"Hey computer. Missed you." Snapping back into existence aboard his ship, Jack flashed a grin at the banks of controls in the flight cabin. "How's everything going?"
"Auto-repair is progressing at predicted rate. All systems--"
"Yeah, we went through that already. Anything new to report?"
"Engines not stable. Cannot guarantee safety of Captain Jack Harkness whilst in flight." There was a pause. "Suggest continuing auto-repair functions for two further hours before attempting take-off."
"Yeah. Nice idea, computer. I just don't think I have two more hours." Jack slid into the pilot's seat. "I got trouble."
"Power cells currently running at fifty percent efficiency. Auto-repair functions are draining reserve power." She was not the most encouraging piece of equipment he had ever encountered, but he couldn't help being fond of her anyway. He patted the nearest screen.
"You always know how to fill me with confidence, don't you. Okay, listen. I need to teleport a sizeable cargo on board, then fly it to another location, off load, and fire a good sized blast from one of the laser cannons. Give me an estimate on that, yeah?" There was a pause.
"Is cargo organic or non-organic?"
"Non-organic." He thought for a second. "But unstable. Kind of explosive, actually. Sparks wouldn't be a great idea."
"Probability of teleporting sizeable non-organic cargo successfully, fifty-nine percent. Probability of teleporting sizeable organic cargo successfully, seven point two percent."
"Sizeable organic cargo? How about just me on my own?"
"Probably of teleporting Captain Jack Harkness successfully, seventy percent."
"Solo travel only then, huh." He nodded. "Okay. I guess I can hold off on giving Josiah a tour for now. Any chance of getting the tractor beam working?"
"Tractor beam will not be operational for at least five hours."
"Thought not." So much for getting hold of the Kamon that way. Still, the tractor beam was hardly an essential; he couldn't really complain if the computer had other priorities. "Okay. I'm going to switch the rear cannon to the front, which I guess means I'm going for a swim. Scanners on full. There's a Kamon out there somewhere, and if it heads my way, I want to be back on board before it gets here."
"Scanners are operating at fifty-five percent efficiency."
"Yeah, well... well scan at fifty-five percent of full, then. Just scan!" He pulled off his boots and threw the empty laser gun onto the floor. "And keep an eye on the harbour, too, yeah? My last location before I came on board."
"Affirmative." The computer bleeped to itself. "Scanners suggest high ratio of potentially dangerous aquatic life in this locality."
"Sharks. Yeah." Jack pulled off his waistcoat and shirt, then grabbed a tool kit and headed for the hatch. "Keep an eye out for them, too. I'd try a winning smile, but something tells me I need bigger teeth to impress a shark. Keep the home fires burning, huh."
"There are no longer any fires on board." The computer flashed a series of lights to show the readiness of the scanners, and Jack smiled to himself. At times he thought it might be nice to have a sentient travelling companion; someone who might actually understand him properly. On the other hand, given the cramped space in the ship, he would probably end up ejecting anything bigger than a spaniel before a couple of days had passed. And mature sentient life didn't tend to come in conveniently spaniel-sized packages.
"Never mind." He offered the computer a cheerful grin, but she didn't seemed greatly affected. Trying to impress her was becoming something of a hobby. Clambering up onto the top of the ship, he dived off into the water, and swam to the rear cannon. The water was pleasantly warm, and extremely refreshing. He could almost see why the Kamon liked it so much. After the mustiness of the cell, to say nothing of the cobwebs from his barely remembered night-time exertions, the water felt very good indeed. This was hardly the time for recreation, though. Not bothering to be too gentle, he disconnected the rear cannon, which was conveniently above the waterline, then swam on down to its counterpart at the front of the ship. This one was under the water, and it took some considerable time to free it from its mount. He was tempted to let it sink, but fought the more irresponsible side of his nature on this occasion. It was not only technology from the future - it was alien technology, from the now all-but destroyed Chula civilisation. He couldn't very well leave it floating around in the sea on Earth. Not that it was easy to avoid doing so.
"Any chance of some music, computer?" he asked as he made one of his periodic surfaces for air. The computer bleeped at him, and obliged with a Chula ballad. He winced
"I said music, not earache. Didn't we just upload a whole lot of human music?"
"Please specify." She sounded insulted. Did Chula computers prefer Chula tunes? Unlikely, but always possible. He gave the ship's hull a consolatory pat.
"Sorry. You choose. And play it under the water, too. Everything still clear?"
"Scanners show considerable aquatic life."
"Yeah, sure to. I'm a little less worried about the plankton, though. Anything bigger than me, give me a shout, okay?"
"Affirmative." There was another bleep, and the Chula ballad cut out, to be replaced with something that sounded as though it dated from the thirtieth century. Whatever it was, it sounded good under the water, and Jack returned to his work cheerfully enough. The rear laser cannon had no particular desire to double for its front counterpart, the manacles on his wrists were dragging his hands down, and the tools had a sneaky tendency to slip out of his fingers at inopportune moments, and make wild bids for freedom, but for the most part everything went well. Now if only he could be sure that the laser would work at something above the computer's less than encouraging prediction of thirty percent power. He would have to get in close to make his shot with that kind of a handicap.
"Power coupling complete on remounted laser," announced the computer suddenly, rather startling him. As though to confirm the declaration, the cannon whirred loudly and gave a brief shudder. Jack grinned.
"Alright! Is it working?"
"Do you wish to test it?" As usual the computer showed no sign of sharing his excitement. Jack gave the hull of the ship a quick kiss of celebration, as though to show that he wasn't offended.
"No thanks. Better not waste the power. Any sign of the Kamon?"
"No alien life is currently within scanner range."
