Solipsism
Ten: A Little Fun
What's life if you can't have at least a little fun? And what can I say but Jack is amazingly fun to have fun with… But there's a time and place for fun and now that's ending.
"Work to do." I remind Jack.
He nods and flexes his gloved fingers as he turns to the master science station and examines the ship's schematics. "Thanks to the TARDIS, it would seem we do indeed have viable life support and minimal ship's power. The consoles are fully booted but without the AI it's like lights on but nobody's home."
"I agree." I pause and hold my index finger up in the air. Jack looks at me. "Do you think that's her?" I ask him, referring to the mysterious disembodied voice.
"Newhope? I don't know. It doesn't sound like her but that really isn't meaningful. I suppose it could be."
The console I'm standing in front of is spewing out what looks like random machine code. Screens and screens of it. I don't see any obvious pattern to the data. I rub my hands together in anticipation and try the keyboard; it doesn't seem to affect what's displaying on the monitor. I stand and watch the information for awhile – I allow it to burn itself into my memory – then I move on to the next console. Again I watch for awhile, and then I see something. I recognize what's on the display. It's rendering the same identical code.
Interesting…
"Jack?"
"Yes Doctor?
"Along with John Hart, you were Co-Captain of this ship, is that so?"
"Yes."
"Were you supplied with or asked for any special password that would identify you as such? You know... a virtual key or unique identifier of some type?"
Jack looks up at me from the console he's standing over and nods. "Sort of. Why?"
"Sort of what? A password?"
"Yeah, exactly."
"Well, what is it?" I ask him and I hear the sound of impatience in my voice.
"Uh, it was linked to a retinal scan."
I shake my head. "I don't think a retinal scan is going to be validated, the system isn't operating at that high of a level. But a manually entered password might do it. Might help us get into the operating system's assembly language layer. What is it?"
"Um…"
"Jack? Don't make me ask you a third time…"
He walks over and stands in front of me. "It's just that, well, this is a bit embarrassing."
"Embarrassing how?" And there I was thinking the fun was over…
"Well… you have to remember when, you know, John first brought me on board this ship. It was after you left me, Doctor, after we got back from our second trip to the Shrake homeworld, and you left me standing alone that night on the roof of the Millennium Centre…"
"Right… I remember."
"Do you?" He looks at me and suddenly I feel a little uncomfortable. Actually all of a sudden I feel like I need to apologize for something. Something that was not intentional, and yet....
"Jack, I know neither of us wants to live in the past. Yet I do remember well that night and I'm sorry I hurt you. I knew then, Jack, that we had our own separate paths to follow but I also knew, I always have known, that those same paths would eventually come together, as they have."
"Doctor?"
"What is it Jack?"
"It's okay, really. I don't expect or need you to apologize. I just want you to know, getting back to the question at hand, that I was, um, still sort of infatuated with you when John tracked me down, when he rescued me after you'd left me alone that night."
"What about now, Jack," I ask. "Are you still infatuated with me?"
He shakes his head sadly. "No Doctor, I'm not."
And I can't believe I'm going to ask him this because I'm not sure I really want to know the answer, but it seems important and therefore I do. So this is me, asking away... "And how do you feel about me now, Jack?"
Amazingly, incredibly and unexpectedly Jack Harkness breaks out into a gigantic smile. "I've already told you," he says, "I will love you until the end of time. That's never going to change."
I nod at him. There's really nothing I can say to that. Is there? Well, actually I suppose there is.
"I love you too, Jack. Now tell me the damn password."
"It's doctor, okay? Delta-Zero-Chi-Tau-Zero-Rho"
"Ah." No wonder…
"Yep," is the clipped response.
I shrug, reflect for a long moment and then admonish him. "Six characters, Jack. It's not a strong password."
"Strong enough for me," he winks.