4

The Doctor stood up straight, his brow creasing. Jack glanced at him, but before he'd said a word the Doctor had set down the tool in his hand, taking off down the corridor.

"Jenny?" he called out as he entered the main Hub.

"Father!" Jack came into the room just as Gwen and her charge stepped off the lift. The pale girl ran up to her father, nearly skidding to a stop in front of him.

"Father, there's been a serious chronologically related incident in the city." Her eyes were wide, and the tone of her voice made Jack's muscles tense. Trouble. "You have to come. We've got to fix this. Come on-"

The Doctor held up a hand. "Woah, hold up a bit. What's this? Chronologically related incident?"

Jenny drew a deep breath. "We were out in the street, just walking around. And then…" She stared at him for a long moment as if searching for words, then dropped into another language, all lilting sounds and rolled consonants. Jack stared. That was the Doctor's original language; he'd heard it before. Only a few times, mostly when the Doctor cursed. He'd never heard a real conversation in that tongue.

The Doctor listened as his daughter spoke, eyebrows rising. "So, what you're saying is that you saw the boy's timeline switched?" He asked, this time in English. Great. At least Jack would be able to keep up with some of the conversation. The girl gave a sharp nod.

"Essentially. I saw him reach the curb and walk down the street-and then it changed, and he didn't make it, he fell, and one of the vehicles… ran him over. But it was all off; it was just weird, this second timeline. Just wrong. It wasn't one of the main timelines. It shouldn't have happened."

"Doc?" Jack asked warily, "What's up?"

"Jenny has seen something problematic with a few timelines here in town." The Time Lord replied absently, watching his daughter. "Now, did they warp, or just switch outright?"

Jenny shrugged. "Looked like a direct change from one to the other. But the boy's actions weren't the catalyst. It was-it was like something pulled the proper timeline out from under him and stuck that one in."

"Give me a look, can you?"

Jenny nodded, meeting her father's eyes. They both became still, gazes locked.

"What're they doing?" Gwen whispered.

"Memory sharing." Jack said softly. "Jenny's showing the Doctor what she saw."

"They can do that?"

"Time Lords can do a hell of a lot of things you wouldn't expect, Gwen. Even-"

"Jack, d'you mind, we rather need a bit of quiet." The Doctor said. Then his dark eyes grew wide.

"Oh. This is not good. Not good at all."

"You recognize the attack tactic?" Jenny asked, her head cocked.

"In general, yes, in specific no." the Doctor said quickly, turning on his heel "And it's not attacking. It's feeding."

Then he was doing a quick trot towards his ship, his daughter on his heels. Great. Just what they needed, another problem in this city.

Gwen was staring at him. So with a shrug, he followed the Doctor. Just like old times.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Walker glanced up, startled as the TARDIS door opened. Now when had Grandfather learned to open the doors without touching them?

The expression on her grandfather's face banished her idle wondering. "What's wrong?" she asked as he jogged through the door, sparing her barely a glance.

"Problem." He said sharply, "Bi-ig problem. Big nasty problem. Just hope there hasn't been any breeding yet, maybe there's only one or two or so as of yet, with any luck it'll be the trackable sort-trackable? Is that a word?" He glanced at her, his eyes barely focused, then shook his head and bounded to the console.

The Walker watched him dash around the control panels of his ship, nonplussed.

"What is he on about?" she said aloud.

"Something bad." Jenny replied, stepping up beside her. "I saw something bad out in the city, and when I showed it to Father, he took off."

"What was it?"

Jenny shook her head. "Dunno. I couldn't identify it. Couldn't stop it." The younger girl's eyes were fixed straight ahead. Her soldier pose. She must be upset if she was falling back on it.

"What was it like?" the Walker asked gently. Jenny glanced at her, opened her mouth, and shut it again.

Here. Look.

Always so direct. The Walker watched the memory behind Jenny's eyes. Watched as the child hit the curb. Watched as the timelines around him convulsed, and the main timeline that was his future seemed to snap. It was as if somebody had cut the boy's tapestry of life and woven in a new path. The Walker flinched internally as that path abruptly ended in a screech of tires, along with the memory.