"Great. Or maybe not. I'd rather it was out at sea than lurking somewhere trying to eat people." He hauled himself up out of the water, along with the tools and the shattered remains of the old front cannon. So much for his tough little space vehicle. He had started out with four guns, and now he had just the one. "Everything still on schedule?" This time he could have sworn that there was real expression in the computer's voice - exasperation, if nothing else.
"Auto-repair progressing on schedule. All systems--"
"Yeah, I know." He slid down inside the ship, and threw the useless cannon into a dark corner. "Just thought we might have a miracle. I'm going to re-route a few non-essential systems and see if I can boost the teleport."
"Affirmative." The computer didn't care, but he liked chatting to her anyway. He pulled his shirt back on, and glared at the manacles when they threatened to shred the cuffs. "Computer, any recommendations for removing primitive restraints? None of my tools look like they'll get the job done without cutting my hands off at the same time." There was a flash of light as the computer scanned him, and a series of schematics ran up on one of the nearby screens. "I guess something more sophisticated is more in your line, huh."
"Brute force is recommended," the computer advised, quite possibly with a faint trace of relish. "Use of on board cutting gear carries risk of removal of parts of Captain Jack Harkness."
"That's not exactly ideal. You can't suggest anything useful? I don't have enough brute force to break iron."
"Sonic resonance may suffice."
"Great. Remind me to stop by the superstore tomorrow and buy something sonic." He sighed. "Sorry. Handcuffs make me cranky. Or at least they do when they refuse to come off afterwards. I'll talk to you in a bit."
"Affirmative." The computer went back to its whirring and buzzing as it governed the various auto-repairs. Jack turned his attention to the teleport. It was a complex device, designed for the sole use of the ship's original Chula pilot, which tended to make it decidedly temperamental. Now that he had more or less asserted his control over the ship, he could teleport himself about the place with relative ease, but it still rebelled when required to move other things. There were morals to be learnt there somewhere, probably, about flying off in other people's ships - but Jack was not good at learning morals. He clambered beneath the relevant console, glowered at the spider's web of wires still sticking out from his last attempt to alter the various protocols, and set to work. It was not easy finding non-essential systems that he could tap for extra power, and he was conscious all the time of the passing minutes. How long could it take Josiah and the others to transfer the kegs of gunpowder to the harbour? How long before the impatient Lord Charles starting assuming that Jack had gone for good, and carried out his threat to execute Josiah and Anne? He whistled irritably, and tried not to think too hard about what he had to do. In theory, teleporting gunpowder onto the Kamon's ship was easy; but it wasn'tas if it wouldn't notice. It might be able to use its shipboard defences against him - providing they still worked after the crash - it might have teleport capabilities of its own. Jack could wind up shot down out of the sky, or with the tables turned on him. He worked a little harder; a little faster; trying to keep himself distracted. It wasn't easy. There were certain motivations, though, he couldn't deny that. Images floated into his mind as he worked - Anne, in seductress mode back at the inn; Josiah as he had been when they had first caught sight of each other. Josiah was a good man, if it wasn't too great an oxymoron to call a pirate a good man. Jack had to conclude that it wasn't, since he considered himself to bemuch the same. He smiled to himself. It was always good, to have a little added incentive. Something to work for - something to aim for. Fighting a Kamon was all well and good; protecting the inhabitants of Earth was probably highly laudable; but it didn't exactly make him dance with glee when he thought about it. But to see the looks that Josiah gave him - to understand that here was a man who thought that he was something special; something wondrous -that was more than merely encouraging. He would burrow under a thousand consoles, battle with a thousand recalcitrant teleports, for Josiah's admiration. To say nothing of what that admiration might lead to later on.
"I think that's got it." Clambering out from under the console, he grinned winningly at the nearest screen. "How's it looking, computer?"
"Teleport now functioning at seventy percent of normal." Well it could at least have sounded impressed. He didn't bother glaring, but instead gave the screen a triumphant pat and grinned more broadly.
"Excellent. So what's the likelihood now of transporting a sizeable non-organic cargo?"
"Probability of successfully teleporting sizeable non-organic cargo is now eighty-three point nine percent."
"Excell--"
"However success can only be guaranteed within short range." There was a pause. "Long range teleportation has only a sixty-two percent probability rating."
"Great." His shoulders slumped. "So I have to fly the damn ship over to the harbour and teleport everything on board with half the population of the Caribbean watching! Computer, do you enjoy dropping these little things in my lap?"
"Negative." There was a pause, and a bleep that might even have been contrite - though undoubtedly wasn't. Jack sighed.
"And the chances of maintaining invisibility are pretty slim, right?"
"With current power levels, chances of achieving invisibility are thirty-one point two percent. Chances of maintaining invisibility--"
"Never mind. I can guess. Not good."
"Seven point one percent."
"Remind me not to crash again in a hurry. It's a pain in the exhaust. Okay. Power up, computer. We'd better go get that powder from the shore. I'm going to need all you got, and if that means shutting down life support, do it. It's not like I can't open the hatch to let air in when I need it. I got a feeling it's not just the gunpowder I'm going to need to teleport."
"Recommend--"
"Just get the engines going." He sat down, and spun the chair to face the flight console. "Feeling good?"
"Power reserves require replenishing."
"Yeah." He flicked a pair of switches above his head. "When we get back to civilisation, I'll buy you a berth at the Morgalian Guild. All the tune-ups and tinkering a space ship could ever want. Just as soon as I can get hold of the fees."
"Lift off imminent." Clearly the idea of getting the mechanical equivalent to a weekend in a health spa didn't excite his placid co-pilot. There was just no pleasing some people. Especially when they weren't actually people. He flicked a few more switches, and felt the ship vibrate slightly around him.
