Does Africa Know A Song Of Me? - Part 2/10
Title: Does Africa Know A Song Of Me?
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, mentions of Gwen/Rhys, Martha/Tom
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Torchwood. Things would be rather different if I did.
Spoilers: Set sometime late in an alternate version of S2 (where no one is dead)
Summary: Jack gets a call from UNIT. They need his help... in Namibia. And when they arrive, Jack and Ianto (because Jack wouldn't leave him behind) discover the only communication they have with the team is letters...
Author's Note: The title is taken from a quote from the film 'Out Of Africa'. This was written for tw_bigbang
Thanks to: The wonderful morbid_sparks for beta'ing, cheerleading and letting me complain about not knowing where the plot was going.
Also huge thanks to my lovely bigbang artist, wrenriddle - find her fanmix and beautiful cover art for this story here.
Previous Parts: One
Does Africa Know A Song of Me?
Namibia
18th April 2008
Dear All,
Glad to see that even with ‘snail mail’ as our only option, we should at least be able to communicate on a minimum of once a week each way. And before I forget, yes, all the stamps look a bit like that. They are rather interesting, aren’t they? (Not sure what they’re supposed to be depicting, though.)
Your letter did actually arrive yesterday, but we were busy out talking to the locals about what they’ve seen. It’s lucky that most of them do in fact speak some English (even if it is broken) because we heard them speaking in their native tongue, and well… I don’t think I’ve ever heard a language quite like it. Maybe by the time we get home I’ll have picked up a few words.
Firstly, yes, Gwen, we absolutely promise not to get ourselves mauled or otherwise attacked by tigers. Since there are no tigers in Africa (tigers are only in the Indian subcontinent, unless they’re in zoos), I’m fairly sure we can manage this. (Yes, we’ll try very hard not to be attacked by any other wild animals too, okay?)
Don’t worry, if there are any big wild animals come around that want to hurt Ianto, I’ll keep him behind me where he’ll be safe. You all know I’ll be fine whatever happens. Actually, I might just keep Ianto behind me at all times anyway. I like him behind me, especially when h
We shouldn’t actually have to go into any of the areas where there are large populations of predators anyway, if what the people we’ve been interviewing the last few days say is correct, so it shouldn’t come down to that.
Secondly, of course I know where the pieces are filed. Now that the archives are actually organised properly, things are easy to find if you just think about it rationally. They’ll be in the ‘Weaponry’ section (down to the end of the main corridor and the archway on the right) under ‘Electromagnetic and Sonic’ (which is mostly down the 3rd aisle, if I remember correctly. It’s labelled anyway). After that it’s in alphabetical order, and I think that was filed under ‘L’ (for ‘laser’). That’s the letter between K and M, in case you’re unsure. The artefact box will be clearly labelled anyway. I definitely remember ‘Laser gun, broken pieces of’ being on that particular label.
Please be careful and don’t move anything else while you’re down there, or, well, Tosh is right and you will all be on decaf until Christmas. I’ve spent too long making some sense of everything down there for you lot to mess it all up again.
Please, please don’t mess it up. Annoyed Ianto is not a fun person to be around. Well, sometimes he is, when annoyed is combined with horny, in which case he can be a very fun person to be around, but not usually.
And be careful about that offer from UNIT. I’m still not entirely sure that they didn’t ask for my help out here so Commander Brown couldn’t try to stage some sort of coup and take over Torchwood Cardiff while I’m absent. I know he lusts after our tech. (And just our tech, apparently - I tried to charm him out of his ideas years ago and got nowhere. I don’t think he much appreciated my flirting, which tells you already that there’s clearly something odd about him.) Just be sure that if you do have to call in UNIT for help, you three stay in charge. Don’t let them walk all over you just because there are loads of them. You could always call Martha (you got her number while she was there, right?) if there are any problems. She’s pretty high ranked now so she should be able to do something.
Martha’s number is on the list that I left on Jack’s desk, if you don’t have it and it turns out you need it. The one with ‘Important Phone Numbers’ written at the top in big letters.
Anyway, we’re heading out this afternoon to start setting up some scanners and mini-beacons so we can monitor things from the station here - after the lunchtime heat is over, that is. I knew when I relented and agreed to come that a desert in Africa was probably going to be hot, but it is really hot, especially in the middle of the day. We’ve been here less than a week and I think I’m already missing being cold and rained on in Cardiff.
