Fic: Stars So Bright
Title: Stars So Bright
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: The stars look so much brighter from space than they ever did when Ianto looked up at them from earth.
Word Count: 1093
Written For: Prompt 230 - Stargazing at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
A/N: Set in my ‘Ghost of a Chance ‘Verse.
Seen from the surface of a planet, any planet, stars appear to twinkle and flicker in the night sky. That’s an illusion caused by the planet’s atmosphere causing refraction of the light rays. Looking at the same stars from outside the atmosphere, they are hard, bright, steady points of light, never wavering. They’re just as beautiful, maybe even more so, but they seem a little colder, a little less friendly…
Well, that’s subjective. Stars are stars; there are various types, but in the end they’re all just balls of superheated gas, similar to earth’s own sun, and therefore neither friendly nor unfriendly. Some serve the purpose of providing warmth and light for the planets in orbit around them, some don’t have any planets, either because they never formed or because they were destroyed at some point. Whatever.
‘They are beautiful though,’ Ianto thought to himself. ‘No matter where they’re viewed from.’
He gazed out at the stars, completely captivated by them. Countless dazzling points of light, so many more than he’d ever seen from earth, even on those occasions when he’d been out in the middle of nowhere, far beyond the reach of any light pollution from cities or even outlying farms. He’d known, in a vague sort of way, that there were more stars in the universe than could ever be seen with the naked eye, but being out here among them could be somewhat overwhelming at times.
“Ianto? You okay?”
“Hm?” Ianto blinked, pulling himself out of the half-trance he’d fallen into.
“I said, are you okay? I know it can be a bit much…” Jack trailed off, studying him, a concerned expression on his face.
“Oh, no, I’m fine. It’s just…” He waved one hand at the view. “I didn’t expect the stars to be quite so bright out here. They’re really beautiful, like chips of ice lit from within.” He grinned. “Hark at me, getting all poetic.”
“This isn’t the best time for stargazing,” Jack reminded him. “There’ll be time for that later. Right now, we have more pressing concerns.”
Ianto smiled sheepishly. “Right, sorry. Didn’t mean to get distracted.”
“It’s fine. Never know how someone’s gonna react first time out. I’ve known people to freeze up, go practically catatonic when faced with so much nothingness.”
“It’s an understandable reaction, but no, I’m fine.”
“I know you are. You’re still talking and making sense.”
“Well, I’ve been out in space for a few months now, I’d like to think I’m over the first shock.”
“Out in space, yes, but being aboard the ship isn’t quite the same thing.”
“Technically, I’m still aboard the ship, I’m just standing on the outside of it, instead of being inside,” Ianto pointed out.
“And still splitting hairs,” Jack teased.
“Accuracy is important. Right, what do you need me to do? I’ll try to refrain from stargazing until the repairs are finished.”
“That would be appreciated. Can’t have you just floating away.”
“Oh, like that’s going to happen. I have three safety lines attaching me to various points on the hull, and the boots of the EVA suits have magnetic soles. Floating away is the last thing I need to worry about. Dropping tools, on the other hand…” He trailed off, looking at the toolkit Jack had brought out with them.
Jack laughed. “It’s a toolkit designed for use out here. The base and interior are magnetised, it has its own tethers, which I’ve already clipped on, and the tools inside are on elasticated cords. Loose debris floating around out in space is a hazard, so everything’s designed with safety in mind.” Jack flipped open the toolbox to reveal rows of tools clipped firmly in place, each one equipped with its own coiled cord.
“Very tidy.” Neatness was something Ianto approved of.
“Only the best for us. Let’s get started, shall we? Stabilisation jets are pretty basic, so assuming nothing catastrophic has gone wrong, it shouldn’t take long to get this one working again.”
Being out in the vacuum of space made all movements slower than they would have been under gravity, and precision was necessary because no one wants to get holes poked in their spacesuit due to careless tool handling. Even so, between them they got the thruster housing open, the jammed components un-jammed, and everything sealed back up again in hardly more than forty-five minutes. As Jack replaced the final tool in its clip and closed the toolbox, he grinned at Ianto through the faceplate of his spacesuit.
“If you’re still in the mood for stargazing…”
“How much air do we have left?”
“Check your suit gauge.”
“Oh, right.” Ianto found the correct button on the wrist computer, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “According to this, I still have enough air for almost eight hours!”
“Like I said earlier, only the best for us. I know some suits are only capable of providing two or three hours of breathable air, but these are top of the line. Always get the best you can afford. Some repairs might take seven, eight hours or more. Having to break off repairs and go back inside to refill your air tanks every couple of hours is a nuisance.”
“Mm, well, I don’t think I want to spend eight hours stargazing, but maybe an hour or so?”
“Sounds good to me! Let me pop the toolkit back inside the airlock, while you pick a comfortable spot.”
When Jack rejoined Ianto a few minutes later, he’d settled himself on one of the Wanderer’s stubby wings used for atmospheric flight.
“Good choice, Mister Jones.” Jack sat beside his lover, gazing out at the star-filled darkness. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Amazing,” Ianto agreed. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars. I was trying to remember the star charts. We’re headed for the Gilvek system, which would be…” He studied the stars carefully. “The bright one just to the left of that cluster of three?”
“Not quite, it’s the slightly dimmer one just below the cluster, but… Well, you were close. You get a gold star for effort.”
Ianto chuckled. “Who needs gold stars when we’re surrounded by the real thing?”
“Good point.”
“Can we see Sol from here?”
Jack shook his head. “Too far away and not bright enough to be visible to human eyes. You’d need a pretty big telescope to see it.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Ianto patted the wing of their spaceship with one gloved hand. “This is my home now, this ship and you. I might miss earth occasionally, but I’m right where I want to be.”
