The Doctor was only one stride from the oblong object, when the humming stopped. Suddenly there was a flash and a loud bang as sparks flew everywhere. Rushing forward, he knelt down in front of the wounded device, watching with dismay as thick black smoke rose from it. He grimaced at the sharp unpleasant odor, waving away the smoke before he tentatively reached out to touch it. With a yelp, he pulled his hand back and shook it. It was way too hot for him to work with at the moment.

He sat back on his heels and sighed, everything from Gallifrey seemed to be giving him problems these days. Pulling on his lower lip he studied the device carefully while it cooled. It was fairly large, about two thirds of a meter long and a third of a meter wide. Its housing was made of a light brass colored metal that had a silvery sheen. Streaks of soot radiated from a crack where the smoke had escaped, marring its surface. It was etched with Gallifreyan symbols that described its function. Frowning as he read them and he realized what it was.

He had never seen one before, but knew the theory behind it. It detected and separated life forces. The Gallifreyan high council had commissioned it when the Master had started taking over other beings to extend his own life, after he had run out of regenerations. It was both useful and hazardous. It could free a person who was possessed by another life force or rip their own life force right out of their body, leaving an empty vessel to be occupied.

In the wrong hands, it could also shatter a life force, what some might call shredding the soul, in some ways, worse than death. To his mind it was more like a device to be used by the Master, instead of a weapon to be used against him. It might be best if instead of repairing it, he destroyed it.

He gingerly touched the surface. It was cool now. His hand rested lightly on it as he thought about what to do. This really was very dangerous in the wrong hands and he wasn't sure that Jack's hands were the right ones. The TARDIS would be one possible safe place for it. If he could convince Jack to give it to him and if he ever managed to get back into the TARDIS himself. He had a very strong feeling that it was evil, should never have been created, but it was also from his home and that alone made him loath to destroy it.

"I might as well look inside and see what damage has been done before I make any decisions," he thought with a sigh. "If nothing else, I should at least try to find out why it reacted to me."

The device sat on the table where the Doctor had started to work on it. He'd moved the tray of sandwiches and the tea to the chair Ianto had vacated. A cucumber sandwich in one hand, he proceeded to remove the housing, exposing the insides of the apparatus. He smiled as he saw the familiar engineering of his home planet. No foreign elements as were on the TARDIS, pure Gallifreyan technology, and though it may have looked complex to human eyes, he couldn't help admiring the brilliant simplicity of it.

Like the TARDIS, it was bigger on the inside. He wondered why they had bothered to make it so bulky when it could have been quite compact, easily slipped into a pocket. His eye was immediately drawn to the failed component. It was squarish, about the size of his thumb. The damage was readily apparent, it was black, with a hole in the middle where the outer covering had melted away.

He was reaching for it when he suddenly realized there was something on his right. Quickly he turned and looked, twisting around in his chair as he tried to find what had caught his attention. He stood up, oblivious that he had knocked over the chair in his haste. Scanning the room, he could find nothing. No apparent exit other than the one he had come in by. But he was sure there had been something, that it wasn't just his imagination.

His hand went unbidden to his head, trying to massage away the pain that he hadn't been aware was there. Maybe that was what he had seen, just an aura, a precursor to the headache. The pain wasn't leaving, perhaps some tea would help. He stepped around the table to get to the tea and fell over the forgotten chair, cracking his shin sharply. As he fell, he put his hand on the table in an effort to catch himself, but instead caused the table to tip, resulting in both table and Time Lord falling to the floor. On the way down, his arm connected with the tray on the chair, sending the sandwiches flying and the tea pot, cup and saucer crashing to the floor. He was wincing as he untangled himself from the chair, when he heard laughter from the entrance to the storeroom.

"Hello," he said, as he stood up, brushing some of the remains of the lunch from his suit, as he tried to regain his composure. In the doorway stood a young woman, medium build, with a curvy figure, black hair and clear hazel eyes. He recognized her instantly. "You must be Gwen. Jack told me you were on holiday, not that I'm unhappy to see you here. I'm the Doctor by the way, pleased to meet you in person at last." He walked over to her and held out his hand.

Gwen took his hand in a firm handshake that bespoke confidence. "The pleasure is all mine, I'm sure. Jack speaks highly of you. The few times he does talk about you, that is." To the Doctor's surprise she then stood on tip toe and reached up to the top of his head. Startled he started to step back, then saw the piece of rye bread she had retrieved from his hair.