"Going up..." The ship lurched slightly, as though unwilling to leave the sea. "Going up..." It lurched again, no doubt due to its low power and continuing auto-repair. "And... lift off!" The ship zoomed - wobbled might have been a little more accurate - up into the air and hovered unsteadily. Jack gave a cheery whoop. "Alright! Josiah, here we come. Computer, do you have any idea how long it takes to load up a cannon?"
"Laser cannons do not require loading," the computer told him. He rolled his eyes and turned the little ship about.
"I don't mean laser cannons. I mean cannon cannons. The kind that have cannon balls. Never mind. Just keep the sensors ready. There's going to be a lot of people who won't be too happy to see us, and I don't fancy giving them the chance to bring us down. Charlie looks like the kind of guy who'd shoot down a mystery rather than try to find out what it is."
"Primitive weapons are unlikely to penetrate the hull," opined the computer. Jack nodded, half his attention taken up by flying.
"Yeah, sure. We're talking about a large, heavy projectile fired into the air. It doesn't need to penetrate the hull - just bash us into the sea." He sped up slightly, enjoying the flight despite his concerns. The ship felt sluggish, and there seemed to be a slight tremor in the wings, but that didn't detract too much from the usual sensations of being airborne. The only thing better than speeding through the skies was speeding through the stars, and he couldn't stop the grin from growing across his face. It was almost a disappointment when he saw, looming up ahead, the shape of the harbour. He was too high up to see real detail, but the moving specks that he could see were obviously human. Knowing that he couldn't really avoid it, he swooped in lower. There was the powder - kegs and kegs of the stuff, sitting innocuously in uneven piles. There were Josiah and Anne, standing together with at least one musket pointed in their collective direction. There, still, were a pair of drunken fishermen. Lord Charles stood alone, his pure white wig distinctive even at a distance. He was the first of the group to notice the spaceship - the first to hear the engines, or perhaps just to sense the vibrations in the air. Jack swooped down lower, trying not to think of all the rules that he was breaking - both written and unwritten. Rules might not mean a lot to him - but it was hard not to be conscious of them now. All those eighteenth century humans, staring up at an impossibility. Josiah would recognise it of course. He would know that this was Jack's ship now flying towards him. Lord Charles, true to form, didn't even care. Snatching his pistols from his belt, he fired both up at the apparition above him, then when neither had the slightest effect, snatched a nearby musket from a startled soldier, and discharged that as well.
"Return fire?" asked the computer. Jack gave the nearest screen a dirty look.
"Yeah, that'd be an equal match. No, that wasn't an order it was sarcasm. Learn to tell the difference. Can you get a lock on the cargo?"
"Please specify." She was being snippy now, he was sure of it, just to get him back for his comment about sarcasm. He glowered.
"The pile of barrels on the harbour. Get it up here now. And don't shake it up, or we'll both be doing a good impersonation of hailstones." He brought the ship down lower. Lord Charles was yelling instructions, several soldiers bolted for the end of the harbour. Three kegs of powder materialised on the floor near to the pilot's chair. Jack's eyes widened.
"Computer! We need to get them aboard faster than that!"
"Power reserves low." She loved reminding him of that. He scowled.
"Yeah, and I boosted the power available to the teleport. Get the damn cargo on board!"
"Affirmative." There was another blue-white glow, and five more kegs appeared on the ship.
"Faster than that!" The soldiers were running faster now, no longer looking so panic-stricken. Training had taken over - he could see it in the way that they moved. They were heading, predictably enough, for one of the cannons that stood along the wall near to the harbour. Shore defence, in case of attack from the sea. It wouldn't take them long to load it - they must be experts at that kind of thing. Jack slammed on the auto-pilot, trusting in it to keep the ship aloft, despite its obvious wobbles, then made a dive for the nearest console. He ripped out a series of wires, hissed back a curse when he electrocuted himself, then tried to swat away the crowd of nanogenes that converged upon his burnt fingers. "Get out of the way!" he shouted at them, unable to see through their eager glowing. It didn't do any good, and he was left fiddling with the console more or less blindly. Something hummed beside him, and the computer beeped in protest.
"Power required for auto-repair," she told him curtly. He nodded.
"I know. And the auto-repair can have it back when we've finished. Now get those damn powder kegs on board before--" There was a load bang and the ship spun. Alarms blared all around him, and the floor was suddenly above his head.
"Damage! Damage! Damage!" The computer sounded frantic. "Large iron projectile in collision with port wing. Damage! Dama--"
"I know!" He spun back to the flight controls, switched off the auto-pilot, and wrestled to bring the ship back under control. "I'll take care of this. Just get the cargo on board."
"Affirmative." Clearly no longer inclined to argue about his fiddling beneath the consoles, the computer turned her attentions back to the teleport. In a series of sudden flashes, the rest of the powder appeared inside the ship. The soldiers were preparing a second shot with the cannon, but Jack dodged this one easily enough.
"Computer? How's the teleport looking?" He was watching the soldiers at the cannon with one eye, the ship's controls with half of the other. The rest of his attention was taken up with Josiah and Anne. Lord Charles was advancing upon them with a musket, and Josiah was doing his best to keep Anne behind him. Clearly she had other ideas, and had already drawn one of her knives.
"Teleport still charged." Now that the ship was stable, the computer's attentions had returned to the auto-repairs, and Jack well knew that his rebellious spaceship would already be trying to undo his adaptations and restore the bled power to its proper destination. It wasn't the computer's fault exactly - at times the ship itself just seemed to have a mind of its own.