"Oh my."

"More or less what I said." The Doctor commented. "But if we act fast, we can fix it right off, rapido no problemo. Jenny, I need the exact coordinates you were at when you saw it. Come and pick the spot out on the map."

"Right." Jenny said. She broke eye contact, looking over her shoulder, where the leader of the Torchwood group-Jack, his name was-was walking in. His subordinate took two small steps inside, her eyes huge.

"What in the 'ell…" she turned in a circle, staring. "Rhys is never gonna believe this one." She murmured after a long moment. "How…"

"Dimensional transcendence." Jenny said as she touched the map on the monitor. Gwen stared at her a moment. "If you say so."

She actually took it rather well, the Walker thought distantly. Most humans acted a little more disoriented.

What could switch timelines like that? There were one or two technologies, but this behaved all wrong. Some sort of problem associated with rifts, perhaps?

"Oh come on." Her grandfather growled, staring at the main monitor as he pressed switches. "You've got to find it, it's a big giant timeline anomaly right under your…oh…cept there's the Rift …another anomaly right under your nose." The Doctor straightened with a sigh. "Guess that means we'll be tracking on foot."

"Tracking what, Doc?"

The Doctor turned his back on the console to look at Jack.

"Well, best as I can guess, it's a time worm. One of the Trickster's favorite little pets."

A time worm. Of course! She should have recalled those little monsters.

"Time worm." Jack repeated. "And it caused what Jenny's talking about?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Timeline splice in most species. Seems to be the same in this one. Though this seems to be one of the active hunters, not the ambush predators."

"One of?" Jack asked, crossing his arms over his chest. The Doctor nodded. "Yes, see when I say time worm it's like saying shark; it's a family of species. This one seems to have a very nice camouflage setup if nobody saw it even during the attack. Mm. We'll need to move fast, fast as fast, get it before it breeds. Tracking'll be difficult for you humans, won't be much easier for us I can tell you. We'll have to slap together something that can sense under the rift energy; I mean there's us but that'd mean a lucky run in with its next meal, that's how close we'll need to be to feel the change. Jenny, how close-"

"Directly across the street."

"And how does it make the timeline change?"Jack asked.

"Come up here and I'll show you." The Doctor replied quickly. In a moment the two men were standing side by side.

"I've got a database of these little buggers, now we'll just have to go through it and find the one that fits what Jenny saw. In general they're the type to pull this number-but that species…Jenny, anything like a small windstorm when it hit?"

"No."

"Right, not that one then."

"Any chance I can get a copy of this database?'
"Oh I don't see why not, s'long as we're about it. These things are attracted by rifts as well as by species like yours. Lots of choices made everyday consciously, but not a lot of control over Time. Perfect if you're one of these little buggies."

"Any signatures of their presence?"

"You won't see the obvious ones."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Is that more like it?"

"Yeah, except it never became visible."

"Well, narrows it down anyway. Try this one."

Jenny looked over the readings and images. After a moment, she tapped the screen.

"It's either this one or that one. Seems right."

The Doctor nodded, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Mm. That's not good. Not good, no, not at all. Neither species is easily tracked. Looks like we've got a bit of work ahead."

Nobody said it, but everybody was at combat positions. Jenny thought they made a pretty good unit. While she and Father figured out what species they were after, Ianto and the Walker got the computers back up so they could view the maps of the city and maybe use them in tracking later. Jack was checking over his store of time sensitive devices, and Gwen was rechecking possible weapons. The good news was that they did know what they were after now. The bad news was that it was a species that her father couldn't track, and their eyes couldn't see. She hated going up against camouflage artists like this thing.

"Actually one of nature's most artistic bits of engineering." Her father was saying, "See, these things are pretty much insects, but natural selection's given them this amazing camouflage. Some species use hypnosis and thought control, but this one took the organic route, 's got a shell with a covering of tiny little pockets of silicate and quartz, each attached to a little nerve that attaches to what they've got for a spinal cord. These little pockets can act as tiny reflectors, taking the image from one side of the body, rerouting it, and reflecting or projecting it on the other side. Perfect invisibility; even better than the stuff J.K. Rowling writes."

