The thing that had no mass or no light approached the little planet and began creeping over the edge of it, when it hesitated. The tasty thing it wanted had felt it...and it felt its panic.
It turned away from the little planet it was going to devour and set itself a new course, straight for the blue and white ball in the far distance, and the tasty thing it wanted.
Jack didn't stop to see if Ianto or the small group of UNIT soldiers were keeping up with him. He was in a race of his own...no a race against the Doctor.
Leaping over a large piece of rubble he skidded round a wrecked car and picked up his pace again. It wasn't easy finding his way back to the Hub; there were no discernable roads, only rubble strewn valleys.
He could hear the sounds of people running behind and knew that the others must somehow be keeping up with him. The fear of the psychotic Time Lord reaching Martha and Gwen before him had curdled his insides.
He'd started scrambling up another pile when he thought he heard a cry in a familiar voice. He slowed and climbed the pile of rubble more cautiously, not wanting to alert the owner of the voice to his presence.
He peered over the edge of the rubble and was relieved to find it was the owner of said voice. But he was also tense, knowing that he had had to face the unpredictable Time Lord.
Oh well, he we go, he thought.
His element of surprise was lost, when he accidently kicked a piece of rubble as he climbed down.
The Doctor fought back the chaos and the darkness and the incessant hunger of whatever it was and slowly climbed to his feet. He froze when he heard the sound of falling rubble, someone or something was behind him.
He whirled round and saw the one person he had no desire to talk to descending the pile of rubble.
"What do you want Harkness? I am rather busy," he snarled, already moving off in the direction of the hub.
"What do I want, oh let me think? How about Cardiff not being in ruins, not having to run around looking for a psychotic Time Lord, oh and a dirty great big something that likes eating planets heading our way!"
"That's nice, not sure what that's got to do with me, I'm just here to get my TARDIS and of course visit the delightful Miss Jones. I take she is inside the Hub?" the Doctor said, no more interested in what Jack had said, than he would have if an insect had buzzed past his ear.
Jack didn't quite know how to react to that. He'd expected to find himself being strangled by an angry Time Lord, but instead all he got was diffidence...something didn't ring true, he was hiding something.
"What, not interested in something that might be better than you, after all, no-one's paying attention to you are they?"
The Doctor looked at Jack, narrowed his eyes. "Don't think pandering to my ego is going to work. I really must be going, I don't want to end up as..." he bit off the last few words.
"I knew it, you think that things after you!" Jack exclaimed. His mind raced as to how to turn this to his advantage, this could be risky but...
"You really think you're that important. Why would anything want you, you're poison."
He stopped when he saw the scowl form on the Doctor's face and then cloud with the beginnings of anger.
"You know, I was going to let you go, what with more important things to do, but since you insist on dying today."
With an inarticulate snarl the Doctor lunged for Jack.
Martha could feel herself dropping of, she'd tried really hard to stay awake, but the events of the last two days had caught up with her.
She'd just about got over the clearly still insane Doctor's attack and was about to venture her help in finding him, when the world had turned upside down.
"Martha!" she heard Gwen shout as she hung on for dear life to the nearest solid object.
The ground was shifting and the hub was falling apart.
She looked up when she heard Gwen cry out and cried out herself when she saw the concrete pillar start to collapse, and Gwen disappear under a cloud of rubble and dust.
Now she was sitting on the ruined floor of the Hub and Gwen who was thankfully unconscious was slowly bleeding to death beside her.
She felt useless and helpless, and wished that someone, anyone would rescue them.
She jumped when she heard footsteps somewhere above her. "Oh thank god, down here!"
But when she saw who it was, she wished she'd kept quiet.
"Hello again Miss Jones," the man in the white coat said and smiled.
Jack tried to go with the impact of the Doctor as he steamrollered into him, but he couldn't get a good enough purchase on the rubble strewn ground.
He fell backwards, landing heavily, the full weight of an incensed Time Lord on top of him.
"Are you ready to die again Harkness," the Doctor snarled right next to Jack's ear and without warning sank his teeth in Jack's neck.