"Good." Lord Charles was lifting the musket, ready to fire. He couldn't really fail to hit Josiah, who was clearly unarmed. Anne was still holding her knife, though, and with what looked like a yell, she hurled the thing straight at the hated Governor. Lord Charles fired the musket, and Jack brought the ship swooping madly down. For a second he thought that he would crash into the harbour - and probably, considering his cargo, blow himself, Josiah and Anne to pieces. He saw the Governor's face, white with sudden terror - saw Josiah and Anne stumbling backwards, away from the Governor, from Jack's ship, from the sudden heat of its engines. "The two of them!" He was yelling the order at the top of his voice, and entirely failing to specify which two of what. "Teleport now!" The cannon was swinging around to point at him, Josiah and Anne were just about to fall off the end of the harbour, and from beneath Jack's feet came the horrible grinding noise of metal scraping on wood. He had clipped the harbour - had done more than clip it, for he could see pieces of it flying up into the air in front of him. He pulled with all his might on the control stick, jammed down the acceleration controls, and as two human shapes blurred into life behind him, sent the ship shooting skyward. A cannonball smashed harmlessly into the sea, and broken pieces of the harbour rained down around it. Jack let out a long, low breath, then turned the ship to head back out to sea. He couldn't help grinning, now that it was all over. He had damn near crashed; damn near blown himself up; damn near taken several other people with him - but he was still in one piece. The Harkness Luck, good as ever.
"Nice work, computer!" She didn't share his jubilation, so he turned around instead to share the moment with Josiah and Anne. "Was that great flying or what!"
"I... Jack?" Josiah was stumbling to his feet, clearly disorientated, trying and failing not to trip over the many powder kegs on the floor. "Jack... what witchcraft... what inhumanity is this? I..."
"What are you?" Anne had snatched another knife from her belt - her last remaining weapon thanks to the day's activities. The blade loomed up in Jack's vision, and he knocked it aside. Fortunately Anne was disorientated too - he didn't think for a moment that she would have been half so easy to deal with had she been fully alert.
"Hey hey hey! Come on, guys!" He flicked the auto-pilot switch and stood up, but the moment that he moved towards them, both stepped hastily back. He tried out a smile and a placatory tone, as he took another step forward. "Look, I know what this looks like, but it's not magic. Not really. Not that kind of magic."
"We were on the harbour." Josiah sounded dazed, which wasn't uncommon after a first trip via teleportation. "And then... If it's not magic, Jack, what else can it be?"
"I can't really explain that. You just have to trust me. Josiah, have I done anything to hurt you so far? Have I done anything to hurt anybody, anything to suggest that I might be dangerous?"
"You mean aside from bringing that monster here?" Anne's eyes were focused on the place where her knife had disappeared - clearly she hoped to regain it. Jack hesitated, then crouched slowly down, fished it out from beneath his seat, and threw it back to her. She blanched, obviously confused.
"I should slit your throat," she told him. Her voice was almost a growl. He nodded.
"Maybe. There's certainly a lot of people who'd thank you. But I'm not a danger to you, Anne. I know what you probably think of magic - but do you really want to follow the Governor's lead? You're better than he is, both of you."
"Jack, we were brought here by magical means. There is no other explanation. Your ship... it flew down out of the sky. The gunpowder vanished before our eyes. If this is not magic, what else can it be?" Josiah's voice was imploring - he wanted to understand. Jack took another few steps towards him, and this time neither he nor Anne retreated. Anne's knife stood ready, though - that was painfully obvious.
"It's not magic," he said again. "Not where I come from. Here, maybe... maybe it is. But not the sort of magic that you're supposed to be afraid of. It's good magic. It's going to get rid of that monster."
"It brought the monster here in the first place," challenged Anne. "You think me a fool? I've heard enough from the both of you, especially last night - even if I didn't believe it at the time. I know that that creature, whatever it is, is here because of you. I know that Lord Charles was right about that, if nothing else. And that, to my mind, is not good magic."
"Well... no." Confound it all, couldn't they just be grateful that he had saved their lives! The ship wobbled, and he spun around in a sudden rage. "Damn it, just keep the ship steady, computer!"
"Power reserves low. Auto-pilot no longer functioning efficiently." She sounded cold, and he sighed. There was no sense in alienating her as well.
"Sorry." He turned his back on his two companions, and slid once more into his seat. "Okay, turning off the auto. We're heading back to our last location." He glanced over his shoulder, to where Josiah and Anne were still standing, still half stunned, or possibly just furious. Afraid, confused, disbelieving - whatever. He didn't care. He had done what he had felt he had to do, and if they couldn't accept that then there was nothing he could do about it. "Hang on to something, you two. We're not as stable in the air yet as we should be."
"We're flying somewhere?" Despite himself, Josiah sounded almost interested. There was adventurer enough within him, perhaps, to fight the predictable prejudice towards magic. Either that or he really had come to trust Jack enough. There was no such trust from Anne, but since she hadn't tried to slit his throat yet, Jack was reasonably sure that she was in control of her own fears. She certainly wasn't lacking in courage; she had proved that so far.
"Yeah, we're heading back to where you left the Dragon. It's not going to take long for Charlie to get moving, and I'm betting he knows who Anne is, and where she works. So he's going to start adding all his twos and twos together, and pretty soon that's going to get him heading for the Shark's Tooth Inn. I want you out of reach before then."
"I... can't honestly say that I understand you." Josiah came a little closer, hanging for dear life onto the back of Jack's chair when he properly saw the view out of the front of the ship. "Great heaven, we're truly flying."
"Yeah. Isn't it great?" Jack caught sight of the other man's whitened face, and frowned. "Well, maybe not. Look, it's simple. Our good friend the Governor is going to have recognised Anne, right? Or some of his soldiers will have done, at least. The Shark's Tooth is going to be the first place he heads for, once he's pulled all his men out of the sea. Youneed to get all of your people back on board the Dragon by then, and head out to sea where he can't catch you. You too Anne, and anybody else you can persuade to go with you. I don't have the power right now to defend you the way I'd like."