Sometimes Father could get so far into admiring something that he forgot it was the enemy, Jenny mused. Well, at least she was around to keep him from going too far off into his own head. He stared at the screen for another moment. Then like a bolt of electricity he spun around and took off for the ship interior.

"Tracking devices!"

Jenny loped behind her father down the corridors. Finally, something was really happening.

Ten minutes later, he was standing in the structure the humans called the Hub, hands full of small discs, giving his briefing.

"Right, a time worm's a tricky thing to deal with. These devices can sense sudden and unusual changes in timelines, only problem is they give a fair number of false positives. I'm going to do a bit of tinkering, reroute the information through your computers and synch it to your maps so that we can have a concise attack plot going. Walker, you'll have to give me a hand with that. Jenny, I'll need you to do a bit of rerouting through the main data banks. Jack, your people know this city best, so they'll be the scouts, outside doing the tracking. Now, I want you to keep the devices on these two settings. The first will pick up any activity in your vicinity, and the second will pick up traces of recent activity. You set it like so…"

"Father, I'd rather join the tracking-"

"I'm sure you would, but I need you downstairs taking my input and working the data. So, think I've got everything…yep, that sets things up." He handed tracking discs to the three humans.

"Let's get to it, shall we?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Ianto looked up from his half-cleaned gun as the Hub door opened. Gwen dropped heavily into the chair beside his desk.

"Are you almost ready?

Gwen nodded.

"Something wrong?"

"Just the whole damn city falling to bits. Nothing new there." Gwen muttered. Her coworker's eyebrows rose.

"Last time we hunted something like this, you couldn't wait to get moving when the Captain gave the order."

"Yeah? But apparently Jack won't be giving orders today. Seems the Doctor's doing all the talking. An' all cause his daughter pitched a fit."

"Oh?"

Gwen sighed.

"This all started when I had her walking 'round one of the outside malls, an' a kid tried to J-walk, got hit by a car. It was… it's always nasty, but the girl went nuts, an' took off runnin'."

"Did she tell you what was wrong?"

"She didn't say a damn thing. Just kept saying she had to talk to her dad all through the drive back here. Wouldn't tell me what the hell what she was on about. An' then between the telepathy or whatever they used an' the Doctor talking in other languages an going on about a load of things all at once an' Jack asking questions about all kinds of things I've got no damn clue what's going on. Time worm, time lines, what's that supposed to be? We've got no bloody information to go on." She sighed. "An' I don' like that doctor telling Jack what to do the way he does. He just waltzes in here and acts like he owns the place."

"He is the expert on this. Jack's taking his advice." Ianto said softly.

"Yeah, an' last time one of Jack's old friends came around like that we lost half the city and both-" Gwen broke off her sentence. After a moment, she took a deep breath.

"I dunno, maybe I'm overreacting. It's just that it's weird. Jack always runs the show."

"I know." Ianto agreed, checking the barrel of his pistol."But I have to say, Jack's less tense than he's been for a long time. I think he's…having the Doctor around, some of the weight falls off him. For once there's somebody else around who can run things. Lets him relax."

Gwen glared at him, then looked away from his placid expression.

"I just wish the lot of them would bloody stop and explain. Why won't Jack tell us what's happening? Or why won't those three?"

"Partly because there's much of it you could not understand."

Both Torchwood members started, staring at the dark haired woman standing beside the door, hands in her skirt pockets.

"Y'think we don't get it?" Gwen snapped, "'Cause just because we're human doesn't mean we're thick."

"That wasn't what I said." The young woman replied calmly. "It's not your intelligence I doubt. It's simply that you don't have the senses available to us."

"An' what the hell does that mean?" Gwen replied sharply, ignoring Ianto's reproving glance. The alien woman stared at her, her head tipping slightly to the side.

"There is a problem in Time. Jenny noticed it, and now she and Grandfather are doing their best to repair it."

