Chapter 7

Sam looked at the Doctor. "Okay, I'm confused. Why did you hang up? Why would talking to Jack be a problem? I thought you were friends."

The Doctor sniffed slightly. "It's a bit complicated. We sort of... got separated a long time ago."

"Okay. So you haven't seen him in awhile. I still don't see..."

"Like I say, it's complicated. Don't worry, I'll figure it out." He paused. "You said you studied Ptah-Hotep the Second."

"Yeah. What's your point? I don't see what that has to do with the phone call."

"Absolutely nothing." He paused. "What I want to know is why is your Pharaoh's queen an Osirian? What is she doing here? You said something earlier about a heart?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I noticed it during the procession... before you pushed me into the camel dung."

"Not my fault you picked the wrong place to stand. Back to this heart..."

"The Heart of Pteh-Hotep the Second. It was the carved jewel Sekhmet was holding. Ptah-Hotep was holding it in his hands the last time I saw it... or rather his mummy was."

Jarman was becoming confused. Since Sam and the Doctor were speaking in English, the TARDIS was assuring that they were understood the boy. However, the translation of the word "mummy" didn't exactly fit and Jarman's eyes grew wide. "You're going to kill Pharoah!?"

"What?!" the two men exclaimed in unison.

"Rose just said his dead body was holding a jewel."

"That's not exactly what I meant..." Sam started.

The Doctor instantly understood the problem that presented itself. He leaned slightly towards Sam. "Problem with the translation circuit," he explained. "Since Jarman doesn't really have a concept of mummies as we know them, the TARDIS translated as best as she could to match what he does know." He looked at Jarman with a smile. "We are not going to kill Pharaoh. At least, I hope not. Wouldn't be very good guests if we did that now, would we? What we mean is that Pharaoh owns a wonderful jewel that Rose is interested in seeing." He turned to Sam. "Speaking of which, I've never heard of it. Tell me about it."

"Well," Sam started slowly, glad that Jarman no longer thought they were homicidal, or regicidal as the case would be, "I always thought it was a myth. It was supposed to be his greatest treasure and legend said that it would give him the power to come back from the dead." He huffed a laugh. "Boy, was I wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I leapt into the archeologist that discovered Ptah-Hotep's tomb. Things got pretty weird. All I know for certain is right before I leapt, Al told us to run, that the mummy had come back to life and was killing Dr. El Razul."

Jarman's face scrunched up again. "Leapt? Al? El Razul? Dead bodies coming back to life and killing people?" He threw up his hands. "Rose, you are beautiful but I think that Diet Coke has gone to your head. I don't think you should drink anymore of it!"

The Time Lord looked at Sam with a hint of condescension. "For one who has devoted their life to science, I'm sure you know, Dr. Beck.. um... Rose," he corrected quickly, "mummies don't come back from the dead. It's impossible."

Having his commitment to science and fact questioned rubbed Sam the wrong way. "Yeah? Well, that's what I always believed, too. I still do." At the look on the Doctor's face, he explained. "There has to be some explanation that fits rational physical reality. I know there's no such thing as 'magic' or 'sorcery.' All I know is what Al told me he saw and that was Ptah-Hotep's mummy reanimating."

"Okay, okay," the Doctor agreed, giving the leaper the benefit of the doubt. "So... Ptah-Hotep's mummy became animated and killed this Dr. El Razul."

Sam nodded and finished his explanation, "For trying to take the heart."

"Why would Ptah-Hotep be upset about some archeologist taking the heart? I mean other than not liking grave robbers."

"It goes back to the myth. This diamond - it was about the size of a cow's eye - was said to be the source of his magic. The legend said it would bring him back to life."

The Doctor considered Sam's words. "Diamond heart... source of his magic... brings him back to life..." His eyes brightened. "Wait... yes! No... no... YES!" He punched the air enthusiastically. "The Heart of Ptah-Hotep has to be Osirian technology! It's the only explanation for him coming back to life thousands of years in the future!"

"How would Osiran technology do that?"

"Suspended animation," the Time Lord abruptly told him.

"What?"

