Jack guessed that they had been driving for about an hour when the castle's towers first appeared on the horizon. He approached from the rear, and eventually brought the vehicle to a standstill beside an overgrown thicket of bushes and trees. The castle looked impregnable at close quarters, and with all of its security, all of the surveillance, breaking in seemed quite impossible. Jack found that he was oddly delighted by the challenge.
"The queen's rooms are towards the centre," observed Leith. Jack nodded. That much he did know.
"Which complicates things even further. If she lived by the outside wall we might stand a chance."
"I'm not leaving without her." Leith drummed on the dashboard with his fingers, driving Jack to distraction in the process. "I need her. There's nobody else that the people would support in the king's place."
"That's your problem." Jack leaned back in his seat, regarding the castle with interested eyes, quite unable to stop himself from trying to solve their dilemma. "I wish I still had access to my ship. I could transmat in and out in a second. It's been powered down though. Without the remote I can't do anything."
"Mine doesn't have transmat capabilities. It took all the space on board just to fit in the time drive. Horrible, awkward device. They're not easy to come by for ordinary people."
"Yeah. There's a good reason for that." Jack folded his hands behind his head, trying to think. "So what about the old favourites? We could disguise ourselves as castle guards?"
"There's too many people around. Too many people who know that we're not guards." Leith shook his head. "Getting in there by stealth is impossible without my transmat, and we can't use that without going back to Charnaby's place."
"That'll be full of soldiers. They probably found the transmat and dismantled it anyway." Jack shrugged. "If stealth is impossible, why not just go right on in there? You say it's only a matter of time before somebody figures out that the queen is involved - and you're right about Idira. She is smart - so why not cut your losses and get in there, grab the queen, and take off? Sure her cover will be blown, but it won't necessarily matter."
"We'll be fugitives." Leith didn't sound convinced. Jack shrugged.
"Hey, you already are. Whatever way you turn, you're going to be a wanted man. If you want to carry on with your revolution, you've already got to do it with everybody knowing what you're up to. Why not have her support in the open? Better than having her found out and stuck in the dungeons, where she'll be no use to anybody."
"You could be right." Leith looked back towards the castle's towers, then nodded his head slowly. "She's usually in her private chamber at this time of day. That's on the third storey. Do you think this thing can go that high?"
"How the hell would I know? This is the first time I've ever driven one." Jack shrugged. "Must have gone that high at times when we were flying out of that town. For a short time, I can probably do it."
"It can't be for that short a time if I have to get the queen out of a window." Leith looked troubled. "She's not young, you know. Not that young. And she's not exactly used to climbing out of windows, especially if there are likely to be guards shooting at us."
"We can always leave her behind." Jack made as though to reach for the controls and drive them away from the castle, but the gun in Leith's hand jerked alarmingly.
"No. We're getting her. I need her, and I won't leave her behind." Leith nodded, as though to confirm his intentions to himself. "Take us in. Aim for the window with the blue curtains, and don't stop for anything else."
"You realise that they'll come after us? We'll have one hell of a drive on our hands, if we're going to stay ahead of the soldiers here. They'll have ships as well as hover-cars, and they'll be armed. They're sure to have a better top speed that this thing, too. This is no racer."
"We don't have anything else. You drive well. You handled her fine when we were escaping from that town. You kept us ahead of any pursuit, and you lost the soldiers with no trouble at all. You'll do it now, too."
"I wish I had your confidence." Jack grinned suddenly. "Actually, I usually have twice that much confidence. It's just being shot at that I have an issue with."
"Then drive all the better." Leith steeled himself in his seat. "And take us in."
"You're the boss." Wishing for the thousandth time that he had never come to Arosa, Jack gunned the engines and skimmed over the castle walls. An alarm blared instantly - violent peals as if of some massive bell, that seemed to make the car itself vibrate. Gunshots sounded out immediately, and the car rocked slightly as a laser blast caught one of the doors.
