Jack:
Two years, three months, and five days. That is how long I have been tracing artron signatures around the universe. Yaz, Graham, and Ryan told me the Doctor sacrificed herself, but I didn't believe it. The Doctor had cheated death too many times. Besides, I went to the planet myself and saw that a TARDIS was missing. I came to the conclusion that Coshamus sacrificed himself instead of the Doctor. My tech backed me up as I found traces of human DNA on the scene. The Doctor was alive.
It had been a long two years and change. Dying, getting injured, and more dying. There was the occasional jailbreak. Yaz wanted to come along, but I put my foot down. I didn't like the idea of risking her life as she only had one. I also didn't want to imagine the tongue-lashing I'd get from the Doctor, if one of her companions got hurt on my watch.
I nearly ran into the Doctor a couple times. As a he, both times. The problem was, I kept arriving too late. Artron energy was tricky that way. The Doctor had to be somewhere. I felt it in my bones.
On the edge of a part of the universe, I wasn't familiar with, I landed my patchworked ship. I followed my readings, to a seedier section of the city on a rock, half the size of the Earth's moon. I scanned the shack of a pub before entering. Two beings were soaked in old artron energy. Neither were the Doctor. They had to be companions. This was closest I had come to an actual lead.
I swaggered in.
"I'm looking for information on the Doctor," I said.
A few people looked up, but then returned to their drinks in glasses that no health inspector would approve of. I pulled my device out and followed the readings to a pair of women, one with dark hair and another with purple, I recognize as being of the Lankian race.
I pulled up a seat.
"Hi ladies," I said. "Which one of you is going to tell me where the Doctor is?"
"Doctor who?" the dark-haired one asked with a sneer.
"You're funny," I said. "But I'm not in the mood. Just tell where he or she is and I'll be out of your hair."
"Who are you?" the purple-haired one asked in a slightly nicer tone.
I offered a hand.
"Jack Harkness," I said with a winning smile. "How long did you travel with the Doctor?"
She gasped. The other one had a better poker face.
"Jack Harkness," the dark-haired one said. "I've heard of you."
"I'm honored," I said.
"I heard there was a bounty on your head for stealing parts from a Dexterian. Why don't I tell the whole pub who you are and watch you get ripped limb from limb as they fight to take you in."
"Other people might be intimidated by that, but I'm not other people," I said. "I'm going to find out exactly who you are and I won't stop bothering you until I find out what you know about the Doctor."
"The Doctor is dead," she said angrily. "I watched him die on Gelfin. Go check."
"Liar, liar," I said. "The Doctor doesn't die, and that was a very pithy attempt at trying to send me across the galaxy."
"I don't know where he is," she said. "I haven't seen him since he stranded us on Gelfin."
I put elbows on the table and leaned into her space.
"I am much older than I look. I am also much better at seeing through lies than you are at telling them. I have been running around this galaxy for over two years looking for the Doctor. You're going to tell me, one way or another."
"Or I can blast your junk off," she said.
I felt the shaft of a gun on my leg.
"Usually this kind of foreplay turns me on, but like I said, I'm really not in the mood," I said.
"We could always tell him," the purple-haired woman said.
"So, you're the level-headed one," I said turning to her. "What's your name?"
"Nara," she said. "This is Anna Lee. You're looking for a woman, right?"
"I hope you know what you're doing," Anna Lee grumbled.
"I was an archaeologist on a dig site when I unearthed a strange artifact that nearly killed me. The Doctor rescued me and I asked if I could join her crew. Anna Lee is a British Astronaut who lost contact with her ship while on a spacewalk, and the Doctor heard her distress signal. We were traveling back to retrieve her current group of friends when the Judoon entered the TARDIS, and abducted her."
"Where is her TARDIS?" I asked.
"In safekeeping with me," I said. "I live close to the prison meteor called Kro Do forty-three. Anna Lee travels the cosmos looking for ways to break into the prison."
I stared at her closely.
"You know the sign of a good liar? When just enough facts are mixed to confuse someone. I do believe you're telling the truth about the Doctor being imprisoned by the Judoon."
I stood up and faced Anna Lee.
"See the truth does set you free, of my presence."
"Don't bother us again," she said. "Good luck finding weaknesses on that meteor. I've tried everything I can think of."
"I haven't met a prison I couldn't break in or out of," I said.
"Incineration is not an option," she said.
I stared at her.
"I know your party trick," Anna Lee said. "You're immortal."
"You do get around," I said.
"I make due," she said. "Now get out of our space. We both have shuttles to catch."
I left, and quickly circled around to the side. The walls of the shack were thin.
"You're the domesticated one, yet you managed to get him off our backs," Anna Lee said.
"Don't you remember the Doctor saying the secret to any good lie, is for there to be a kernel of truth," Nara said.
"He's full of odd sayings," she said.
"Anna Lee, what are we going to do? This Jack Harkness character only complicates things, and I'm not convinced that is the last we've seen of him."
"There are data banks dedicated to finding a way in an out of that prison. I can only think of two prisons in this universe that are more secure than Kro Do Forty-three. Jack will go mad before he finds a way of breaking her out. But we'll find a way, as soon as I think of one."
"Jack aside then," Nara said. "What do we do?"
"You go home to your husband and kids, while I come up with a plan," she said.
"Will you keep me in the loop?" Nara asked.
"I promise to keep you informed. How many clients does the Doctor have?"
"Fourteen," she said.
"Two days per client, let's meet after the Doctor sees the Doctor again in two weeks. If I find something important before then, I'll contact you."
"Okay," Nara said.
"I need another drink," Ann Lee said.
"Safe travels," Nara said.
"Safe travels," she said back.
I ran around behind the shack.
Okay, I needed to sort through my objectives. One: find a way to spring the Doctor. Two: Find out who these women really are. Three: Discover more about the other Doctor.
I sighed.
"Why can't anything be simple with you, Doc?" I said out loud.