The Doctor looked at him as if he had just questioned whether or not the chemical composition of water was H2O. "Ptah-Hotep was very likely using Osirian technology to put himself in suspended animation until he was resurrected when you encountered him during your leap into that archeological expedition."

"Um...yeah," he started. "But we're talking almost 3500 years."

"Three or four thousand years is a drop in a bucket for Osirians," the Time Lord answered. "As I told you before, they actually lived for a very long time. And suspended animation was mostly used to heal wounds. But I'm sure a very clever human could easily figure out how to use suspended animation technology to come back from supposed death a few thousand years in the future, especially if he had an Osirian to teach him how to use it."

The Earth physicist considered what the Doctor was saying. "Well, it certainly is better than believing something really hokie was going on." As he said the words, a sound he hadn't expected to hear came to his ears.

"What's hokie?" the voice of the hologram asked.

The Doctor turned towards Al with a slight roll of his eyes. "Well, here's trouble. Thought you could only find Sam if he was in his own lifetime. No... wait. Don't tell me... Rose's mobile. Am I right? Blimey, that's brilliant!"

"Yeah. It was Captain Harkness' idea," Al replied.

The Doctor's eyes grew dark. "So how is Jack?" he questioned, clearly still upset with the idea of Jack being associated with Torchwood.

"Jack isn't a very happy camper at the moment. He was quite surprised to see Rose again but he's not thrilled that you hung up on him. Twice."

"Oi! I didn't hang up on him! Well... I did. But only the one time and I hadn't even really connected that time so that doesn't really count, does it? And the second time... well... the first time really... that wasn't my fault. It was Sam's. He didn't charge the phone!"

"Whatever," Sam stated, giving up on ever getting the Doctor to accept he couldn't have charged the phone if he didn't know he had one to charge.

Jarman frowned in confusion at the apparently one-sided conversation the Doctor was having. Figuring that he was speaking to spirits – great magi do that sometimes – he decided to listen in quietly.

Al listened to the explanation before shaking his head as if trying to follow a circular logic statement. Shrugging, he simply said, "Well, you can work that out with him. All that I know is he was really upset." He then turned to Sam. "You don't know how glad I am to see you, kid. I wasn't sure what we'd find when we located him." His inflection at the end made it clear it wasn't just Jack who was perturbed with the Doctor.

The alien looked slightly offended by Al's tone but let the comment slide, figuring that it probably wasn't the best time to get into an argument with a hologram... not that there ever was a good time to get into an argument with a hologram.

"I'm glad to see you too," Sam said, wanting get past the greeting to let his friend know about the incredible news he had. "You'll never believe where we are!" He stopped. "Well... I mean who we're with. I mean... what does Ziggy know?" Sam was obviously excited.

Al frowned slightly. "Sam, we only just now got a lock on you. We know that you're in Ancient Egypt in the 18th Dynasty and..." He looked at Sam for a long moment, his eyes widening. "Sam... what are you wearing?"

"This is how noble women dress in this time period."

Jarman frowned at his words. "No, they don't, Lady Rose. I told you. You are wearing far too much. Are you and Lord Doctor talking to spirits?"

"Well, in that case, I'm glad Beth is just a lowly peasant!" Al commented.

Sam ignored Jarman's question, his attention on Al. "Can we just forget about the clothing? What we've found is way more important. You'll be happy to know that Ptah-Hotep coming back to life... it's not what you thought. It's not like a horror flick. He just never really died."

"Never died?" Al questioned, sure that he knew what he'd seen. "Sam... he was a mummy..."

"You mean the wrappings?" the Doctor put in. "That was probably just protection from the elements. He was in suspended animation."

"Okay... so... he was over three thousand years old."

"Three thousand four hundred ninety-one years," the Doctor corrected. "Since I understand your leap was in 1957."

Al wasn't buying it. "Three thousand four hundred ninety-one years... I think you're nuts."

"Really, not that unusual when you consider Osirian technology prolonged his life," the Doctor continued as if Al hadn't said anything. Seeing the look on the hologram's face, he clarified. "The Heart of Ptah-Hotep the Second, I think Sam called it, probably was an Osirian suspension crystal. They were usually made of diamond so it's not a surprise that humans thought it was just some great treasure."