I’m not. I actually quite like it here. Give me hot, dry and sandy over cold and wet any day. Although I do miss the sea. And Ianto won’t let me wear my coat because he thinks I’ll get heatstroke or something in it, which is patently ridiculous. It’s hard to look quite so dashing without my swishy coat, and Ianto has hidden it somewhere.
Owen, please back me up in this - the temperatures are in the high 30s at the moment. That’s too hot to be wrapping yourself up in a warm woollen coat without making yourself ill, right? (Especially considering he’s still insisting on both a shirt and an undershirt as well.) He tried to tell me he isn’t susceptible to illness, but I’m not convinced that extends to heat-related maladies.
Owen, tell him I’ll be fine and to give my coat back or I’ll… well, I’ll think of something. And it won’t be good.
ANYWAY - I think we have everything we need for now, tech-wise. Hopefully by the next letter we will have a bit more of an idea what is actually going on out here.
Yours, (actually, no - mine! Mitts off!)
Ianto
and Jack
P.S. If we’re not done out here by your wedding, Gwen, I’m leaving Jack out here and coming home myself. I can’t live out here for 3 months, I just can’t. And Owen? Breaking the coffee machine comes higher on my list of trespasses than messing up the archives, so please don’t mess with it. (I can’t even make you decaf if you break it.) I’ll be back to rescue you from overpriced Starbucks sludge as soon as I can.
Cardiff
21st April 2008
Dear Jack and Ianto,
Thank you for your very detailed (if a little bit patronising) instructions on how to find what we needed in the archives, Ianto. (We do actually know the alphabet, thank you very much!) We promise we didn’t move anything except the box we wanted to take out. Well, Owen nearly knocked something off the edge of the shelf it was on, but we caught it (and it didn’t explode or smash or anything) and put it back where it was, so no harm done. Right?
And if Tosh doesn’t use all of the bits or it doesn’t work and we want to put it back, it should go back in the place we got it from, yes? Or do you want us just to leave it in a corner or something and you can re-file it when you get back? I know you don’t like us going down there without you very much. Let us know, anyway.
As for UNIT, I’m sure we’ll be fine, Jack. They didn’t try to take-over the last time you were away, and even if they had, we’d have been okay. But if it comes down to it, we’ll call Martha - and yes, I got her number. But it was a good idea to put her on the list anyway, Ianto. (By the way, I didn’t recognise a couple of names on that list. Should I? Are they likely to call?)
Speaking of Martha, actually, something arrived for the two of you that I think is from her. It looks like her handwriting on the envelope, anyway. I’m forwarding it on for you. I have my suspicions about what it is, but I’m saying nothing. Interesting that she addressed it to both of you, though.
Still nothing major happened since you’ve been gone. The new Weevil spray testing is going well, though. There are quite a few of them about the last few days, but mostly they aren’t particularly violent (well, for Weevils). We haven’t had anyone attacked, at least.
Also, you might not be liking it, Ianto, but we’re all a bit jealous of hot, dry and sunny at the moment. It hasn’t stopped raining since you left - and it’s not just normal ‘it’s April and we live in Wales’ raining, it’s ‘torrential thunderstorms where we can’t use the invisible lift for fear of being flooded’ raining. I’ll gladly swap with you if you’re really all that desperate to be rained on. Just say the word.
And yes, Tosh checked, and she couldn’t find any evidence that the weather is actually being influenced by alien tech or the Rift, this time. She’s keeping an eye on it though, just in case.
I don’t care if there aren’t any tigers in Africa (although really? I always thought they were in all the same nature programmes as the lions and they’re definitely in Africa…), please, take care of yourselves.
Love,
Gwen
P.S. Again. Because somebody *cough*Gwen*cough* wouldn’t let me put this in the main letter. Don’t ask me why. Jack, I know you love the coat, we all know how much you love the bloody coat, but Ianto’s right, it isn’t exactly ideal attire for the DESERT. If it’s as hot as Ianto says, that coat isn’t going to let you sweat properly and you really are in danger of heat stroke. And just because you’re pretty much impervious to infection doesn’t mean your body isn’t going to react to things like extremes of temperature just like anyone else’s. I’ve seen you shivering when the Hub heating fails sometimes in the middle of winter. So stop whining and learn to deal with it. On the same note, I hope you’re not still in a bloody three piece suit out there, Ianto. Both of you need to do whatever you can to keep cool or you won’t be able to concentrate properly. And there’s always the possibility of death, too, and I don’t care if you’ll come back from it, Harkness, I’d prefer to have the death rate on the team as low as possible, thank you. - Owen
Part Three
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, mentions of Gwen/Rhys, Martha/Tom
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Torchwood. Things would be rather different if I did.