"Oh my, thank you. I'd have looked quite ridiculous if I had gone out like that. I gather you were the intruder Ianto went to check on."

An almost musical laughter erupted from Gwen. "Yes, that was me. I was at my workstation when he popped around the corner with his gun drawn. Startled me so much I almost shot him."

The Doctor's eyebrows shot up at that last comment.

"Don't worry, it wasn't all that close. My gun barely cleared its holster when I realized who it was. It was my fault really. I should have called ahead and let him know I was cutting my vacation short."

"Why did you cut your vacation short? Jack didn't call you back, did he?"

"No, this time it was my husband Rhys who was called back to work. Strangest thing, all his company's lorries wouldn't start this morning. Don't know why they called him back, he's not a mechanic, but his boss was having a fit so off he went. So," she put her hands on her hips and surveyed the room, "what have you been up to here?"

Feeling a bit sheepish the Doctor explained that Jack had asked him to sort out the technology there. "But, I'm afraid so far all I've managed to do is destroy that Cyber conversion unit, and then that device on the table broke when I approached it. At this rate, the captain might fire me before the day is over."

"I doubt he'd do that. I know he's been meaning to destroy that table for a while, just never seemed to have the time. Though he might be upset that you didn't sort the pieces out properly for recycling."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize, should have though, shouldn't I. Jack was talking about all the protocols he had to follow now. So what are the categories; metal, electronics, glass and petroleum derivatives, like plastic?" He turned to make his way to the remains of the Cyber unit.

"You don't have to do that, I was just having you on," she said with a laugh.

Oh, right, I'm a bit out of my element I'm afraid." The Doctor winced as his headache regained his attention with a stabbing pain right between his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Gwen asked, as she put a hand out to him.

The Doctor blinked and looked down at his arm, wondering why her hand was there, when he realized he was swaying and she was trying to steady him. With a quick shake he straightened himself up, forcing the dizziness from his body. "I'm fine, just a bit of a headache, nothing to worry about," he replied more cheerfully than he felt. "I was actually about to get some tea for it when you came in."

He looked over at the fallen tray and shattered pot. Gwen followed his gaze and shook her head slowly. "I don't think that is going to help you now. Come on, let's get you some more. At least that isn't one of Ianto's favorite pots. He'd be if a right snit if you had broken one of those."

"It was an accident," the Doctor explained as he followed Gwen down the hallway.

"I know, I saw. Somehow I thought you would've been more graceful."

"Usually I am, got a bit distracted, that's all." He shook his head as he remembered the incident, only to immediately regret that action. His headache was really taking hold. He entered the hub, staying under the overhang. Jack was at Ianto's workstation, smiling as the talked to the Welshman. The Doctor went over to the couch by the wall and sat down heavily. Jack looked up at the sound and frowned.

"I found him on the floor in the store room," Gwen explained before the Doctor could say anything.

"What? What happened?" asked Jack as he rushed over.

"It was nothing really. I tripped over a chair," said the Doctor as he rubbed his head, wishing everyone would stop being so loud.

"Did you hit your head?" Jack's concern was apparent in his voice as he sat down next to the Doctor, studying him carefully.

"No, I just have a headache. That's all. I'm fine. I just need some tea and a little quiet if you don't mind," replied the Doctor, who was staring at the floor as he rubbed his head, refusing to meet Jack's gaze.

"Ianto, get us some tea here," Jack yelled causing the Doctor to wince and duck his head away from the sound. "Oh sorry," Jack apologized. "Is there anything else you could use?"

"Some citrus."

"Citrus?"

"Yes, citrus, you know, oranges, grapefruit, lemons," explained the Doctor.

"I'll go get some," Gwen offered, picking up her purse and heading out the door.

"Your tea, sir," said Ianto holding out a steaming cup of tea on a saucer.

"Thank you," replied the Doctor. He looked up at Ianto and briefly considered correcting him on the sir, but decided it was best not to. Especially after the mess he had made in the store room.

The tea did help. The Doctor sipped it while Jack sat next to him worriedly asking questions.

"Is there anything else we can get you? I know you can't have an aspirin."

"Actually I can," the Doctor informed Jack. "It just isn't all that effective, makes it hurt less, but doesn't really eliminate the pain."

"But, I've read UNIT's file on you. A Jo Grant reported that you should never be given aspirin, that it would kill you. She put quite a bit of emphasis on that and it's cross-referenced just about everywhere in your file."