"What the hell is an Osirian suspension crystal?" Al cried. The handlink squealed. "Oh, Ziggy says that the Osirians were an alien species that could suspend life over great time frames." He looked up at Sam. "How would she know that?"

"Probably heard it from Jack," the Doctor commented.

Al looked at the handlink. "Yeah, you're right."

The Time Lord folded his arms over his chest. "What's he been telling you anyway? Never mind, I'll ask him myself. Go get him."

"That's a little difficult... you see..."

Sam shook his head. "You've had others in the chamber before, right?"

"There. You see? If you can have others in, you can bring Jack in," the Doctor agreed. "So, go get him."

Al sighed. Sam's Swiss cheese mind had to remember that. In fact, during this leap, Sam seemed to be remembering a lot more than usual. "Yeah." Al hit the buttons on the handlink, calling out simultaneously," Gooshie, send Captain Harkness in."

The Gallifreyan frowned for a moment. "Gooshie? What kind of name is Gooshie? Sounds like the consistency of mud after a thunderstorm."

Sam turned to the Doctor. "Dr. Schlomo Gushman is one of the most brilliant programmers I've ever worked with. Other than the halitosis, he's a joy to be with."

"Schlomo?" the Doctor commented. "No wonder he goes by Gooshie. Poor man."

A moment later, Sam and the Doctor saw Al talking to what seemed like thin air. "Yeah, you're going to have to grab me by my shoulder, Jack. I don't care if you'd rather grab... yeah, the shoulder. Thanks."

Suddenly, the boyishly good looking face of Captain Jack Harkness appeared. From the expression on said face, however, it was obvious that he wasn't in the best of moods at that moment. "Okay, Doctor. I understand that after the fight with the Dragon you had some things you had to do. I get that. I really do. But for the last five and a half days, I've been fighting with a parallel hybrid computer that's afraid of new software, I haven't been able to use my cell phone because of dead zones, and I've had to keep explaining," Jack said looking at Al, "that you generally don't go around allowing your companions to die... and what the hell happens?" Becoming even more agitated, he exploded. "You hang up on me! Not once but twice! I hope you have a good explanation for that."

The Time Lord stared at Jack for a long moment, absorbing the vehement rant that came his way. Of all the complaints to hear from his former companion, he really had been expecting to hear more about the last time he had seen him, namely on Game Station in the year 200,100. When he'd thought about how he'd left Jack, this particular tirade didn't match anything he had imagined would occur upon next meeting him. "What?" he exclaimed, clearly confused.

"You hung up on me!" Jack repeated. "I'd been trying to reach you on Rose's phone for the past five days after you left to get silphium and, when you finally answered, you hung up on me!"

"Fifty six phone calls," the Doctor confirmed. "I noticed..." he started before Jack jumped in again.

"It was more than that," the immortal man stated firmly. "A lot more."

"Yes, but that's all the phone's buffer will save," the Time Lord explained. "But what does that have to do with parallel-hybrid computers, dead zones, and supposedly possibly allowing my companions to die, which of course I never would allow?"

Sam also was concerned. "You were trying to reprogram Ziggy?"

Although still upset with the Doctor, at the physicist's voice, Jack turned to him. Obviously enjoying the view, he smiled broadly. "Gawd, you're gorgeous! Anyone ever tell you that? Nice robes, by the way. Shows your assets just right," he said, gestering with one hand as if caressing a body.

"Stop it," the Doctor warned.

"Geez, he's as bad as you, Al," Sam bemoaned. "Maybe worse."

"Oh, I'd say definitely worse," both Al and the Doctor said at the same time.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "We're agreeing with each other? Something must be going wrong with the universe."

Al narrowed his eyes at the Doctor. "You're a barrel of laughs. You know that?"

The alien grinned widely at his words. "Yup."

"Okay. But Jack's... um... obsession doesn't explain why he was reprogramming Ziggy," Sam complained.

"I wasn't!" Jack protested.

"Well, not exactly," Al clarified. "We were just trying to put in the programming to allow Ziggy to connect to the cell phone."

"But, that's brilliant! No... wait a minute... why didn't you just call us?" the Doctor asked Jack.