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: The stars look so much brighter from space than they ever did when Ianto looked up at them from earth.
Word Count: 1093
Written For: Prompt 230 - Stargazing at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
A/N: Set in my ‘Ghost of a Chance ‘Verse.
Seen from the surface of a planet, any planet, stars appear to twinkle and flicker in the night sky. That’s an illusion caused by the planet’s atmosphere causing refraction of the light rays. Looking at the same stars from outside the atmosphere, they are hard, bright, steady points of light, never wavering. They’re just as beautiful, maybe even more so, but they seem a little colder, a little less friendly…
Well, that’s subjective. Stars are stars; there are various types, but in the end they’re all just balls of superheated gas, similar to earth’s own sun, and therefore neither friendly nor unfriendly. Some serve the purpose of providing warmth and light for the planets in orbit around them, some don’t have any planets, either because they never formed or because they were destroyed at some point. Whatever.
‘They are beautiful though,’ Ianto thought to himself. ‘No matter where they’re viewed from.’
He gazed out at the stars, completely captivated by them. Countless dazzling points of light, so many more than he’d ever seen from earth, even on those occasions when he’d been out in the middle of nowhere, far beyond the reach of any light pollution from cities or even outlying farms. He’d known, in a vague sort of way, that there were more stars in the universe than could ever be seen with the naked eye, but being out here among them could be somewhat overwhelming at times.
“Ianto? You okay?”
“Hm?” Ianto blinked, pulling himself out of the half-trance he’d fallen into.
“I said, are you okay? I know it can be a bit much…” Jack trailed off, studying him, a concerned expression on his face.
“Oh, no, I’m fine. It’s just…” He waved one hand at the view. “I didn’t expect the stars to be quite so bright out here. They’re really beautiful, like chips of ice lit from within.” He grinned. “Hark at me, getting all poetic.”
“This isn’t the best time for stargazing,” Jack reminded him. “There’ll be time for that later. Right now, we have more pressing concerns.”
Ianto smiled sheepishly. “Right, sorry. Didn’t mean to get distracted.”
“It’s fine. Never know how someone’s gonna react first time out. I’ve known people to freeze up, go practically catatonic when faced with so much nothingness.”
“It’s an understandable reaction, but no, I’m fine.”
“I know you are. You’re still talking and making sense.”
“Well, I’ve been out in space for a few months now, I’d like to think I’m over the first shock.”
“Out in space, yes, but being aboard the ship isn’t quite the same thing.”
“Technically, I’m still aboard the ship, I’m just standing on the outside of it, instead of being inside,” Ianto pointed out.
“And still splitting hairs,” Jack teased.
“Accuracy is important. Right, what do you need me to do? I’ll try to refrain from stargazing until the repairs are finished.”
“That would be appreciated. Can’t have you just floating away.”
“Oh, like that’s going to happen. I have three safety lines attaching me to various points on the hull, and the boots of the EVA suits have magnetic soles. Floating away is the last thing I need to worry about. Dropping tools, on the other hand…” He trailed off, looking at the toolkit Jack had brought out with them.
Jack laughed. “It’s a toolkit designed for use out here. The base and interior are magnetised, it has its own tethers, which I’ve already clipped on, and the tools inside are on elasticated cords. Loose debris floating around out in space is a hazard, so everything’s designed with safety in mind.” Jack flipped open the toolbox to reveal rows of tools clipped firmly in place, each one equipped with its own coiled cord.
“Very tidy.” Neatness was something Ianto approved of.
“Only the best for us. Let’s get started, shall we? Stabilisation jets are pretty basic, so assuming nothing catastrophic has gone wrong, it shouldn’t take long to get this one working again.”
Being out in the vacuum of space made all movements slower than they would have been under gravity, and precision was necessary because no one wants to get holes poked in their spacesuit due to careless tool handling. Even so, between them they got the thruster housing open, the jammed components un-jammed, and everything sealed back up again in hardly more than forty-five minutes. As Jack replaced the final tool in its clip and closed the toolbox, he grinned at Ianto through the faceplate of his spacesuit.
“If you’re still in the mood for stargazing…”
“How much air do we have left?”
“Check your suit gauge.”
“Oh, right.” Ianto found the correct button on the wrist computer, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “According to this, I still have enough air for almost eight hours!”
“Like I said earlier, only the best for us. I know some suits are only capable of providing two or three hours of breathable air, but these are top of the line. Always get the best you can afford. Some repairs might take seven, eight hours or more. Having to break off repairs and go back inside to refill your air tanks every couple of hours is a nuisance.”
“Mm, well, I don’t think I want to spend eight hours stargazing, but maybe an hour or so?”
“Sounds good to me! Let me pop the toolkit back inside the airlock, while you pick a comfortable spot.”
When Jack rejoined Ianto a few minutes later, he’d settled himself on one of the Wanderer’s stubby wings used for atmospheric flight.
“Good choice, Mister Jones.” Jack sat beside his lover, gazing out at the star-filled darkness. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Amazing,” Ianto agreed. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars. I was trying to remember the star charts. We’re headed for the Gilvek system, which would be…” He studied the stars carefully. “The bright one just to the left of that cluster of three?”
“Not quite, it’s the slightly dimmer one just below the cluster, but… Well, you were close. You get a gold star for effort.”
Ianto chuckled. “Who needs gold stars when we’re surrounded by the real thing?”
“Good point.”
“Can we see Sol from here?”
Jack shook his head. “Too far away and not bright enough to be visible to human eyes. You’d need a pretty big telescope to see it.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Ianto patted the wing of their spaceship with one gloved hand. “This is my home now, this ship and you. I might miss earth occasionally, but I’m right where I want to be.”
The End