few months."

"What about the rift?" Martha continued.

"Actually," Jack began, "Now that you mention it, there was something just last night. I think I might mention it to the Doctor…if we ever find him."

"Mention what to me?" The Doctor's voice said from behind them. Then, "Captain Jack! I didn't hear you come aboard. How're things at Torchwood?"

"We were just talking about that." Jack replied. "We got some funny reports from the rift last night. Do you want to come by Torchwood to take a look at them?"

"Why not?" The Doctor replied. "I've been meaning to stop by Torchwood 3 one of these days."


"That's odd."

Jack rose his eyebrows at the Doctor.

"We got that much from it." He said.

They were now in Jack's office, back in the Torchwood building. The Doctor had spent the past fifteen minutes staring silently at the previous day's reports of the rift's activity, before declaring them 'odd.'

"What's odd?" asked Martha.

The Doctor took a moment to answer.

"Those readings," He finally began, "They aren't from our universe."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, at the same time Martha said, "How is that possible?"

The Doctor took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair.

"The rift is very powerful, wouldn't you agree? It has enough energy to charge up the Tardis." The Doctor stated. "Tell me, Jack, was there any unusual activity reported from the rift when the Tardis materialized?"

Jack nodded. "That's how I knew you were here. We picked up readings from the Tardis on our scanners."

"Can we see them now?" The Doctor asked.

Jack nodded again. He pressed a few buttons on the keyboard and a new window popped up on the screen next to the first.

The Doctor leaned back in and studied the two readings side-by-side for a moment before suddenly pointing at something on the screen.

"Look at that!" He said, looking a bit excited about something. "Do you see it?"

"See what?" Martha asked.

"They're the same." The Doctor replied triumphantly.

Both Martha and Jack just looked at him.

"There are many universes parallel to our own." He said slowly, and with a blank face. "Some of them are very similar to ours." He paused here, and took a deep breath.

"This morning the rift showed signs of unusual activity, because it was picking up the Tardis' energy signature." The Doctor continued slowly. "Last night, it showed almost identical readings, but they were fainter." He pointed at the screen again. "The activity level jumped, but not as much as when the Tardis materialized today."

"So," Jack began slowly, "Does that mean there's another Tardis out there in some parallel universe?"

The Doctor was shaking his head before Jack even finished speaking.

"It's impossible." He stated. "I was there. No one else survived. Besides, I would know." He tapped the side of his head lightly with his finger. "I would feel it, in here."

"Then what could have caused the rift to react like it did?" Martha asked. "What else is there that could have had an energy signature like the Tardis?"

"Who knows what kind of technology they have in a parallel universe?" The Doctor said with a shrug. "The last time I went to one, everyone had a zeppelin."

"But she does have a point, Doctor." Jack cut in. "This is the Tardis we're talking about. No matter what universe you're in, Time Lord technology is pretty advanced."

The Doctor threw his hands up in defeat.

"Fine." He said with a sigh. "But it doesn't really matter. The rift was picking something up in a parallel universe, and I sealed all of the cracks. We are never going to find out what made the rift react like that."