"Didn't I just explain that the middle of New Mexico is a dead zone?" he complained. "I tried. The land lines wouldn't work, the cell phone wouldn't work..."

"You could have gone to Socorro..." Sam offered.

"No, I couldn't because your creation wouldn't let me!"

"Why not?" Sam questioned with a frown.

"Because one of our Marine guards had very contagious strep throat and we were under quarantine. That's why," Jack emphasized. "And you still haven't answered my question, Doctor. Why did you hang up on me?"

The Doctor's grin faded instantly. "No. The question is... what are you doing working for Torchwood?" he asked darkly. "After all they did..."

"Don't you change the subject..." Jack started but, seeing that the Doctor wasn't likely to be swayed, decided if he wanted his question answered, he'd have to deal with this one first. "Torchwood isn't what you experienced anymore. You think I'd let it stay that way? I'm preparing them."

"Preparing them for the Great British Empire?"

"No. You know what happens to Earth in the 21st century."

Al and Sam looked at each other. "What are you talking about?" Sam asked.

Jack shook his head. "I can't tell you that." He nodded to the Doctor. "But he knows."

"Please," the Doctor continued as if Sam hadn't interrupted. "So, things start to change. But the Earth is completely safe well into the 22nd century. Well, when I say completely safe, I mean mostly safe."

"Exactly. If you can help out on occasion without changing things, so can I."

"But you are changing things!" the Doctor exclaimed. "What? You think stealing alien technology and using it for your own purposes isn't interfering with human history?"

"Yes, we are collecting alien technology. But I've been able to assure that most of it is locked away. In the meantime, we're able to protect the people of Earth from the occasional flotsam that shows up in Cardiff. The Rift pulls it in. If we didn't handle the flotsam, the Earth wouldn't have a chance."

"Rift?" Sam questioned. "Cardiff isn't on the border of a tectonic plate..."

"A rift in time and space," the Doctor told him quickly as if it were irrelevant.

"A rip in space-time?" Sam started getting excited, thinking about the concept. His eyes brightened and one could almost see the cogs going around in his mind. "Those have been predicted for years but never proven. You're saying they're real?"

Once again, Jack looked over at him, smiling. "Oh gawd, he's adorable. Is he always this perky?"

The Doctor took a deep breath. "Yes, he is. Perky, that is. Unfortunately. He's also a bit thick sometimes."

Giving both men a look that could kill, Sam sarcastically responded, "It's nice you find me so valuable, Doctor. As to you," he pointed at Captain Harkness, "I'd really appreciate you not looking at me as if I were a piece of meat."

"Oh! Feisty too!" Jack commented with appreciation.

Sam's eyes narrowed at the Captain.

"Yes," the Doctor said, knowing that once Jack's mind went in that direction, it would be like pulling teeth to get a solid answer to his query. "But back to Torchwood. The instability of the Rift just isn't an acceptable excuse for working..."

Catching the Doctor's statement about the instability of the rift, Sam again became excited about learning more about the phenomena. "Maybe space-time rips work like geologic ones. You know, geologic rifts become unstable when the plates change position. Theoretically, on a quantum level, rifts in space-time might work the same way."

"Oh, very good!" the Doctor complimented. "Now that's not thick at all." He turned to Jack. "See? He's more than just good looks."

"True," Jack answered. "But that just makes him more adorable."

"Well, can't expect me to travel around with a slug."

Jack growled slightly. "You still haven't answered my question!" The holograms from the future started to fade in an out. "Gooshie... not now, I've..." and then they were gone.

The Time Lord huffed. "And I won't until you've answered mine," he muttered back, despite the ex Time Agent no longer being around. "I'm sure they'll find us again. Probably a power consumption problem. In the meantime, we have an appointment with Pharaoh."

Jarman frowned yet again. "No, we don't. I'm not sure that Pharaoh would want to have an audience with you two. For a master and mistress, you are both very strange and a little scary."

The Gallifreyan blinked for a moment, realizing how the whole conversation must have looked for the young man. "Sorry. Long story. But we will see Pharaoh, I can assure you. Come on." He headed out of the wardrobe, intent on finding his way to the palace.