The Doctor sighed, leave it to the military to take everything he said as gospel. "That's just because of an offhand comment I made when I was irritated. I didn't want to take anything, I just wanted to sleep. So it was aspirin she was trying to give me? I never did know what it was. I just didn't want an argument."

"Then aspirin doesn't hurt you at all?" confirmed Jack.

"No, it just tastes bad. I have no idea how you humans can stand it."

Jack laughed. "That's why we swallow it quickly, with lots of water."

"I'll have to try that next time. This tea is helping though." The Doctor took a deep breath and let it out. "Actually I'm feeling much better." He looked up to see Ianto was still there. "What's in this? It has a slight bitterness to it."

"I added some willow bark," the Welshman explained.

"Well Jack, see I'm not dead," the Doctor laughed softly.

"What? What do you mean? What's the joke?"

"Aspirin is made from willow bark," the Doctor explained.

Jack stood up suddenly, accidentally knocking the Doctor's arm as he did so. The tea cup rattled on the saucer before tipping over, foiling the Doctors attempts to steady it. The remains of the tea spilled onto the floor. "Ianto, what did you think you were doing?" Jack exclaimed. "Didn't you check his file? What if that report had been correct? You could have killed him."

"Jack, I checked for food allergies. The file didn't show any," Ianto explained, chagrined at his oversight. "I didn't think to check medicines. That's Owen's…" his voice trailed off.

Jack softened at the memory of their fallen medical officer and sighed putting a hand on Ianto's shoulder. "That's okay, no harm done I guess." He dropped his hand and turned to the Doctor "Is there anything you can't have that you would like to tell us about?"

"Well pears, definitely can't have any pears. They're quite deadly. Shouldn't even have anything that's ever been touched by a pear."

"Avoiding possible arguments?" asked Jack with a smile.

"Well, yes," admitted the Doctor. "But, if you could get that in my file I would be most grateful."

"I'll get right on that sir," said Ianto." Would you like me to remove any reference to aspirin while I am at it?"

The Doctor rubbed his jaw as he considered the question. "Yes, go ahead, please. It does seem to work better than I remembered. I always wondered why no one ever offered me anything for a headache. Now I know." He looked down at the cup lying sideways on the saucer. The small spot of tea spilled on the floor. "Sorry about the mess."

"That's alright, happens all the time," assured Ianto as he deftly used a handkerchief to mop up the spill before taking cup and saucer from the Doctor. "Do you require anything else?"
"No, no, thank you, I'm fine."

With Ianto gone the Doctor decided it was time to ask Jack a few questions. "So what was the holdup at MI5?"

"Oh, nothing really, they just wanted me to cool my heels a little waiting for them. A stupid power play. I ended up calling the PM. He told them I had better things to do than decorate their waiting area."

"That's it? Nothing more? That seems like an enormous waste."

Jack smiled. "That's what the PM said. So I got a bit of compensation. They turned over all their files on the Atterian to me and I got permission to pick her up with no interference from MI5."

"What about UNIT?" the Doctor queried.

"No problem at all," Jack boasted. "Ianto knew I would want to talk to her and arranged clearance from them while I was gone. So everything is in place. We just have to locate her and pick her up quietly. Unless you have any objections?"

"No, I must confess I am curious as to what she is up to. That tracking device was simply that, tracking, nothing more. Can I be there when you question her?"

"Of course, but you don't mind if we do the pickup by ourselves. I think it will work best if she sees you as a friendly face."

"That would be fine, I was in the middle of working on something anyway. When do you think you will bring her in?"

"Once Gwen gets back, we'll go and get her. Good thing Gwen showed up today, even with aliens it looks better to the public if you have a female with you on pickups like this."

As if on cue Gwen returned with a bag filled with oranges, grapefruit, satsumas and lemons. "Is this what you wanted?" she asked as showed the Doctor the contents of the bag.

"Yes, more than adequate, thank you," he said as he pulled out a largish orange. "I'll get back to my work now. I think Jack wants you to go out on a pick up with him."

"You do?" Gwen asked looking at Jack. "You didn't even know I would be here today."

"True," said Jack. "But as long as you are here, you might as well help. We just need to get a fix on our target."

"We already have one," said Ianto as he took the bag of fruit from Gwen. "In fact she's right outside, about twenty feet from our door. It looks like she's waiting for us."