"I... suppose you're right." Josiah still looked white, but the resolve was returning to his voice; his shoulders were once more set into a straight, strong line, and the eyes that stared out of the front of the ship were no longer quite so wild. "But there are still explanations that I want to hear from you, Jack. Many explanations."
"I don't doubt it." Jack stole a glance back at Anne. "We'll be there soon. If you're going to slit my throat..."
"I'm not fool enough to do that whilst we're still flying through the air." Her eyes were cold, but her voice was no longer quite as much so. "Magic or not, without you to fly us I doubt we would stay in the air for long."
"Not for very long, no." He flashed her one of his brightest smiles. Anne was brave, intelligent, beautiful - even with Josiah standing right between them, he couldn't stop the gleam from showing in his eyes. She shot him a withering look that clearly said: Not on your life, but he couldn't stop the grin nonetheless.
"I see the Dragon." Either oblivious to Jack's flirting with Anne, or choosing to ignore it, Josiah was still staring out of the front. "Look, Anne. I've seen it from the rigging of course, but never from this far up. She's beautiful."
"Of course she's beautiful. She's the finest ship ever built." Anne also stared out as the Dragon grew closer beneath them. "And though it pains me to say it, Captain Jack is right. We need to be gone from here before the Governor is able to bring whatever remains of the garrison after us. I hope you don't have any superstitions about allowing women on board ship, Josiah."
"Oh I'm sure that there are men in the crew who have just that superstition. No doubt the same ones who insisted that Jack was an evil omen." Josiah smiled back at her. "But they'll keep their mutterings to themselves, especially when they see that I'm happy to have you aboard. You're welcome to stay as long as you'd like. I just wish that I could believe Celeste would also come with us."
"Celeste is in no danger. She has enough people afraid of her to make them think twice about trying to hurt her." Anne smiled fondly. "Besides, she has secret doors and tunnels hidden everywhere. Pirates have been using this cove for as long as there have been ships in this part of the world. They all left their trapdoors and their hidden chambers. There's rumoured to be hidden chests of gold and jewellery all over the place down there, and I'd wager that Celeste knows where every one of them is buried. There are places enough for her to hide in, if she thinks that she's in danger."
"Gold and jewels?" Jack couldn't help quirking an eyebrow in a sudden show of interest. "What! It's not like I'd really be stealing from her."
"She might not see it that way. And sometimes I wonder if her talk of voodoo power is really only talk." Josiah grinned suddenly. "Not that I haven't thought once or twice about going treasure hunting myself. Pirates' treasure belongs in the hands of pirates, not of an innkeeper."
"When it's only the innkeeper who has the brains to work out where the treasure is, then she's welcome to it." Anne was peering out of the front of the ship with a real sense of interest now, her concerns apparently forgotten. "How does this craft get down out of the air, Jack?"
"It doesn't. If I land her now, I'm not sure I'll be able to get her off the ground again. I'll teleport you down, the same way I got you up." He scowled at a nearby console. "That's always supposing that the protocols haven't reset themselves again."
"And then you're going after the beast? The... Kamon?" Josiah didn't sound happy. "I don't like the idea of you doing that alone. We've seen its power. One man doesn't stand a chance against a creature like that."
"One man or twenty, it's all the same. You have to have the right method, Joe, that's all." Jack looked up from his perusal of the teleport controls to smile briefly at his companion. "It'll be okay. See, I figure if I attack its ship, it'll come running. Or swimming, anyway. They have some basic telepathic abilities, and it'll know if its ship is in trouble. I'm counting on it to go into defensive mode and jump right into the trap. Soon as it's aboard, I'll teleport the gunpowder over. All at once, computer, whatever the power levels are like at the time. Then I put everything I've got into a laser blast from the cannon that has to penetrate the hull." He grinned. "And the Kamon goes back into space the hard way."
"Some day, Jack, you're going to have to teach me this language of yours. It sounds so like English at times, and yet clearly it's a foreign tongue." Josiah looked confused. Jack laughed.
"Sarcasm will get you nowhere. Unless that wasn't sarcasm. In which case that was actually kind of cute, which will get you everywhere." He looked serious all of a sudden. "Time to go. Just stand still, and this ought to work smoothly enough."
"Jack..." Josiah didn't sound happy. "You make light of it all, but this is still a dangerous thing that you're planning to do. Somebody should go with you."
"That somebody being you, right?" Jack shook his head. "And then what happens to your crew? They need you. Look, I'm not claiming responsibility for any of this... exactly... but I can see how it might be possible to suggest that it might sort of be my fault. A bit. In a sense. Possibly. And I'd feel bad if we got back from fighting the Kamon to find your crew dead. You have to get them away from here before Charlie arrives. You know that."
"Yes, I know that." Josiah still didn't look happy. Jack sighed, and flicked a switch on the nearest console. There was a flare of blue light, and Anne disappeared. Josiah jumped.
"That was... Is she alright?"
"The scanners say that she's healthy." He pointed, to where a slightly wobbly looking Anne was standing on the beach. "Computer, take over the flight controls for a moment, okay?" Something bleeped in answer, and Jack got to his feet, turning to face Josiah properly. "Listen. I--"
"This is goodbye. I'm not a fool, Jack. I know a dismissal when I see one." The pirate captain looked away, but Jack reached out, touching his cheek to turn his face back around.
"Goodbye? No. More like 'see you later', or 'back in a jiffy', or... a lot of other stuff you probably don't understand. You know you have to stay with your men. I'd love to have you with me. Really I would. You're far better company than a ship that doesn't like me anyway, and an alien that wants to eat everybody on the planet. Sorry, that doesn't sound much like a compliment."