"Get us higher!" Leith looked momentarily panicked, though he recovered himself well enough. Jack did as he was asked, though he knew that he couldn't get a hover-car high enough to be out of range of guns. All that he could do was swoop and weave about to the best of the machine's limited manoeuvrability, speeding all the while towards that window with the blue curtains. It took all that the little vehicle had to reach the window, but it proved impossible to maintain the height. A figure stared out of the window as Jack fought with the controls. He could see that it was the queen, gesturing wildly, but he could not give her his attention now. He had guns and guards to think about, as well as a car that was just not quite up to the job. Beside him Leith swore.
"You have to get us up there!"
"What do you think I'm doing? You think I want to get shot down!" Jack struggled with the controls, sending the car bouncing up again. Maybe I can land it on the roof. It's not a big jump out of the window from there."
"She's the queen, not an acrobat!" Leith was gesticulating wildly at her, apparently in answer to her own unfathomable gestures. What they were saying to each other, Jack had no idea. He doubted that they did, either.
"You have any better ideas?" he asked. Leith just glared at him, and with an answering roar of protesting engines, Jack brought the car up one final time, lodging it precariously on the roof of whatever part of the castle was beside the queen's chamber. A laser blast struck the door by his head, and although the metal held, he felt the heat and winced.
"Come on." Jumping out of a car when there were people shooting was a damned silly thing to be doing in anybody's book, but by his own admission Jack was not particularly skilled at being sensible. He was rather hoping that the proximity of the queen would act as a shield of sorts. If not then he would be coming down off this roof the hard way. Leith followed him, stumbling on old tiles and many years' growth of slimy moss.
"What's happening?" The queen was leaning far out of the window. Jack swung up onto the sill beside her, in a move that rather pleased him. He liked to think that the guards below had been impressed as well, though they didn't especially look it. They had stopped firing though. Clearly he had been right about them not wanting to risk shooting their queen.
"Your majesty." He flashed her one of his usual winning smiles, though she didn't return it. "Change of plan."
"You're insane." She looked back as an almighty thump sounded against the door to her sitting room. "I locked the door, but it won't hold forever. A few good laser shots and they'll be in here."
"Then hurry up." Jack offered her his hand. "They're onto you - or they will be soon. Leith here wanted to play the gallant rescuer, so if you wouldn't mind hurrying up? I don't want to die on a mission as stupid as this one."
"Your majesty..." Leith seemed suddenly unsure what to say to her, his earlier confidence apparently gone. "I... I've made a mess of things, but there's still a chance for all of us if we can get away. I know that this isn't what we'd planned, but the only alternative seems to be the dungeons." He ducked sharply as a laser blast scarred the wall close to his shoulder. Somebody below shouted something angry, but it was impossible to hear from up above. Another terrific thump shook the door.
"Leave the castle?" The queen shook her head. "No. Leith, I wanted to be President, but I thought that I would always be here."
"You will be here again, just as soon as we've managed to defeat the king. Ma'am, this is the best thing. The only thing." He gazed at her imploringly. "Please. If we're to dethrone him, we must stay out of the dungeons. Both of us."
"Insanity." She shook her head. "It's insanity. Why did you come here? They'll know about me now. You've ruined everything."
"I had no other choice." Leith took her hand, suddenly angry. "You have to come with us."
"Now that you're here, I hardly have a choice." She flinched as the door behind her shook again. Another gunshot flashed up from the ground, striking the hover-car and making it rock alarmingly. From the other side of the door came an answering shot, and the smell of burning wood. Jack tried out a gentle smile.
"We don't have much time," he told her. Another shot or two and the hover-car would fall. Somebody on the ground would realise that soon enough. She nodded at him.
"One or two things. I must have one or two things."
"Your Highness!" But she was already gone, disappearing into the room. Jack swore, and scrambled in through the window after her. She was grabbing things from every surface - far more than they could ever carry. "Your Highness, you can't take all of these things! And there isn't time!" The door rocked again, as though to underline his comment, and the queen jumped.