Spoilers: Set sometime late in an alternate version of S2 (where no one is dead)
Summary: Jack gets a call from UNIT. They need his help... in Namibia. And when they arrive, Jack and Ianto (because Jack wouldn't leave him behind) discover the only communication they have with the team is letters...
Author's Note: The title is taken from a quote from the film 'Out Of Africa'. This was written for tw_bigbang
Thanks to: The wonderful morbid_sparks for beta'ing, cheerleading and letting me complain about not knowing where the plot was going.
Also huge thanks to my lovely bigbang artist, wrenriddle - find her fanmix and beautiful cover art for this story here.
Previous Parts: One
Does Africa Know A Song of Me?
Namibia
18th April 2008
Dear All,
Glad to see that even with ‘snail mail’ as our only option, we should at least be able to communicate on a minimum of once a week each way. And before I forget, yes, all the stamps look a bit like that. They are rather interesting, aren’t they? (Not sure what they’re supposed to be depicting, though.)
Your letter did actually arrive yesterday, but we were busy out talking to the locals about what they’ve seen. It’s lucky that most of them do in fact speak some English (even if it is broken) because we heard them speaking in their native tongue, and well… I don’t think I’ve ever heard a language quite like it. Maybe by the time we get home I’ll have picked up a few words.
Firstly, yes, Gwen, we absolutely promise not to get ourselves mauled or otherwise attacked by tigers. Since there are no tigers in Africa (tigers are only in the Indian subcontinent, unless they’re in zoos), I’m fairly sure we can manage this. (Yes, we’ll try very hard not to be attacked by any other wild animals too, okay?)
Don’t worry, if there are any big wild animals come around that want to hurt Ianto, I’ll keep him behind me where he’ll be safe. You all know I’ll be fine whatever happens. Actually, I might just keep Ianto behind me at all times anyway. I like him behind me, especially when h
We shouldn’t actually have to go into any of the areas where there are large populations of predators anyway, if what the people we’ve been interviewing the last few days say is correct, so it shouldn’t come down to that.
Secondly, of course I know where the pieces are filed. Now that the archives are actually organised properly, things are easy to find if you just think about it rationally. They’ll be in the ‘Weaponry’ section (down to the end of the main corridor and the archway on the right) under ‘Electromagnetic and Sonic’ (which is mostly down the 3rd aisle, if I remember correctly. It’s labelled anyway). After that it’s in alphabetical order, and I think that was filed under ‘L’ (for ‘laser’). That’s the letter between K and M, in case you’re unsure. The artefact box will be clearly labelled anyway. I definitely remember ‘Laser gun, broken pieces of’ being on that particular label.
Please be careful and don’t move anything else while you’re down there, or, well, Tosh is right and you will all be on decaf until Christmas. I’ve spent too long making some sense of everything down there for you lot to mess it all up again.
Please, please don’t mess it up. Annoyed Ianto is not a fun person to be around. Well, sometimes he is, when annoyed is combined with horny, in which case he can be a very fun person to be around, but not usually.
And be careful about that offer from UNIT. I’m still not entirely sure that they didn’t ask for my help out here so Commander Brown couldn’t try to stage some sort of coup and take over Torchwood Cardiff while I’m absent. I know he lusts after our tech. (And just our tech, apparently - I tried to charm him out of his ideas years ago and got nowhere. I don’t think he much appreciated my flirting, which tells you already that there’s clearly something odd about him.) Just be sure that if you do have to call in UNIT for help, you three stay in charge. Don’t let them walk all over you just because there are loads of them. You could always call Martha (you got her number while she was there, right?) if there are any problems. She’s pretty high ranked now so she should be able to do something.
Martha’s number is on the list that I left on Jack’s desk, if you don’t have it and it turns out you need it. The one with ‘Important Phone Numbers’ written at the top in big letters.
Anyway, we’re heading out this afternoon to start setting up some scanners and mini-beacons so we can monitor things from the station here - after the lunchtime heat is over, that is. I knew when I relented and agreed to come that a desert in Africa was probably going to be hot, but it is really hot, especially in the middle of the day. We’ve been here less than a week and I think I’m already missing being cold and rained on in Cardiff.
