The piece of toast fell out of the Doctor's hand, landing on his chest as his breathing evened out. Jack chuckled to himself. As gently as he could he moved the Doctor's head to the couch as he stood. He retrieved the toast and carried it back to the kitchen with him. Looking around, Jack saw that the Doctor had wrapped the rest of the bread with a clean cloth in an effort to preserve it. Not wanting to be greedy, but still hungry, Jack used the sharp piece of clay to cut himself another small piece. Finishing it quickly, he moved back to the room and picked up an old pair of trousers and put them on. They had holes in them and would need to be replaced, but they would work for taking care of his main pair of clothes. He was going to have to try to clean them before he headed to work tomorrow. He didn't mind going around the house naked but if the Doctor had patients show up, he figured he better be dressed. As he tried to figure out how to clean the clothes, he found the bit of rock and metal he had brought home for the Doctor to analyze. Setting them aside for a moment, he looked at the clothes.
Carrying them out front he began to shake the clothes. Dust flew everywhere and Jack covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he coughed. Holding the legs of the trousers, he smacked them against the house. They made a dull thump sound as the dust fell off of them. Swinging them again made more dust fall.
"What are you doing?" A tired-sounding Doctor asked. Jack looked over to see the Doctor standing in the doorway. There was amusement in his eyes even as he yawned.
"Laundry," Jack answered with a grin. The Doctor nodded slowly before turning and heading back into the home, closing the door tightly behind him. Jack finished what he was doing and then went inside to find the Time Lord had retrieved his piece of toast and was eating again. In his other hand, he held the piece of metal that Jack had found.
"Where did you get this?" The Doctor wondered without looking at Jack.
"I found it inside the mines. Why what is it?" Jack asked as he sat down next to the Doctor. He grabbed the bottle of water off the table and took a long drink as the Doctor didn't answer him. "Sweetheart, what is it?"
"This can't exist. It is impossible," The Doctor muttered to himself. He ran his thumb along the edge of the metal leaving a thin trail of blood. Not that he seemed to notice.
"You always did like the impossible," Jack informed the Doctor. Grabbing the Doctor's hand, he wrapped his thumb in a bit of cloth. The Doctor looked down at his thumb confused for a moment until he saw the blood seeping into the cloth. Shrugging he turned his attention back to the metal.
"Have you ever heard of Atlantis, Jack?" The Doctor wondered as he looked at the piece of metal in his hand.
"You mean the supposedly missing island on Earth?" Jack asked. The Doctor gave Jack a look that he knew all too well. He had said something stupid in the Doctor's opinion and was now about to receive a lecture. That was alright though as Jack enjoyed listening to the Doctor talk about something he was passionate about.
"Humans," The Doctor sighed. "Atlantis is more than an Earth legend. It is a story that is told all around the universe and known to many cultures. Only humans would turn it into a story about a missing island on their own world."
"Then tell me the story," Jack cooed. He wrapped an arm around the Doctor's shoulders pulling him close to him. The Doctor rolled his eyes but settled back into Jack's embrace.
"The legends say that back when the universe was still young there were two civilizations that were already old. These two civilizations watched over the rest of creation. One felt contempt, the Lachirites, for the other species that evolved and wanted to rule over them. The other, the Atlantians, wanted to protect them and show them the ways of the universe. The two planets went to war against each other. They were of equal strength though and neither on could win. In a desperate move to stop the Lachirites, the Atlantians prepared the ultimate weapon to destroy the other planet," The Doctor told Jack softly.
"Did it work?" Jack questioned the Doctor. The Doctor shrugged.
"The Lachirites planet was destroyed and evidence of it has been found throughout the galaxy it was a part of. Comets, as well as one of the planets moons, all show evidence that the Lachirites did, in fact, exist. Archeologist," The Doctor laughed a little at the word which confused Jack. "Can't agree on when though. The planet Atlantis though has never been found. There is no evidence that it even existed except for in legend."
"And what does this have to do with the piece of metal," Jack asked.
"This piece of metal has markings on it that I have only seen in books before now. See these characters." The Doctor showed Jack a small set of markings on the back of the metal.
"What do they say?"
"I can't read them. Which is saying something since I know a lot of languages. Their meaning was lost in history," The Doctor answered Jack.
"So what you are saying is that you think that Hades is the lost planet of Atlantis. That is impossible even for you Doc," Jack chuckled. The Doctor didn't laugh with him. It sounded crazy and he knew it. The problem was that Hades didn't fit in with the rest of the solar system that it was a part of. The system had only three other outer planets and they were all large gas planet. Hades was roughly half of their size and covered with a strange sand, that wasn't found anywhere else in this system.
"Maybe," The Doctor whispered. He stood up, moving to the kitchen to hide the piece of metal. "If you find more of the metal and can bring it home, I would love to analyze it."
"I will see what I can do," Jack agreed. "What about the rock I brought you?"
"It's just a rock," The Doctor answered as he stored the piece of metal in the cupboard. The rock was the same thing that he had stared at day in and day out since arriving on the planet. The rock meant nothing to him while the little shard of metal fascinated him. Moving back through the living room towards the bedroom he shook his hips slight at Jack as an invitation. He laughed to himself as Jack jumped over the back of the couch to join him in the bedroom.