"Stop firing!" she shouted at the door. "I am your queen! I command it!"
"I don't think that's going to stop them now." Jack tried to hustle her towards the window. In just a moment the guards on the ground would see her running of her own volition towards the ship. They might just take the initiative then, when they made the obvious assumption. Her presence would no longer be a shield. "Come on. We have to get out of here."
"Take these." She was filling his hands with jewels, stuffing them into the pockets of his jacket. "Carry them for me. Look after them for me. I won't leave them behind. They were presents from leaders and businessmen all over the galaxy. Keep them safe."
"Huh?" It wasn't often that somebody was obliging enough to give him their jewels. He nodded mechanically, then without ceremony pushed her out of the window. She stumbled into Leith's arms, running with him towards the hover-car as Jack jumped down in their wake. Another gunshot hit the hover-car, and it wobbled again.
"Hurry up!" Jack was swinging up into the driver's seat whilst the other two were still running across the roof. Another gunshot. Another alarming wobble from the hover-car. Quite suddenly there were men at the window with the blue curtains, and Jack could see that they were shouting. He couldn't make out the words from inside the car, above the sound of the shots from below, but he could guess what was being said. They were shouting for their queen, and she was making it quite clear where her allegiances lay. Leith's gun was in his belt; there was no sign that he was forcing Jena to run. One of the guards at the window raised his gun.
"Hurry up!" yelled Jack again. He gunned the engines. Another gunshot hit the car, and the vehicle lurched alarmingly, jolting towards the edge of the roof. It took all of his strength on the steering controls to keep from sliding further. Leith was pushing the queen in through the door now, struggling in after her, laser blasts knocking chunks out of the roof by his feet. He had barely got the door closed when a volley of shots hit the car, and with a screech of metal on tiles and stone, the vehicle toppled over the edge. Jena screamed, Jack wrenched back on the controls, and the world tilted in the windscreen. His stomach tilted with it, and he closed his eyes to right his senses, jerking back on the stick in his hands. With a scream of the engines and a horrible wrenching sensation they were upright again, skimming over the heads of soldiers on the ground. Leith let out a long, deep breath.
"Don't go relaxing yet." Jack was still fighting the controls. The car had taken one too many hits, and the steering felt spongy. The queen, squashed between them, was sobbing, and every few seconds another gun blast made the vehicle dance. Jack thought that he could hear other engines above their own - pursuit, without a doubt. Leith fired a few shots at the soldiers to try to give them some leeway, and with all the speed that the hover-car could muster, Jack took them back over the wall and out towards open ground. His hands and wrists were stiff, his arms were tired, and the hover-car felt as though it were about to give up. It was all he could do to maintain their speed. He closed his mind to the likely proximity of the vehicles that were sure to be following them, and focused his mind on escape. If they could ditch the car and find somewhere to hide; hole up for a while, and then find some other means of transportation; if they could just stay ahead for the time being, they could still have a chance. He had been in worse positions than this in the past, he was sure of it. Just because things looked hopeless, didn't necessarily mean that they were. Though it was a fairly good indicator, admittedly.
"Get us out of here, Jack!" Leith had given up trying to take pot-shots, the erratic motion of the car making it impossible to be sure of his aim. Instead he put the gun away, and tried to shelter from the fusillade turned against them. Jack scowled.
"What do you think I'm trying to do!" The car lurched alarmingly and he gave up any attempt at conversation. He had to concentrate. Crashes were unpleasant at the best of time; crashes in the vicinity of enraged soldiers anxious to make an arrest were definitely best avoided. He thought briefly of Idira, and wondered if she had bothered telling anybody that he was supposed to be on their side. Then he wondered if he actually was on their side, and had to conclude that he didn't actually know. He had rather lost track just lately.
