Chap 17

"Ianto?"

"No. No go. There's enough power to run the computer, but not enough to launch."

"How much do you need?" Jack asks.

"I need 300 volts at six amps. And I've 28 volts running the computer system. Ignition battery's stone cold."

"Is there anything you can use?" Jack's voice sounds as strained as Ianto feels.

"Let me look around and see if I see a high voltage source...No, just rocks. In fact, everywhere I look, there's just fucking rocks. And more fucking rocks." Ianto snarks, as he tries not to break down "I'm gonna die here."

Jack's shook. He knows he's right. Not a damn thing he can say. Tries to maintain. Barely. Looks up at one of the screens. In four minutes he's back on day side orbit. And then home.

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Ianto steadies himself. Picks the radio back up. He's just babbling to keep himself sane for a little while.

"I didn't come here to be a citizen. I came as a tourist. You know, visit Mars, and check out the sights. Go home."

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Jack tries to do the right thing. Whatever the hell that is...Takes a breath, wipes away an errant tear, and tries to be calm for him. "Is there anything you want me to do?"

"Tell all of Tosh's women that they were the only one."

"For you?"

"No." Ianto sighs, "I shoulda kissed you."

There's a long beat. Yeech. He shouldn't have said anything. Then "Yeah. You shoulda kissed me."

Ianto can't believe it. He could kick himself. "Okay. This is like all the worst parts of high school math and the beautiful guy you're too stupid to tell you're madly in love with. And then, I get to die. What a shitty day."

Commander Harkness, I am really sorry I didn't kiss you. Really, really sorry.

He pauses. Only half a beat, but Torchwood bursts from the darkness into the light of day side and is gone.

When he goes on "Loved you madly, shoulda said so."

It's too late. Jack never hears. Static. He realizes he's gone. Puts the radio down. He is very, very alone.

On board the Torchwood, he sits there, just gut-shot for a moment. Picks up the mike. "Houston, this is Torchwood, commencing return sequence."

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On all the PIM's his return trajectory is plotted. He's to come all the way across the day side, enter night, begin acceleration and slingshot around the backside of Mars and head home.

"Copy." Gwen answers, "Torchwood, beginning return"

Jack steels himself then reports the rest of the news "Ground crew, reduced to Jones, reached Cosmos, failed second diagnostics. No joy, no launch. While crew member is still extant, mission commander declaring him E.O.M. Commencing return."

There's silence in Mission Control. Not everyone has followed the circumvention.

"What was all that?" Andy asks the room.

"Ianto made it to the Cosmos, won't launch, he's alive, he's gotta leave him." Rhys days hollowly.

"Whoa." Andy hasps.

"Da." Borokovski agrees.

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Ianto sits there. And sits there. Alone beyond imagining. Hope gone. Just staring 1000 yards out into the distance. Not looking at anything. Waiting to die. He's given up.

And then...he shakes himself out of it. Just feels foolish he's let himself go this far. Gets up. Done with feeling sorry for himself.

"Well, this can't get any worse. I guess." Grabs himself to stay warm. Hops up and down. On one of the hops he ends up facing the direction he came from. There's something green and phosphorescent coming over the ridge. They've tracked him. Footprint by footprint.

He looks closer. It's not just the ridge. They're down in the valley with him. The ones in the front are back to translucent, not glowing anymore. They're hungry for something new. He gets down low to silhouette them against the sky. There are already four or five hundred thousand on this side of the hill. And they're coming. Faster.

"I guess I was wrong. It can get worse. A lot fucking worse." Ianto mutters then shouts as them, "Forgive me if I don't feel like getting eaten before I die!"

They don't really respond. Except the ones in the front who rear up, and seem to listen or sniff for him. And gnash their little crystalline teeth. They split now to come at him from two sides.

"Oh, man"

Sees the bucket of rocket fuel. Lot closer to them than it is to him. Gathers his nerve, runs, grabs the bucket. Drags it twenty feet back. Then tilts it, carefully pouring it out in a ring around himself and the Cosmos. Worms closing in as he goes. Leads a fuse of fuel back towards him. Lights it.

It burns low and yellow in the oxygen-depleted atmosphere. Doesn't look like much. Certainly not a defence. First worm gets near it. Unsure. Bewildered. Pulls back. But his compatriots are behind him, still coming. No choice. He advances. And...POOF. A burst of red-orange as he touches the flame.

And the next...And the next. Like little sparks. Ianto watches, puzzled by this...And then it hits. Right as the ring of flame is about to die out. The main wave touches the ring of fire. And...They do burn. And scream. Little squeals that multiplied by tens and hundreds of thousands begin to pierce the air.

"That's for eating the Hab! And killing Tosh, you slimy worm fuckers!" Ianto screams at them with glee.

Rolling waves of flame. Half plasma. Flying blobs of burning worms rain down like napalm. One lands on and torches the cobbled-together radio. It's so damn hot for a moment Ianto panics, thinking everything might explode. Then it drops to embers and the wave burns over the hill like a wild fire.

Ianto does a dance of triumph. However short-lived. Then it hits him "How do you burn like that without oxygen?"

There's a BLAST of flame from the far side of the ridge that rattles rocks and Cosmos. Knocks him to the ground.

"Holy shit...Holy shit!" Ianto scrambles back to his feet as he stares with wonder over the hill. He figured it out. There's a couple of dozen worms, unburnt and thrown free. He picks one up, looks at it.

"You motherfuckers stole all the oxygen!" he laughs, "And you can give it back. Motherfuckers. I gotta tell someone. It could work. It could work here"

He turns, looks - the radio is still burning. He snatches it up, scorches him. Tries to put it out. It's cooked. Deceased. He's devastated. Drops to his knees.

"No! Not after all this. No!"

It ain't gonna work ever again. All the shouting isn't gonna make a difference. He knows the answer, he knows how to save the species and there's no one he can tell.

As he stumbles back onto his feet, he's jarred the switch that links to Myfanwy's display. it comes on, shows:

Myfanwy's POV

The fire on the far side of the ridge. She's approaching it. And fast.

He stares at it for a moment "My day is not getting better, is it."

There's a look on his face somewhere between inspiration and fear. Like he's got an idea. But it might be a really, really bad one...