STORIES

FIVE

Jack pulled a face. "Why do you say that, Doctor?"

"Say what?"

"'Oh God, not again'…?"

"Because I am more than sufficiently familiar with you humans, Jack. And don't tell me you aren't a human just because of your somewhat peculiar superpower! You're more human than anyone else I know. And even if you're not thinking about it or planning it, and even if you've got absolutely zero intention of doing it, when I take you back there I guarantee you're going to try to change something. Just like the human that you are, you'll try to change something that happened and you'll make an unholy mess of things…"

"But…"

"But nothing, Jack! Now don't get me wrong, your intentions will be good. They'll be honorable and they'll be logical and lucid. No, your intentions will indeed be laudable. But regardless, you'll do something that will create a paradox. You'll make a mess of things and it will be left up to me to try to fix them. Only, and this is the news flash, Captain: I may not be able to fix them. The Time Lords used to be able to prevent such catastrophes, or if not, at least repair the timescape when things went seriously amuck. The Time Lords, bless their stony little hearts, could control the cascading repercussions of paradoxes. But I'm just one Time Lord, Jack. And my ability to fix paradoxes and other nasty spacetime screw-ups is limited. I'm not a god, Jack! I'm not omnipotent!"

"Calm down, Doctor, calm down!" The Captain raised his hands, palms facing outward, his face a mixture of concern and shock. "Where is all this coming from?"

"As if you didn't know!" The Doctor paused and reflected. "Well… Now that I think of it, I guess you don't know do you?"

Jack shook his head, only half-amused, "No, Doctor, I don't have a clue."

"It was Rose. She was human… she was so very human. I shouldn't have expected anything else from her. She ripped open a hole in time, and as a result we nearly lost her home world. In 1987 we almost destroyed the entire Earth! I watched it happen, powerless; she wouldn't listen to me and I couldn't do anything to stop her!"

"Doctor, don't you trust me?" Jack's voice was filled with apprehension.

"Don't take everything so personally, Jack! Of course I trust you. Well… I trust you as much as I trust any human. But don't you see? I trusted Rose, too! At that juncture I was only concerned for her emotional well-being, it never dawned on me that she might rip open an unhealable wound in time. The destruction of Gallifrey and the loss of the stabilizing influence of the Time Lords mean that anyone can go back in time and redo their own actions! They can go back in time and royally screw things up! Do you understand how dangerous that is? It's why that vortex manipulator of yours makes me so nervous. I might not be able to prevent a disaster and if one occurs I might not be able to fix it."

"Doctor," Jack wiggled an extended index finger in the air back and forth between the Time Lord and himself. "Our social contract implies reciprocated duties, shared responsibilities. You can believe me when I tell you that I won't create a paradox. You can trust me. And I promise I won't let you down. I understand your concerns. Hell, I agree with them! And I certainly understand that without the Time Lords messy things like paradoxes become even more dangerous than they used to be. I do take this personally, Doctor, and I'm here to tell you that I'm not Rose. But let me work this out with you; let's work this out together. I'm not asking you to take me back to cross my own timeline."

"You're not?"

"No. In fact, if you don't mind, I'd like to go back to just before the Peninsula was colonized. I'm imagining the two of us sitting on the sand dunes and watching the surf. Listening to the tall, dry, beach grass rustle in the on-shore breeze. According to the first settlers, it was supposed to have been stunningly beautiful. Wild, wind-swept and breathtaking. That's what I want to see. That's what I envision us doing. Salt water and sand, Doctor. That's all. Just salt water and sand… and the two of us."

"Sand you say? Wind-swept?"

"Yeah," Jack tipped his head. "But hey, I'll even bring along a beach blanket for us to sit on if you want."

"Or maybe a couple of beach chairs?"

"And fancy blender drinks with little tiny parasols in them?" Jack grinned boyishly.

The Doctor laughed, but then studied the Captain scrupulously. "I'm sorry to have ranted at you like that."

"It's okay, Doctor. That's what I'm here for. But Rose really threw you for a loop, huh?"

"Oh, that's an understatement, Captain."

Jack nodded thoughtfully and then asked, "So how'd you get out of it?"

"Well, basically," The Doctor took a deep breath and swallowed. "Her father, Pete Tyler, committed suicide."

Jack's eyes opened wide. "Wow!"

"Yeah… Wow."

"I don't know what to say…"

"We got off easy, Jack. It could've been worse. Far, far worse."

"I believe you, I believe you. And again, Doctor, although I fully admit that I'm human, I am not Rose."

"I know that… because if you were…" his voice trailed off.

"Well, Doctor!" Jack was surprised to see The Doctor's cheeks pink up a tiny bit in response to his playful teasing.

The Time Lord quickly, maybe a little too quickly, shot him a wicked smile, "I'm just kidding!"

Yeah, right, Jack thought. "An enigma," is what he actually said.

"Why thank you!"

"You're welcome."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "Shall we go?"

Jack nodded soundlessly and the two men stood up simultaneously and walked in lockstep away from the bench, Paris, and for the time being, the watery third planet out from Mother Sol.