"So why didn't she tell me what was wrong? Torchwood runs things 'ere on Earth. We can't do that if we don' know what the 'ell is going on."

"I'm not sure she could find the words to explain the situation properly. It's not easy to conceptualize. The best corollary I can give you is that of color. Since you can see color, you can paint, draw, mark ideas and important points with color, give subtle cues and emotional prods through the use of color. But let's say you were to go blind. Or, better, that you were to be born without sight. Color would have absolutely no meaning to you, and even the concept would be difficult to grasp. Could you explain the color red to a blind man?"

Gwen and Ianto exchanged glances. Gwen shrugged. The young woman nodded.

"That's like Time. We can see it. You can't. A simple fact of biology. And it is very difficult for someone as young as Jenny to put something of such complexity into words. Let me try to explain. Time is a fabric woven by the actions of each molecule as it moves from moment to moment. On a larger scale, it takes the form of a series of actions, and choices if the object is sentient. These are time lines. Each collection of matter has lines of time that it is acting out. There are lines that are most likely to happen; main lines. Other lines exist, but these are less likely to materialize; lesser lines with low energy levels. Choices not made, I suppose you could call them. What I can tell you is that your city has been infiltrated by creatures called time worms. These animals feed by finding a sentient creature at a point where their time line forks into two; a main line and a lesser line. They splice a line of low energy in place of the high energy main line, thus releasing the main line energy, which they absorb. These lower energy lines are most often lines with a less helpful or pleasant outcome for the subject. So time worms can be quite damaging, especially in large numbers. As soon as we discover which species of worm this is, we'll be able to track and hopefully capture it. Is this what you need to know?"

Ianto nodded, wide eyed. Gwen, beside him, gave the barest nod. The Walker smiled slightly.

"Good. Then before you go, would you mind helping me carry the tea that Grandfather sent me up here for?"

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

This was going to be his day. He just knew it. He was even early for work, and he drove through beautifully light traffic. This was just bril. Ronald Dahl Pass was just ahead now.

The radio music was cut with a spate of static. He glanced at it with a little frown, but he'd change it once he was out of this tight spot in the traffic. He glanced up, and there was a blue sedan horning into his lane. There was just enough time to swerve. He glanced sharply behind him as he sped by. Bloody idiot. He could have…

What was going on? Something had to be wrong with his eyes. The whole world was swimming in front of him. He could barely see the road-damn, was that a car in front of him? If only he could focus…He blinked, blinked again…

This was going to be his day. He just knew it. He was even early for work, and he drove through beautifully light traffic. This was just bril. Ronald Dahl Pass was just ahead now.

The radio music was cut with a spate of static. He glanced at it with a little frown, then reached down to fiddle with the knob. He glanced up, and there was a blue sedan horning into his lane. There was no time to swerve.

Skree-runch!!!

He sat still, gasping. Little wisps of steam rose from the mutilated hood of his car where it met the rear of the goddamn sedan.

Maybe this wasn't going to be his day.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Another report had just come in. Jenny glanced at the information and typed it into the algorithms. The radio broadcast of the team babbled through the computer speakers.

"Jack, you can't sweep this whole bloody city with three bloody people!"

"I know it Gwen. Keep going. I'm in the Hub; I'll be back on the street in a minute."

"You better give me a raise."

"Aw Gwen, isn't my company enough for you anymore?"

Gwen made several sharp statements Jenny didn't recognize. Those must be 21st century curses; she'd have to look them up later. She punched another set of coordinates into the computer. Stuck doing data input. She couldn't believe Father had assigned her to data input. Once she'd figured out the computer systems it was boring as anything. She didn't even get to see the map down here and know where the team was deploying.

"Any luck?"

Jenny glanced over her shoulder at the Torchwood leader, who was leaning against the wall, arms crossed casually over his chest.

"All systems are working great. The program's working so effectively that I barely need to be here."

Wish I wasn't

Jack stepped behind her, looking over the algorithms. He nodded, satisfied.

"Looking good."

"Thank you, Captain."

