Chapter 5
Upon realising who it was that was in the hub with them Jack quickly signalled his team to put the guns away, which they did immediately, although he noticed that they all moved closer to Ianto as if to protect him from the intruder, even though they too realised who it was. He made his way to the Doctor quickly pulling him into a hug, catching the smell of chips and letting out a small smirk. "I told Martha to tell you no side trips and you still stop off for chips. Doc you never change do you?"
The Doctor just looked at him as if to say, 'you expect me to', before speaking, "I didn't stop off for chips I was getting chips before Martha told me you wanted to see me. I wasn't just going to leave them, it's my lunch."
Jack sighed, knowing that he really couldn't argue with that, especially as he knew that he, Martha and Rose had all complained at times about the Doctor skipping meals. "Alright, fair enough."
"So, what have you got for me?" The Doctor asked, his expression hard to read, but Jack would place it as somewhere between a mix of confused and concerned.
"A box." Jack spoke softly, "A physic box." He looked at Ianto as he spoke. "Right, back to the conference room guys. Toshiko I want that box back up there, Gwen as much as you've figured out. Owen I want Ianto triple checked then you both upstairs."
He then left the room with the Doctor following him until they reached the large conference room. Jack ushered the Doctor into a seat before going to a small fridge almost hidden in a corner and pulled out six bottles of water, placing one at each seat. The others all fell into the room at their own pace, taking their seats and nodding in Jack's direction in thanks for the water.
Once they were all seated and the Doctor almost finished his chips Jack began to speak. "It came through the rift this morning, burning out a whole patch of ground in a concentric square around it with physic energy. It also has a drawing in effect; or rather it did on Ianto, who aside from me has the best mental shields of us all. Whatever or whoever that was cut right through them Doc, and pulled him towards the box until he touched it and heard its message. It knocked him out and has left a burn mark on his hand. When we got back here Gwen heard it as well, but she also saw images as well, she saw Arcadia Doctor, saw all the beauty and then the destruction as it was destroyed. Whatever that box was it came straight out of the Time Lock on the Time War. What I need to know is why it singled Ianto and Gwen out, will this affect either of them in any way and how the hell it got from behind a time lock, and more to the point is there anything else from the time war going to wash up on my doorstep."
The Doctor stared in shock at the speech, wondering who had managed to send out a psychic message from the fall of Arcadia because there was no doubt in his mind that that was what type of box they were talking about. He also wondered why it had affected two of the members of Jack's team and not the others. He turned to Jack once more after glancing round the room and at the box on the table. "I'll need to see it, Jack. If I know who it was I may be able to work out any affects that will occur. It should have just been a message a distress signal of sorts if I'm right. They shouldn't have been able to see pictures or to burn anything or anyone."
Jack nodded to Toshiko who once more removed the box using gloves and tongs and placed it on the mat so that the Doctor could look at it and identify it. She then sat back with the others to watch the Time Lords reaction to the box.
"The Fires." he breathed out, a look of complete shock on his face, "Aeske." The Doctor turned to look at Ianto, studying him with his eyes and then his screwdriver, trying to find out why the box had singled him out before coming to rest on the man's hand and the mark of Aeske burnt into his palm. "Jack, I don't know what is going on here but Ianto has some major part in this, I just don't know how."
Jack really didn't like where this was going, something was going to happen to Ianto or he was wrapped up with something to do with the Time War and the Doctor had no clue how or why. "Who's Aeske, Doctor?" he asked, hoping that they could get some more information from the man about what the situation was. He was sure that the Doctor knew something, that he just didn't know what it meant so he was holding back.
"Aeske was a Gallifreyan, a good friend, he ruled Arcadia." The Doctor spoke. "He was the ruling Fire of Gallifrey, and therefore presided over the area of Arcadia as allowed by the Council."
Jack stared at the Doctor trying to figure out what he was talking about. "So Arcadia was part of Gallifrey; not completely separate, rather like a county or something." The Doctor nodded at his query and Jack carried on, "But Aeske wasn't a time lord he was a Fire? I've never heard of them before, only Gallifreyans and Time Lords."
"Yes." The doctor agreed. "I am a Gallifreyan even though I'm a Time Lord, just like a Fire was still a Gallifreyan. I lied to you and Martha before, or rather omitted certain information when we were discussing the untempered schism. There were four groups not three; those who were inspired, those who went mad, and those who ran, they were all Time Lords. There was one other group though; those who burnt from the inside out the moment they looked into the vortex; they were the Fires. They were rather like Time Lords in a way, but only one heart like Gallifreyans unlike the Time Lords who possess two. They have no regenerations, but have two forms."
Jack stared at the Doctor for a moment before sharing a quick look with Ianto who appeared rather shaken by the Doctor's information. It was clear in Jack's mind that he and Ianto were both thinking along the same lines; was it possible that Ianto was part Fire. Knowing that all they could do was ask Jack spoke up again, knowing that Ianto didn't want to draw too much attention himself. "Doctor, you said two forms, what were they?"
"They were what you humans would probably call a humanoid form and an avain form." The Doctor replied.
"An avain form, like a phoenix." Gwen spoke, staring at the Doctor waiting for him to answer.
"Exactly, Miss Cooper, just like a phoenix." The Doctor replied.
The reaction of the others was immediate with their gaze swinging to Ianto almost as soon as the words left the Doctor's mouth. Owen however was the one to vocalise what they were all thinking. "Bloody Hell. Feathers is really part alien."
Jack chuckled at that, but knew where Owen was coming from. Ianto himself had felt no link to anywhere but Earth and with the ancient myths of firebirds on Earth they had all just assumed that Ianto was completely native to Earth. Noting Ianto's expression it was clear that he was just as stunned as the rest of them.
A startled cry of "What!" came from the Doctor as he stared at Ianto, once more producing his sonic screwdriver and scanning Ianto. "You can't be!" The Doctor muttered to himself, "It's impossible. Unless," he paused again this time looking at Gwen, "spatial genetic multiplicity, of course. What do you know about your family history, the both of you."