"Faster! Go faster!" Jena was practically screaming in his ear, her voice shrill and painful. All things considered, he couldn't help thinking that she hadn't been such a great choice for a future president. At the first sign of a real rebellion she would probably have retired to her chambers and refused to come out. A volley of gunshots slammed into the floor of the car, and he could think of the queen no longer. It was all that he could do now to stop the vehicle from dropping like a stone.
"In front of us!" Jena's voice was agonising at such close quarters. The poor woman was afraid - Jack might have been sympathetic, if he had had the time. If he had been a more sympathetic person, and more inclined to worry about the health of banshees screeching in his ears. He looked up briefly, to see what she was shouting about, and saw a sleek grey hover-car rising into view just ahead. He went for the brakes, twisted the steering, batted away Jena clawing at the controls. Something made an unpleasant wrenching sound deep inside the engine, and a shower of sparks flew out of something above his head. He could hear gunfire, though he wasn't sure where it was coming from now. He was no longer even sure where it was hitting the car. He could think about nothing but the controls, fighting gravity every inch of the way. Bright lights flashed out at him from the hover-car in front and he spun the steering column, but the response was sluggish at best - then with a strange smashing, splintering sound, the windscreen was simply no longer there. Jena gave a howl and tumbled forward, thrown by the jolting of the car, vanishing out through the hole as though plucked by some invisible hand. Leith tried to catch her as she fell, but his feet were caught beneath the dashboard, and he couldn't even get close. Jack had a fleeting glimpse of her as the car rocked and bucked - a dusty and dazed figure in the middle of a road, already surrounded by guards. She didn't look badly hurt. Fortunately they hadn't been all that far above the ground.
"We've got to go back for her!" Leith looked wild. Jack shook his head. Even if he had been inclined to try to rescue Jena, there was no way that he could have managed it. He could barely keep the car in the air. The steering was almost gone, and the engines had long since lost their usual hum. There was an ugly, throaty growl from them now, punctuated irregularly by a choking cough. It was no surprise when he turned the control stick and nothing happened. The steering had finally gone completely.
"Jack! We have to go back for her!" Leith made a grab for the controls, but nothing happened. Jack didn't even bother fighting him off. The car bucked violently, as though rebelling against the creatures that sought to control it. The last thing that Jack saw clearly before he knew that they were going down for sure was a row of soldiers taking aim. After that all was light and dark, up and down, hot and cold. He knew that he had been thrown clear of the car, tumbling out through the broken windscreen, but he didn't know how far he fell, or what had happened to Leith. There was nothing but a moment of spectacular disorientation, before he was hitting the ground with a sickening, agonising thump. He rolled with the landing as best he could, trying to minimise the damage, fighting to keep his senses as he crashed through undergrowth and coarse grass. The noise of tearing, screeching metal filled his ears, though there was no answering explosion. Head far from clear, the notion of escape the only definite one in his mind, he fought his way to his feet and blinked dazedly around. He was beside a road, lined by a low white wall. He tried to get over it, with half a mind on the idea that a road would be a good thing to follow right now. The wall seemed to move as he tried to climb over it though. Suddenly there were two walls - three - all wobbling and blurring in front of his eyes. He fell over it in the end, and hit the ground hard on the other side. Guards were grabbing at him then, hauling him upright and dragging his arms behind his back. He fought, though he could tell that it was useless. These were strong people, and angry. He gave in in the end, choosing acquiescence in favour of breaking an arm.
"No!" A woman's voice was shouting, but the sound was indistinct. "Leave him alone! He's on our side!" There was a jumble of further conversation that he was almost too dazed to hear - then suddenly the hands on his arms were gone, the jostling scrum of bodies was relieved, and there was an entirely new grip on his shoulder. He managed a shaky grin.
"Idira. I thought you'd forgotten about me."
"Hardly. I thought you were dead. I thought I'd sent you on a suicide mission, but you were..." She smiled, though it barely registered with him. "You were amazing."