She typed in silence for a moment.

"So, what rank do you hold?" Jack asked.

"Privet first-" Jenny paused. "Sorry. None, actually. I'm not a member of an armed force." Behind her, Jack nodded, his eyes thoughtful.

The radio buzzed with Gwen's voice, muttering imprecations under her breath. Jack's lips quirked in a half-smile.

"She's going to be a handful by tonight. My team's spread pretty thin out there."

"Why don't you have more people in your command?"

"Most of the time we do fine. But we could use some help today."

"That's what we're here for." Jenny replied lightly.

"Help out in the field is what I really need. I don't suppose you'd be interested in, maybe, going out on patrol?"

Jenny turned in her seat to look at the man for a long moment. Then she shook her head.

"Sorry. I have to input these calculations."

Jack smiled in a way that made a little shiver run down Jenny's spine. Opening the device on his wrist, he held it near the computer, typing for several moments. The great main modems behind her buzzed, and the newest algorithms appeared. Jenny looked up, wide-eyed.

"You rerouted the data through your modems."

He nodded, his eyes on hers. "Looks like you don't need to input it."

Jenny nodded slowly.

"My father did sort of give me a command to work down here."

"Well," Jack said, his voice low, "I am the captain at this base. And I'm requesting aid on the field." He smiled again, a small, sly smile.

"I'll even buy lunch."

After a moment, Jenny grinned up at him.

"You're on. Just give me a minute."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The Doctor was quite pleased with the way the maps were turning out. The time worms-he'd decided there must be two- were apparently focusing on two areas of town, one in the Café Quarter and the other in the area of Roath Park, with occasional trips outside their favored hunting grounds. Probably when crowds were scarce. He hummed to himself as he carried a plate of sandwiches down the stairs. Jenny would be getting peckish by now. Everything was starting to work out. Soon enough they'd have this little thing wrapped up, the TARDIS would be refueled, and then they could have a bit of chit-chat time with Jack before they were off. Quite a fine two day's work, if he did say so.

Stepping inside the room, he called out. "Jenny! Got lunch here for you! 'Course it's hard to make you a peanut butter and jelly when you eat the marmalade before we've had it two days, but I scrounged…"

Rounding one of the computer modems, he stopped. Jenny wasn't at the desk. And, now that he came to pay attention to it, she wasn't in the room at all. Odd. Was she in the loo? No, didn't feel her there either.

Something on the desk caught his eye. A note.

Father,

Went on patrol with Captain Jack. Don't worry; the computer's doing the reroute. Said he's going to show me Cardiff while we track. Might take a while. Will report if we are later than sundown.

Jenny

The Doctor stared for a long moment.

"Jack Harkness!" He spat the name, crumpling the note in his hand. "Jack Harkness! That- that- Jack Harkness!" Lightning in his eyes, the Doctor turned on his heel, vaulting up the stairs. The TARDIS door slammed open before he'd touched it, and he strode across the threshold. He barely noticed the Walker staring at him as he marched across the control room, snatching up his coat as he moved, still exclaiming.

"Harkness. That audacious- that-and my daughter-she's never even been kissed-well, once, but still-I'll murder him this time, I really will. Five years and a few months and he's taking her-and he's-I'll murder him. No, I'll atomize him. Walking sex machine! I'll cut him up and stick every bit in a separate jar. No, I'll drop him out in deep space, see how he likes that. Near a supernova maybe. Or a quasar. He can walk home!" he marched out into the Hub. "Harkness! She's out with that-he actually took her –Jack Harkness. Into the middle of a- and her timelines are-if he tries to kiss her I'll- what in Rassilon's name is she thinking?! Oh am I…" the door rolled open, and the Doctor strode away in a swirl of coat tails. His voice drifted faintly down the hall.

"Harkness!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The Captain was as good as his word. They had bought fish and chips from a vendor, and strolled casually up the street as they ate. Jenny tried to look casual, anyway. But she couldn't help studying every set of timelines, watching, waiting. Next time she'd be ready for the thing.

