STORIES

NINE

"I haven't done anything Doctor! You have to believe me!"

"Jack…"

"But…"

"Jack…"

"It's true! I haven't been back to the Peninsula since, well… since my father and brother…"

"But what about all that Face of Boe poster-boy talk?"

"Well, you can take the boy out of the Peninsula, but you can't take the Peninsula out of the boy. I'll always be from Boeshane, and I really was the first…"

"You have a brother?!"

"Huh? What? Yes! A younger brother… it's a long story, but wait… let me think for a moment."

The Doctor turned around wordlessly and went back to his console, leaving Jack alone overlooking what had once been his home, but which now was nothing but barrenness.

After some indeterminate amount of time spent staring out at the wreck of his world, Jack Harkness closed and locked the doors and walked slowly back up the ramp to The Doctor. "I had a younger brother, Gray. While my mother and I both managed to survive the destruction of our home, of Boeshane, my father was killed and Gray was taken by the invaders, the worst possible creatures you could imagine. And it was my fault, Doctor, that he was taken. I let go of him, I literally let go of that poor little boy's hand and I lost him. He'd been entrusted to me and I failed him. It was my fault and I've had to live with that knowledge and that guilt my entire adult life.

"Gray was taken and made their prisoner. He was tortured physically and psychologically in the most awful ways, and then he was left alone to die. But he didn't die, he survived and after having been horribly abused by monsters he became a monster himself.

"Just as I've never forgiven myself for what happened, Gray has never forgiven me for failing him. He ferreted out John, manipulated him, and used him, Doctor, in order to ensnare me and to enact a plan to wreak havoc and exact terrible vengeance. In this he ultimately failed, but not before inflicting a tremendous amount of damage. I lost two of my team…" Jack closed his eyes in pain.

There was a long silence as The Doctor studied his friend. "Jack," he said softly, "I always like hearing about your past, in fact I love it, but I have to ask: is there a reason you're telling me this story?"

Jack nodded thoughtfully in response. Then, looking down at the floor, he suddenly remembered his suspenders were still hanging loose at his sides. He pulled them up, straightened to his full height and squared his shoulders. "After John broke free of his influence he helped me to capture Gray, and I chloroformed my little brother and cryopreserved him…"

"Sounds like Torchwood," The Doctor sniffed. Jack ignored him.

"But before I put him into cold storage, I double-checked his condition. Ran a whole battery of tests. I wanted to make sure he'd be okay in there. But, Doctor… Some of the tests came back with a strange and surprising result. They detected trace amounts of Void-stuff in and around his body.

The Time Lord's eyes widened. "What?!"

Jack shook his head. "You heard me. I believe he had been in the Void, either trapped there or maybe he was there on purpose. Is there any way we can…"

"I'm on it!" yelped The Doctor as he quickly turned toward his console display and started typing.

Jack was standing behind him, looking over his shoulder as the monitor started streaming back data. The Captain immediately understood what he was seeing. It was true! He was indeed beginning to decipher on his own those maddening and exquisitely beautiful Gallifreyan symbols. He didn't even have to think about them – the translation was effortless. Unfortunately there was no time to celebrate. Jack whistled soundlessly, "Holy cow, the surface of the planet is crawling with Void-stuff!"

The Doctor looked over his shoulder and smiled thinly. "You're doing very well, Jack," he said. "And you are correct. It would seem there's been some sort of a breach and we've had Void-stuff leaking through. Either someone or some thing came here from the Void through that breach, or some thing or someone left here for the Void. It's hard to tell which, although if I were to place a wager, I'd bet on the former."

"Why are you so certain the movement was in an incoming direction, Doctor?"

"Well… I don't know, I thought it sounded like a clever thing to say…"

Jack smiled and exaggeratedly rolled his eyes.

"Actually," The Doctor continued, turning serious, "I just find it highly unlikely that something could travel to the Void from this universe without my, uh, help. Or at the very least without me knowing about it. And I realize that sounds arrogant…"

"Uh-huh," agreed Jack with a sardonic grin and a nod.

"…but it's true. Messing with the Void is as difficult as it is dangerous. And you'd have to have a lot of specialized knowledge to do it. I can't think of anyone around these parts – well, other than me – who has that kind of knowledge, or even has easy access to obtaining it." He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Beyond that, having the knowledge is one thing, having the power and ability to use it is something else entirely."

The Doctor looked down at his screen and then back up over his shoulder at Jack. "In sufficient quantities, Void-stuff could infest, corrupt and destroy a small, fragile planet like this one. The breach, if it had been large enough, would not have had to be open all that long for enough to bleed through, and I suppose it's possible, although highly unlikely, that whoever or whatever did this didn't even realize what they were doing…"

"Still, my brother… it's a bit of a coincidence… And I don't believe in coincidences…" the Captain's voice trailed off.

The two men were quiet for a while. Finally The Doctor, his expression full of compassion, concern, and perhaps even sorrow, turned round and faced Jack Harkness. "I'm sorry, Jack, but we're going to have to thaw out your brother and talk to him."

Jack nodded resignedly, "I know."

The Doctor placed his hand tenderly on Jack's shoulder but said nothing. Instead he waited.

"I'll contact Gwen," Jack finally murmured, almost as if he was only talking to himself. "I'll inform her we're coming back to Torchwood and have her clear out the staff."

The Captain's face became tense as he broke eye-contact with the Time Lord and restlessly glanced around the control room, "You'd best put on your heavy weather gear, Doctor. I have a feeling it's going to get messy out there."