"I didn't understand half of it anyway." Josiah was smiling again now. "You're a strange man, Captain Jack. You're not what you claim to be... but I don't know what you are instead. You say that you're not a man of magic, and yet with a flash of blue light you can transport Anne instantly down onto the beach. You have a ship that flies through the air, a gun that can melt iron doors... You show me a monster like nothing I could have dreamed, and your ways... your ways are strange to me as well. I--"
"Captain Jack Harkness required to resume control of ship," announced the computer, showing a remarkable lack of timing in Jack's opinion. He scowled.
"In a minute."
"Auto-pilot cannot sustain present stability." Maybe she was jealous. He might have smiled at the thought at another time. Instead he just sighed.
"I should be going. I have a date with a big ugly green thing. Granted it's not the first big green thing I've ever dated, but I really would rather be spending the time with you."
"Thankyou." Josiah looked faintly baffled. "I think."
Jack laughed gently at his confusion. "So what do you say that when the monster's dealt with, you and I talk over all the questions you have... all the things you don't understand... over a nice bottle of champagne? I usually have some on ice. Assuming the crash didn't break the last of the bottles."
"Talk over my questions?" Josiah smirked at him. "Somehow I feel that your intentions are not on talk. You have a wicked mind, Jack."
"Of course my intentions are on talk! To begin with anyway." Jack's smile was positively lascivious. "Gotta take these things slow..."
"Losing altitude," snapped the computer. "Auto-pilot failing."
"Damn." Jack vaulted back into his seat, and slammed his hands down on several switches at once. "Josiah..."
"I know. Your ship needs you. I'm a captain too, Jack. I understand these things, even when I don't understand the ship." Josiah put one hand on Jack's shoulder. "When the beast is defeated, come back to me."
"Nothing could keep me away." That was a mild exaggeration, Jack would have had to admit, but it was the sort of thing that people liked to hear. "Champagne, and maybe some truffles. You ever had chocolate, Josiah?"
"No. I've heard of it of course. The rich drink it, but I'm told it's quite bitter."
"Then it looks like there's even more I can show you." He hesitated. "Ready?"
"No. I'd rather stay." The pirate smiled at him. "Yes, I'm ready. But promise me, Jack. Promise that you'll not let that beast kill you. Promise me that you will come back."
"I promise." Jack had all manner of things planned for a day of celebration alone with Josiah Day. Not coming back was the last thing on his mind. He reached up, taking the captain's hand off his shoulder, and giving it a quick kiss. "Stand back."
"Good luck."
"You too. Move like lightening. I'll find you no matter how far out to sea you are. It's no trouble for my scanners."
"Lord Charles will not catch me. Have no fear." Josiah stepped back, standing up straight in the middle of the ship. I'm ready."
"Good." With a fond smile at his new friend, Jack operated the nearby console, and teleported the pirate down to the beach. He saw him standing there, wobbling slightly in the sand, then swooped the ship down out of the sky and waggled the wings in salute. It was hardly the crisp, clean manoeuvre that he would have liked, for the ship was no longer handling at all well - but with luck Josiah would not notice the tremors in an unfamiliar craft. Fighting gravity, fighting low power, and fighting controls that needed an overhaul, Jack banked sharply and sent the ship leaping back up into the air. Next stop, the Kamon's ship. He could only hope that the power reserves didn't give out on the way.
The Kamon was confused. It had a mission; it knew that it had a mission. Though not entirely sentient, its thought processes were more complex than those of most ordinary animals, and it knew that there were orders to be followed. Despite its insatiable desire for the flesh of certain species - particularly humans - a Kamon was not just a killing machine, and it could follow orders. It just had to be given those orders by a race that wasn't on its favourite foods list. It had been told to protect the giant space hulk that Jack Harkness had gone to investigate - it had obeyed its orders by attempting to kill the intruder. It had followed the intruder, trying to carry out its orders - and that was where the confusion began. It had crash-landed in this strange place; a world of water, with a ready supply of tasty humans. It should have been happy. It was happy. This strange place was like Paradise for any Kamon - and yet it couldn't enjoy its new surroundings. It had a mission. It had a man to kill. It had a post to return to. Enjoyment was a new experience for the Kamon.
And so it tried to be a good soldier, an instinct that lay at the base of its being. It tried to find out where it was. It swam, and it tasted the waters, and it tasted the native life forms. It tried to analyse the information available to it. It had an idea in the back of its mind that it was on Earth, but not the Earth it knew of. Not the Earth it had being flying towards when it had crashed. Above was a sky that was not filled with spaceships; the sea did not hum with the sounds of an industrialised world. As it hung beneath the surface, the Kamon could hear the songs of animals that swam in the same waters, but hundreds and hundreds of miles away. It was a new experience. It made the creature wonder, though wonder did not come naturally to a creature that lived for battle.
It had broken its mental programming. It knew that, but it didn't know yet if it felt guilty. It had had its target under its claws, with death one easy blow away, but it had not gone through with the directive to kill. It had let the human escape. It didn't yet know why, but thoughts lingered. Confusions lingered. The human also did not belong on this Earth. The human might know what, and where, and when this Earth was. The human might know the way back. And so the Kamon had allowed it to live, and had allowed its full stomach to lead it away from further hunting, back into the sea to consider things. Not that it could consider - not really. Its brain was not designed for deep thought, and careful planning. It couldn't think things through to their natural conclusion. It couldn't work much out for itself. But it knew that it didn't belong here, and it wanted to know where here was. More than anything, it wanted instruction.