Jack let out a cry of surprise and pain, and anger flooded through him, giving him extra strength.
"Not today," he grunted
He grabbed hold of the lapels of the Doctor's coat and heaved, managing to flip him so that he was underneath. He stared hard into the Doctor's eyes, hoping to see a spark of sanity, but only wild dark orbs looked back at him.
"Stop it!" he said, pushing down with all of his weight. "Just stop it, you're in there somewhere!"
The Doctor answered with a growl and tried to knee Jack in the groin, but Jack had the advantage of weight and purchase.
Jack could hear shouting in the distance, it must be Ianto and the UNIT soldiers.
"Over here!" he yelled, still pushing down hard to keep the Doctor from moving.
"Let me go Harkness, so I can snap your neck," the Doctor snarled.
Jack said nothing, just tightened his hold on the squirming Time Lord under him. He heard the sounds of feet on rubble and the familiar voice of Ianto.
Seconds later the Doctor was restrained by three of the UNIT soldiers, who had to hold him painfully tight to keep him from breaking free.
"Are you okay?" Ianto said, looking over at the still enraged Time Lord, then back at Jack, who was holding a hand to his neck.
"Did he bite you?" he scowled and before Jack could stop him, he walked over to the still struggling Doctor and landed a right hook to the Doctor's face. He grabbed the Doctor by the hair and whispered in his ear.
"That's for biting, next time I'll remove your teeth with pliers and no anaesthetic," he whispered in his ear.
He'd expected the Doctor to flinch at the threat, but the Doctor began laughing, an insane cackling.
Ianto scowled and leant back, wanting to punch him again, but his arm was stopped by Jack.
"No, he's not himself, we have to move, and we're in no position to deal with looters as well as him. The Hub is just over there, we need to find Martha and Gwen."
Jack looked over at the remaining UNIT soldier. "Go back and tell the colonel we've gone back to the Hub. Tell her we have him secure and when we have comms back we'll be in touch."
The soldier saluted and began making his way back over the ruined buildings.
Jack put a hand on Ianto's shoulder. "I don't blame you for hitting him, but believe me, if you hit him again, you'll have to answer to me."
Ianto nodded, recognising the threat in Jacks' voice.
"Right, let's find the ladies. Bring him, if he refuses, carry him," Jack said to the three soldiers.
The plaza was a patchwork of crazy paving and fallen buildings.
"This is going to take more than sticking plaster," Ianto said as they picked their way across.
Jack nodded his eyes never still, keeping an eye on the piles of rubble and also on the little group in front of them.
The Doctor had thankfully stopped struggling and seemed to be coming along meekly enough, but Jack knew that was a bit like trusting the eye of a hurricane to be the end of the storm.
"Is he beyond help?" Ianto said.
Jack sighed. "I don't know."
They stopped talking as they approached the Hub. Jack motioned for the soldiers to wait with the Doctor.
They had to clamber over fallen columns and the ruined interior of the small shop that was the front to the Hub.
"Martha? Gwen!" Jack called, but there was no answer.
"Perhaps they got out," Ianto said.
Jack went to reply, when there was the sound of weapons being armed.
"Actually, Miss Jones and Miss Cooper are enjoying my company," a voice said.
Both Ianto and Jack turned.
White Coat stood a few feet away from them, three very dead UNIT soldiers held in the arms of three oversized guards, and one very unconscious Doctor in the arms of another.
"Hello again captain, Mr Jones. Would you care to join Miss Jones and Miss Cooper? Take them to the shuttle."
Jack could do nothing as he was dragged away. Once again the Doctor was in the hands of someone who wouldn't care if the Doctor was insane...he'd lost him again.
The last he saw of the Doctor before he was bundled into the shuttle was of him being placed gently into the front of the shuttle, and then the door to the cargo bay was shut.
The thing that had no mass and no light was moving with incredible speed. It now had a permanent fix on the tasty thing and was hurtling towards the blue and white ball that it was on.
It was so hungry, and it had felt such energy in the taste it had had...it knew that once it had devoured the tasty thing, it would be hungry no more.