"I do my best." He had no idea what she was talking about, but apparently he had done something that pleased her immensely. "Might have been nice if you lot had appreciated it a little more."
"Yes. I'm sorry about that. The shooting, the crash... There was nothing I could do. We nearly killed you, and you've done so much for us. I would never have believed that the queen... if you hadn't..." She was staring up at him, obviously concerned. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, sure. A little woozy." So that was it. She thought that he had engineered all of this to unmask the traitorous queen. Well, who was he to disappoint her? Maybe she was right anyway. Damned if he knew. He smiled at her, then glanced sharply around. "Leith. Where is he?"
"Thrown clear like you were, I'd guess. I haven't seen him. There are guards all over the place though. We'll get him."
"He's desperate." Jack was surprised to discover how concerned he was. There might be shooting. He didn't want Leith to die. "I have to find him."
"Jack, let the soldiers worry about him. He's their problem, not yours."
"You made him my problem." Jack stepped away from her, heading back towards the crashed car. It looked like nothing more than twisted metal - unrecognisable as the car it had once been. He was lucky he had been thrown clear, he realised. If he had still been inside it when it had hit the ground, he would probably not be alive to think about it later. For a moment he wondered if Leith might not have made it out, and he wondered if that might not be for the best - then he saw a shaky figure rise up out of the undergrowth at the side of the road. It was unmistakably Leith, though he looked a mess. He was fumbling for the gun in his belt, obviously still determined to make his escape.
"Put down your weapon!" Some nameless guard was levelling his gun. Taking advantage of the fact that everybody else was looking at Leith, Jack punched him sharply in the side of the head. It was an entirely automatic reaction, and one that he couldn't begin to explain. Leith had to be captured - but Jack was damned if he was going to let the soldiers' job be too easy.
"Everybody get back!" Leith was taking a few steps forward. He was looking this way and that, undoubtedly searching for the queen. "Jack, come on. I need your help. If we can get to my ship I can try again. Travel back again."
"This is crazy." Jack walked towards him, moving slowly, ignoring the soldiers who shouted at him to stay back. Idira was following as well, a gun in her hands now too. Jack didn't want either of them shot, especially one at the hands of the other. He cared for the both of them, and right now he wasn't altogether sure how to prevent either one of them from firing. "Leith, we can't get away from here. They're all over the place. They'd never let us go."
"Have you seen the queen?" Leith's gun was pointing in a hundred different directions at once. "Is she safe? Did she survive?"
"Yeah, she survived." Battered and bruised and probably not making much sense just now, but she was alive. Leith nodded slowly.
"Good. I didn't want her to be hurt. Not a great way to run a revolution, is it, getting your president killed before she can even begin."
"She'll never be president now." Idira took another step forward. "You're under arrest. Now get out of the way, Jack."
"Give him a moment." Jack turned back to Leith, hoping to get through to the man. "She'll kill you. Her or one of her men. They're everywhere."
"I can still get away." Leith sounded almost sulky. Jack could sympathise with his stubborn stand - the poor fool didn't want to go to prison. With all that he had heard about the castle dungeons, Jack could entirely understand why.
"Leith, give up." Idira wasn't speaking at all; was just staring at the pair of them, gun levelled. Jack could see the ice in her eyes, and he knew that she would fire. Leith would be a dead man in seconds, unless he managed to kill Idira first. "Leith, damn it!"
"We can still get out of here!" Leith's voice sounded desperate. "Grab a hover-car, make a break for it. I have a ship, and you've got one somewhere too. We just need to make it to one of them."
"You wouldn't make it six feet." Idira spoke without emotion, her words quiet and measured. "And don't think that I won't shoot you, if you stay in my way Jack. My only loyalty is to the throne."
"Yeah. Your great king, and his great hopes for the future." Leith sounded disgusted. "My way would be better. None of you are prepared to even think about it."