I’m not. I actually quite like it here. Give me hot, dry and sandy over cold and wet any day. Although I do miss the sea. And Ianto won’t let me wear my coat because he thinks I’ll get heatstroke or something in it, which is patently ridiculous. It’s hard to look quite so dashing without my swishy coat, and Ianto has hidden it somewhere.
Owen, please back me up in this - the temperatures are in the high 30s at the moment. That’s too hot to be wrapping yourself up in a warm woollen coat without making yourself ill, right? (Especially considering he’s still insisting on both a shirt and an undershirt as well.) He tried to tell me he isn’t susceptible to illness, but I’m not convinced that extends to heat-related maladies.
Owen, tell him I’ll be fine and to give my coat back or I’ll… well, I’ll think of something. And it won’t be good.
ANYWAY - I think we have everything we need for now, tech-wise. Hopefully by the next letter we will have a bit more of an idea what is actually going on out here.
Yours, (actually, no - mine! Mitts off!)
Ianto
and Jack
P.S. If we’re not done out here by your wedding, Gwen, I’m leaving Jack out here and coming home myself. I can’t live out here for 3 months, I just can’t. And Owen? Breaking the coffee machine comes higher on my list of trespasses than messing up the archives, so please don’t mess with it. (I can’t even make you decaf if you break it.) I’ll be back to rescue you from overpriced Starbucks sludge as soon as I can.
Cardiff
21st April 2008
Dear Jack and Ianto,
Thank you for your very detailed (if a little bit patronising) instructions on how to find what we needed in the archives, Ianto. (We do actually know the alphabet, thank you very much!) We promise we didn’t move anything except the box we wanted to take out. Well, Owen nearly knocked something off the edge of the shelf it was on, but we caught it (and it didn’t explode or smash or anything) and put it back where it was, so no harm done. Right?
And if Tosh doesn’t use all of the bits or it doesn’t work and we want to put it back, it should go back in the place we got it from, yes? Or do you want us just to leave it in a corner or something and you can re-file it when you get back? I know you don’t like us going down there without you very much. Let us know, anyway.
As for UNIT, I’m sure we’ll be fine, Jack. They didn’t try to take-over the last time you were away, and even if they had, we’d have been okay. But if it comes down to it, we’ll call Martha - and yes, I got her number. But it was a good idea to put her on the list anyway, Ianto. (By the way, I didn’t recognise a couple of names on that list. Should I? Are they likely to call?)
Speaking of Martha, actually, something arrived for the two of you that I think is from her. It looks like her handwriting on the envelope, anyway. I’m forwarding it on for you. I have my suspicions about what it is, but I’m saying nothing. Interesting that she addressed it to both of you, though.
Still nothing major happened since you’ve been gone. The new Weevil spray testing is going well, though. There are quite a few of them about the last few days, but mostly they aren’t particularly violent (well, for Weevils). We haven’t had anyone attacked, at least.
Also, you might not be liking it, Ianto, but we’re all a bit jealous of hot, dry and sunny at the moment. It hasn’t stopped raining since you left - and it’s not just normal ‘it’s April and we live in Wales’ raining, it’s ‘torrential thunderstorms where we can’t use the invisible lift for fear of being flooded’ raining. I’ll gladly swap with you if you’re really all that desperate to be rained on. Just say the word.
And yes, Tosh checked, and she couldn’t find any evidence that the weather is actually being influenced by alien tech or the Rift, this time. She’s keeping an eye on it though, just in case.
I don’t care if there aren’t any tigers in Africa (although really? I always thought they were in all the same nature programmes as the lions and they’re definitely in Africa…), please, take care of yourselves.
Love,
Gwen
P.S. Again. Because somebody *cough*Gwen*cough* wouldn’t let me put this in the main letter. Don’t ask me why. Jack, I know you love the coat, we all know how much you love the bloody coat, but Ianto’s right, it isn’t exactly ideal attire for the DESERT. If it’s as hot as Ianto says, that coat isn’t going to let you sweat properly and you really are in danger of heat stroke. And just because you’re pretty much impervious to infection doesn’t mean your body isn’t going to react to things like extremes of temperature just like anyone else’s. I’ve seen you shivering when the Hub heating fails sometimes in the middle of winter. So stop whining and learn to deal with it. On the same note, I hope you’re not still in a bloody three piece suit out there, Ianto. Both of you need to do whatever you can to keep cool or you won’t be able to concentrate properly. And there’s always the possibility of death, too, and I don’t care if you’ll come back from it, Harkness, I’d prefer to have the death rate on the team as low as possible, thank you. - Owen
Part Three