It was lurking in deep water, watching a whale sunbathe, when it felt a tugging at its subconscious. Something was calling to it; something buried deep inside its awareness was telling it that it had to get back to its ship. It didn't understand why, but it felt a certain relief at this new sense of purpose. It was good to have something to do again. Good to have somewhere to go. Slowly at first, but with gathering speed, it set off towards its crashed ship. It passed fish that it might have eaten at another time; it did not allow itself to be distracted by the voices of humans that it heard floating through the waters. It needed its ship. It was the one way to get back to where it was supposed to be; and if the ship was in danger, it had to be protected. And so the Kamon sped up until it was little more than a green blur, and thought of nothing more.
Jack straightened up, staring out at the great expanse of blue sea that surrounded him. The computer on board his ship would tell him if the Kamon was approaching - or at least, she would if the sensors were working properly, which she hadn't sounded completely sure about. He couldn't stop looking, though. He stood on the small piece of the alien ship that stuck up above the light waves, attempting to spark off his enemy's in built programming by attacking the hull with a blow torch, but his efforts were hampered by a sustained campaign by the sea to put the blow torch out. The rocking of the ship didn't help, threatening all the time to pitch him overboard, and the constant thought of how very close the Kamon might be kept him looking in almost every direction bar the one that was supposed to be getting his concentration. His boots were full of water, his hair was spiky from salty spray, and he had nearly dropped the blow torch twice. He was beginning to think that he really wasn't cut out for nautical sabotage. When a large shark surfaced nearby, and had a lazy chew on one of the wings, Jack decided that that pretty much made it definite. He wasn't cut out for balancing acts in the middle of the ocean, with only three inches of a very poor substitute for dry land between him and the unfairly large mouth of a hungry fish. Not that the shark seemed terribly interested in him. He was trying to decide whether or not to be insulted, when his wrist computer beeped loudly.
"Alien life form approaching." The voice of the ship's computer showed predictably little concern. Despite being in an exposed position, with no guarantee that the teleport would work when he asked it to zap him to safety, Jack was rather relieved. He had had enough. He almost stuck his tongue out at the shark, but held back. Knowing his luck the teleport really would fail, and then he would be stuck at close quarters with a giant insulted fish - and it would probably turn out to be a friend of the Kamon's.
"Range?" he asked the computer. Another beep answered him.
"Five hundred metres and closing. Suggest returning to ship."
"Honey, you're speaking my language." He pressed the button of his remote unit, and felt the teleport's glow surround him. It felt different to usual - the prickle of energy almost hurt his skin, and the light seemed somehow irregular. Nonetheless, it deposited him safely onto his ship. He slid into the control seat.
"Do you have visual yet on the Kamon?" he asked. One of his screens immediately changed to show him a view of the surface of the sea, now some distance below him. The shark was making itself scarce, and Jack couldn't help thinking that it was being a damn sight smarter than he was. Was he really doing all of this just to win Josiah's admiration? He couldn't honestly think of another reason right now. It was still possible to quit, though, he thought to himself - to turn the ship back towards land, and leave somebody else to deal with the Kamon. In another day or so, with the auto-repair left to do its work uninterrupted, he would be able to fly properly again - even make a time jump. The Kamon really would be somebody else's problem then. He sighed to himself. Maybe if Josiah's smile hadn't been quite so nice; maybe if Anne hadn't been quite so interesting; maybe if the promise of a Caribbean holiday with his own, very obliging pirate captain hadn't been quite so alluring... Damn it, he wasn't going anywhere. On the screen he saw the green shape of the Kamon as it sped closer, vanishing beneath the ship in search of entry. He spun to face the teleport controls. He had had to re-calibrate them every few minutes, the pre-programmed protocols fighting him every step of the way, whatever he tried to do to stop them. Lights still flashed now, showing the metaphorical anger of a system forced to operate in a way that it didn't like. The computer, which for the most part appeared to be on his side, had fought on his behalf, but still the teleport remained determined to reset to its defaults. There were days when Jack loved the ship, and would have liked to thank the designers personally. This was not one of those days.
"Are we set?" he asked the computer. Something bleeped.
"Teleport window of twenty-five seconds before reset." The computer sounded as annoyed with the protocols as he was. "Boosting power now."
"Gotcha." He flicked a series of switches, though his eyes never left the view out of the front of the ship. The Kamon had activated its own ship; the engines were humming, and Jack could hear their power build. Its ship had most likely suffered less damage than his own, since he had not been able to match its firepower in their battle the previous day, and he began to work more feverishly.
"Ready computer?" he asked her.
"All power temporarily re-routed to teleport." She meant it, too. Everything bar the engines cut out, and the ship gave a mighty shudder. Jack tightened one hand around the control column, sent the ship into a dive towards the other vessel, and slammed his free hand down on the teleport controls. There was a bright, bright flash of blue light, and the gunpowder disappeared, reappeared, then finally was gone.
"Teleport successful," announced the computer, somewhat unnecessarily. Jack wasn't interested. In getting his ship close enough to the Kamon's to be sure of success, he had got it a little too close. He wrestled with the controls now, fighting gravity and the ship's own damaged parts.
"Impact imminent," offered the computer. "Suggest gaining altitude."
"What the hell do you think I'm doing with the control stick, computer! Seducing it!" Jack flicked a few switches above his head. "Get all available power to the engines. I have to bring her around before the Kamon wonders what the hell just appeared on its ship!"
"Re-routing power." A warning klaxon sounded, and Jack groaned at it.
"Not now! I know we're nearly out of juice. We just need to do this, and then we can land and let the auto-repair really do its work. Come on..."
"Engines failing," reported the computer. Jack refrained from swearing at her.
"I know the engines are failing! They got shot up, they fell backwards through time, and then they crashed into the sea! That doesn't exactly come under recommended usage. Just hold her together!"