"You really want a world without a monarchy? Well that's your prerogative. So why not go and find a planet that's already a republic?" Idira smiled coldly. "Now drop the gun. There are thirty of us. We have Charnaby and Queen Jena in custody. Your rebellion is over."
"Not necessarily. I can try again." Leith's hand shook on the gun. Jack sighed an imperceptible sigh.
"You know I can't let you do that," he said softly. Leith looked over at him, and Idira took the opportunity to advance a few steps.
"A fortune, Jack. My employer will pay a fortune if I succeed with this. You can be richer than you'd ever imagined. My world would be so different."
"Yeah, I know." Jack reached out, putting his hand over Leith's and forcing the gun down to point at the ground. "And you don't know how different." He gave the hand a twist, not surprised to find it almost lifeless. Leith's cool fa�ade of earlier had long abandoned him in the face of so much pressure - and whilst he might want to be rich, he wasn't suicidal. The gun fell with a quiet thud.
"Thankyou." Idira pulled out a pair of handcuffs, twisting Leith's unresisting hands behind his back. "I appreciate all of your help."
"Yeah. Even though you'd happily have shot me a few minutes ago." Jack stepped out of the way as two guards came up to lead Leith away. He tried to catch the prisoner's eye, but there was no response from Leith. Thinking about the dungeons that the former magician was heading for, Jack could only sympathise. The idea of such incarceration made him feel sick. Idira waited until Leith and his escort were gone, then let out a long, long sigh.
"I thought I was going to have to shoot him. Not really my thing if I'm honest."
"You're pretty convincing for somebody who didn't really mean all her threats." Jack didn't look at her, and Idira followed his line of sight, to see where he was looking instead. Leith. She sighed.
"He's a criminal, Jack. He would have killed the king, and probably the heir to the throne as well. Maybe others in the royal family. And to think that the queen herself was involved in that."
"She wanted her husband's power for herself. Wouldn't be the first." Jack was still staring after Leith. "He's not such a bad guy, you know."
"No. Only a killer. He murdered Acton, and who knows how many others. Remember Acton? I found his body stuffed into a trunk in Leith's apartment."
"He said that was an accident. Acton was trying to sting him for more money."
"That hardly makes him innocent. And this was all just for money? He mentioned an employer?"
"Yeah. Some businessman from his own time. Leith is from the future."
"Seriously? When I got to Jena she was saying something along those lines. I thought she was just raving."
"No, she's not." Jack finally tore his eyes away from Leith, and sat down on the small white wall that ran along the side of the road. "Leith was from the future, and somebody was paying him to come back and change history, so that... well, so that his business would be doing better. They thought that removing the king would shape certain future events..." He trailed off. "They couldn't have known. Or maybe they could. Leith certainly didn't seem to know what he would be changing."
"You're serious, aren't you. He wanted to change history?"
"Talk to him. He might tell you." He shrugged, and looked over to where Leith was disappearing into a hover-car. The car's engine whirred, and the vehicle rose up into the air. "Though I doubt it."
"Stop looking like you're sorry for him. He's a killer."
"I let him down. Yeah, I know. Bad guy. I have some experience in that area myself, though, you know. And I like him."
"If you're thinking what I think you're thinking... don't even think it."
Jack frowned. "What do you think I'm thinking?"
"He stays where he is."
"Oh. That." He shook his head. "I wasn't going to try to spring him. He's too dangerous. Probably."
"Probably! I may be no expert in time mechanics, but he wanted to change history. Isn't that just a little bit dangerous!"
"Yeah. A man wants to change his world's future, that shouldn't necessarily make him a bad guy. Not really. But some futures just have to stay as they are."
"I should hope so too. There's great things in our future." She sat down beside him on the wall. "In a few weeks from now, the king is leading a delegation of representatives from every country on Arosa. The plan is to begin a series of talks with the leaders of many of our neighbouring worlds. To form alliances, so that we can work together more closely. You know what the universe is like, Jack. You know the races that live in it. We need to band together against some of them. Certain of them that are never going to live peacefully. The king hopes that we can all stand together out here, and protect all the local inhabited worlds against attack. Plus it'll be good for the economy in the long run. Sure to be."