Twice the Captain had tried to start conversations, but between eating and watching Jenny knew she wasn't much for company. So he resorted to acting a bit of a tour guide.

After three hours of tracking, they were still coming up empty. The little device in her pocket had gone off several times, but they'd all been false alarms; a woman suddenly deciding to skip her taxi ride and walk, a man making an impulsive purchase. Damn, she ought to fine-tune it.

As the sun beat down on the street, Jack pointed out a small café. "We might as well sit down and see if anything comes along. C'mon. I'll get you a latte."

"I'd rather have a malt-or are they calling it a milkshake right now? Ice cream, milk and flavorings? Banana, if they've got it. Or Peach. Or Thamargo"

Jack smiled down at her.

"You know, sometimes you sound so much like the Doc it's scary."

As they sat and watched the passersby, Jenny found out that Jack was actually a lot of fun to talk to. His weird timelines had made it hard for her to figure out when he was from, but he'd been around enough that he knew a lot of her favorite places, and he had a few great stories of his own to tell. She was having a great time by the time they'd finished their drinks. She almost spit out the dregs of her milkshake laughing at the end of Jack's last story.
"No way!" she giggled out. He leaned back in his chair with a grin.

"True as I'm sitting here. That's why you have to hit up Est sometime. And they have these privet anti-gravity chambers, they rent them out to couples and groups. Weightlessness is one of the best feelings, and it can intensify every other sensation, I mean every sensation. Ever had sex in anti-gravity?"

"No." Jenny said, leaning her elbows on the table, "Never had sex at all, actually."

Jack leaned back in his chair, grinning incredulously.

"Then you don't know what you're missing. I'd tell you, I might even show you, since I could be called an expert in the subject. If I didn't think that your dad might skin me alive for it -"

"Not might, Jack Harkness, would!"

Jack's eyes grew huge, fixed over Jenny's shoulder. Jenny carefully set down her glass.

Oh shix.

"Hello, Father."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The Doctor glared from one of them to the other. He didn't know who angered him more; Jack, who'd obviously tempted Jenny and towed her along, and started giving her talks about things she had no business- well, he had no business telling her- or Jenny, who'd had the nerve to follow him, wandering off like he'd told her how many times not to do, and here the two of them were, right in the epicenter of a time worm's hunting ground.

Jack gave him a mock-cocky smile

"Hi, Doctor!"

"Jack Harkness, you are very lucky you cannot die, because-"

It took a minute for him to notice anything past his roiling anger. His back had stiffened before he'd realized how very wrong the air suddenly felt.

"Doctor, what's wrong?"

"Time worm. Shh."

He turned slowly on his heel, following the sense like a bad scent in the air.

There. A large, beefy man, behind him and to the left. Taking a bite of his sandwich. The lines around him twitched-shivered- the new line was spliced, nearly in place-the man was going to choke.

"Oh no you don't!"

Dashing to the man's side, the Doctor summoned up all his concentration, forcing the lines back, back into order. It was like pulling against a lead weight. The lines were being jerked and tugged from his grasp, but he hung on, eyes shut tight. It was fighting him for the energy. He fought back.

You get out of here. Go on. Get!

Briefly, dizziness swam over him. It had tried to tug one of his lines, get a taste of him too. The nerve! He jerked sequences of time into a tightening cage around the thing-almost had it-he could see its outline as it dented timespace-

And then it was gone, slipped away, the timelines falling limply back into their proper places.

"Oi! What're you doin'?"

Distantly, the Doctor realized he'd grabbed the back of the man's chair. He smiled.

"Just saving your life. Cheerio."

Jack and Jenny were staring at him.

"Did you get it, Doc?"

The Doctor sighed, hands in his coat pockets.

"I'm afraid I didn't. And I'm afraid that now I've got its attention."

He locked eyes with his old friend.

"And I'm afraid you've got a lot to answer for, Jack."

Author's Note: Attention all Welsh! Help! I'm really not sure if I'm getting the details of the city or the Welsh speech style right at all. Am I on the right trail? Not? Completely off? Please review!