"Kamon vessel experiencing difficulty. Scanners detect engine faults." Another klaxon sounded. "Sixty seconds to engine failure. Kamon vessel is attempting to lock a tractor beam onto this ship."
"Damn it, no!" Jack wrenched the control stick around. "Do I still have power for the laser cannon?"
"Laser cannon operational. Power has been kept in reserve." A rainbow of tiny lights chased each other across the console. "Close range required for maximum effect."
"I know." Jack spoke between gritted teeth. Of course he had to get in close; there were power alerts flashing everywhere now, and his head rang with the sound of at least half a dozen klaxons. It wasn't as if he didn't know that he had problems. A powerful green light shone out beneath him, and he wrenched the control stick hard. A tractor beam. How the hell did the Kamon's ship still have enough power to generate something like that? The answer was obvious of course - it was the more powerful ship to begin with, to say nothing of the least damaged. Jack muttered swear words learnt on a dozen worlds in a dozen different time zones, and swung his ship round into a circle. How long now until engine failure? The computer should have been giving him a countdown, but for some reason she was silent. Battling to keep everything working, no doubt; either that or losing power herself. Thirty seconds? Twenty seconds? Ten? The Kamon's ship began to lift up, though its engines stuttered. The computer had been right about them being damaged, then. Jack felt a rush of bitter satisfaction about that. For all its greater resources, the Kamon couldn't take off properly - but its gun ports were opening, and Jack didn't doubt that the weapons still worked. Of course they did - anything else would be too close to fairness, and there were little enough of that in evidence here. As his ship gave a massive jolt, and one more klaxon added itself to the tuneless cacophony surrounding him, he did the one thing left that he could think of, and sent his ship into a dive. Down it went, engines screaming, klaxons blaring, the whole thing juddering and rattling as though about to tear itself apart - and the big, wide guns of the Kamon's ship unfolded themselves from their ports. Jack stared straight at them, and reached for the controls of his own gun. This was not going the way he had envisioned it. What had happened to a little heroic risk taking, followed by a triumphant return to a display of Josiah's adoring gratitude? His engines died, and the whistle of screaming wind reached his ears now. The guns below him swivelled; Jack felt a sudden desire to close his eyes. He clenched his teeth instead, gripped tight to the gun controls, and aimed straight back at the Kamon's bristling weapons array. In theory at least, an open gun port was a weak point. In theory at least, the added explosion of a destroyed gun should help to ensure that this worked. If it didn't he wasn't going to get another chance. By now the Kamon's computers would be realising what the gunpowder was; if Jack didn't crash, if the Kamon didn't shoot him, or get a lock on with the tractor beam - if a hundred other unpleasant possibilities didn't come about, there still would be no second chance at blowing the powder. It would all be jettisoned in seconds. Jack slammed his hands down on the firing controls - once - twice - then tried to steer away. He couldn't. The engines were dead, the Kamon's ship was looming up in front of him - and as the gun he had fired at, the gun that had been fully charged in readiness to fire at him, suddenly blew apart in a white hot explosion, Jack had to wrench his gaze away. Lights danced in front of his eyes, his vision blurred and faded. He never saw the massive explosion that marked the end of the Kamon's ship. He just felt the shockwave - the massive, irresistible force that snatched at his ship and hurled it back up into the skies. He heard more klaxons - thought that he heard the computer shouting warnings of her own, trying to operate fail-safes and emergency protocols, trying to reactivate the dead engines. Up and up they went, in a blaze of colour; a tumbling, head over heels confusion that left Jack barely conscious. Alerts were flashing everywhere, but his vision was still too blurred. All he could see were vague colours; all he could hear was the voice of the computer, trying to warn him of something. Trying to tell him something that was probably extremely important, but sounded just like gobbledegook. There was another bone-shaking judder, a moment of near peace, and then weightlessness. Familiar, unwelcome weightlessness, that meant that they were no longer flying upward. They were going to crash. He tried to activate the emergency landing gears, but he had no idea if they were still working, and he couldn't find all of the controls. The computer's voice echoed in his head - the klaxons seemed to have given up. Damn it, what was the computer trying to say? He just couldn't quite get the noise to make sense. Just couldn't quite focus on the words.
And then, with a last, erratic blaze of colour, there was nothing but the sound of the sea.
I saw the explosion, far out to sea as I took my ship and my crew to safety, and I knew that it was the end of the Kamon. Though I never quite knew why, I trusted in Jack to do as he had promised. I had known him for so short a time, but I knew that I could trust him - though I suspected that that trust had its limits. For hours I waited at sea for him to come to me - hours that turned into days, that soon in their turn became months. He didn't come back, despite what he had promised. My trust turned to water, dripping away little by little as the time went by. He had promised me so much, though much of it without words - and he left me wondering if I had made a fool of myself. None but Anne knew the truth of how much that strange and perhaps even magical man had meant to me, and I was glad of that - and soon enough my crew seemed to forget that he had ever come on board. They still spoke of the monster that had killed some of our number, but the memories drifted into the stuff of sea shanties and tall tales; stories to be shared in taverns over tankards of rum. Captain Jack, the man who had fallen out of the stars, was just a shipwrecked sailor delivered back to shore. Even Turner, who alone of the crew had seen him crash land, seemed to forget. I was glad - a man who makes no appearance in a tale is a man more easily forgotten by those he has left behind. I wanted to forget Captain Jack - his smile, his laugh, his magicks and his mysteries. I was happy to let him drift into my past.
But life will always surprise you, and when once the skies have opened, and thrown a man down from above, nothing is ever quite the same again. However it looked, whatever I thought, I had not yet seen the last of Captain Jack. There were surprises yet to come. Magicks yet to be discovered. With Jack, it seems, the adventure is only ever just beginning.
THE END