"Sure to be." Jack nodded mechanically. "I guess Leith hoped to prevent all of that by losing the king. Big events like that... events that effect so many worlds... you can't change that, can you."
"You should know that better than me. But I'd say that it would be madness to try." She smiled rather faintly. "And our next step is to make sure that nobody else gets sent back here to try again. That's our problem, though. Not yours."
"You're telling me. This was never my problem to begin with." Jack watched the milling soldiers for a while, then glanced back at Idira. "You know about Toby Mendosa?"
"Toby? He's disappeared. When he ran off, with no more talk of taking you in, I did begin to suspect that he hadn't been entirely honest with us. He was involved?"
"Leith intended to use him to try to minimise the effects of changing time. I'm not sure how, but I do know that that is way outside of the Time Agency's mandate. I just hope he was moonlighting on this."
"Will you try to find out?"
"No. Not my problem. I have my dealings with the Time Agency, but they're of a very specific nature. I don't plan on getting any more involved than I am already. And I don't plan on giving them any more reason to come after me."
"Probably sensible." She laid a hand on his, rather unexpectedly. There was something in her palm, and he knew it straight away for what it was. The familiar shape of his ship's remote unit was unmistakable, and with unmasked delight he took it from her. Idira smiled at the look on his face. "Well, I did promise. And you can't wait to go, can you. I shall miss you, Jack. Damned if I know why."
"Everybody misses me. I'm a very popular guy."
"Yes. In particular with bounty hunters, I'll bet."
"Probably. Here and there. But everybody's wanted in at least one timezone, right?"
"In some strange parallel universe where we're all time-travelling criminals, you mean?" She shook her head. "You should stay here, Jack. Go straight. You're far in your own future, so the risks are lessened. We're a long way off the beaten track. You've helped to save the king's throne, and he's sure to be grateful. You might even end up with a title. Jack, Earl of Harkness."
"If Harkness was a place, I don't think I'd want to be earl of it." He stood up. "No, I'm getting back out there. There are things... well. Things I have to do. But thanks for the offer."
"At least come back to the castle. The king wants to thank you personally, and there may even be a reward."
"I doubt that." Especially once somebody notices all that missing jewellery. "I don't do big farewells."
"Sure?"
"Yeah." He kissed her hand, then reached out to pull her into an embrace. She didn't resist. She had argued with him, fought with him, and seriously thought about shooting him, but a farewell kiss wasn't really so bad a thing - especially since he might yet change his mind. He might stay for a while. It could be rather nice getting to know Jack Harkness that little bit better. She was still thinking those thoughts when the arms around her became suddenly insubstantial, and the lips pressed against hers faded away. He had gone. She smiled a little sadly at the last glow of light in the air, then turned around and headed back to the others. If that was the way it was, then so be it. For her, there was work that still had to be done.
The computer was pleased to see him, or so Jack liked to think. Lights blinked when he appeared on board the ship, which was, admittedly, just the consoles powering up again. It looked like a hello to him though, after a fashion. He threw himself into his seat and stared around at the familiar controls. He hadn't been gone that long, but it felt like ages. It wasn't natural, to be stuck in one place, one time. Happily he caressed the ship's battered lines.
"All systems engaged," the computer told him, as passionless as ever. He chose to interpret that as a fine display of adventuring spirit. What else could it be, when she cared even less than him about where and when they went next? He patted a console, and smiled at the computer that didn't care, and the ship that cared even less.
"Then let's get out of here." He pressed a button; felt power surge; felt his ship begin to move on its way. He had jewels to sell, beings to meet, places to visit. That was the sort of thing he did, and it would be good to be doing it again. Arosa could look after her own. He had seen what lay in her future. The last thing he wanted was to be there to see it again.