Footnotes -- The Resurrection Casket
Title: Footnotes
Chapter Nine: The Resurrection Casket
Date Written: 7/19/09
Rating: PG/T
Word Count: 1,184
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Characters/Pairings: Ianto Jones/Jack Harkness, mentioned Suzie
Spoilers: Doctor Who 02, Torchwood 02, and for the Tenth Doctor Adventure novel The Resurrection Casket
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: Thanks so very much to my darling betas totally4ryo and katestamps. I know, it's been a while since I've done one of these. For gingerlr, who needs a little bit of fluff right now.
Summaries for the books can be found at Wikipedia, at the Doctor Who wiki, and at Doctorwhoguide.com.
Previous chapters found here.
Being an archivist -- especially for a never-ending needs-to-be-stored-forever archival machine like Torchwood -- meant that even when things were slow upstairs, Ianto Jones always had things to do. While he appreciated a break as well as the next guy, there were only so many rounds of solitaire a person could play before their mind turned into complete and utter mush.
When things were slow, sometimes Jack would come and dodge his reports and conference calls by spending time in the archives. While it was a big running joke that Jack didn't know how alphabetical order worked, he actually was quite a help.
(when he wasn't purposely messing with things to get a rise out of Ianto, of course. because Ianto would get cross and start snarking at Jack, which would make Jack pout but give as good as he got. and then they ended up getting a rise out of each other and then nothing whatsoever would get done.)
Jack was sitting in the corner, looking through a box of as of yet unidentified but probably harmless Rift jetsam to see if he recognized anything. Past Torchwood Three directors had been more than happy to keep Jack as a freelance agent, and when he'd taken over the Cardiff branch he'd been busy rebuilding a team and headhunting other agents. He hadn't thought about the underground disaster that was the archives until, according to team lore, Suzie had asked him a question about an alien that Jack didn't know the answer to. The half-arsed job they'd done until Ianto got himself hired (weaseled his way in) hadn't helped the already-growing chaos.
For all the damn control Yvonne had kept in London, she had let Cardiff roam free. Maybe it was true, as his Tad had said, that the whole of South Wales could fall into the sea and London wouldn't even bat an eyelash.
"Aha!" Jack's crow of discovery broke Ianto out of his little mental digression. "Oh, I haven't seen one of you in a while."
Ianto turned to look at whatever Jack was cooing over. The Captain had what looked like a broken little toy spaceship made of brass and wood in the shape of a steamboat, a flat open wooden deck laid out before what would be a soaring steam pipe if it was to scale. There had been a dome over the deck, probably crystal or some sort of glass, but all that remained were little shards wedged into the seams of the toy.
Jack grinned up at Ianto, turning the toy back and forth in his hand. "I had one of these when I was a boy," he said. "It was really a handy toy to give kids on an ocean planet."
"Is it really steam-powered?" Ianto asked. He held out his hand expectantly and Jack handed it over. The entire thing looked almost retro, with rivets and crudely-welded seams. The paint was flaking off, and the smoke stack had a thin layer of black film that was peeling up off the rusting copper.
"Not that one," Jack said, rising to peer down at the toy too. He touched the film, pulling back a corner. The underside was a web of minute circuitry. "Solar panel," he explained. "You put water in the bottom compartment and let the kids take it outside. Panel heats up the water and it steams up through this smaller pipe here behind the big one. Gives the illusion of being steam-powered."
"Steampunk," Ianto said with a grin. "Victorian technology in a futuristic setting."
"Oh, you have no idea," Jack replied. "These things are necessities in some parts of the universe by my time."
"How's that?"
Jack grinned. "Out there, in the universe, when we start getting out there and exploring, we find out that there are places that are complete technological dead zones. Some planets, sometimes whole planetary systems, just naturally give off really weird magnetic fields that interfere with ships' computer systems. As more and more people started exploring the universe on their own dime, they needed to figure out how to get to those places they couldn't get to."
"So they went low-tech and branched out sideways," Ianto theorized. When Jack nodded, he chuckled and looked back down at the toy in his hand. "Why would people want to go somewhere like that? Without knowing what could happen to them, what they'll find?"
Jack tapped his nose teasingly. "That's why they do it, Mr. Jones. They don't know. Humans are curious creatures. If we don't know how something works, we'll take the whole thing apart to figure it out, even if we don't know how to put it back together. The same thing applies to what's out there in the Wild Unknown."
"Futuristic Doctor Livingstones," Ianto said.
"Minus the sexy accents," Jack replied. "Of course, later humans used EMPs to keep dirty little secrets hidden. They needed steamships to get to them."
"What sort of secrets?" the Welshman asked.
"All sorts of secrets," Jack replied mysteriously. "Of course, the most popular was hiding booty." His grin turned lecherous. "The kind you keep in a trunk, I mean."
Ianto rolled his eyes in fond exasperation. "Pirates?" he asked, more than a hint of disbelief in his voice.
"Hey, I'd like to point out that the Earthbound were the ones that coined the phrase Sea of Stars," the Captain teased softly. "Humans are greedy. They want what's not theirs and they want what they have to stay away from other greedy humans."
Ianto smiled softly, enjoying watching Jack open up about his own childhood and his past. He'd seen so much bad that he tended to keep a tight lid on the whole thing, not enjoying the good memories he still had.
"There were lots of pirate stories when I was growing up," Jack continued. He suddenly laughed at a memory. "There was this one about a pirate... I think his name was Hamleck Glint. He was one of those really bad guys who always got away... They said he'd found the best treasure of all."
Ianto tilted his head to the side, watching as Jack turned the tiny little toy back and forth in his hands. "What treasure was that?"
"Immortality," Jack said with a rueful grin.
'Poor unfortunate sod,' Ianto thought. Jack lapsed into silence, still studying the toy in his hand. The young archivist cleared his throat. "You know, we have plenty of pirate stories too. Us poor Earthbound."
Jack looked up and grinned. "Yeah?"
"Yup." Ianto shut the filing cabinet he'd been working on before Jack had discovered the toy and grinned. "I even know a few with a Captain Jack in them."
"Now I demand that you tell them to me," the Captain insisted.
"Better I show you," Ianto said, taking the toy and setting it on top of the cabinet. "Come on. Gwen's gone for the day, and the Rift's projected to be quiet."
Jack grinned teasingly. "My, my, Mr. Jones. Leaving work undone."
"A mess like this won't get sorted in a day," Ianto said, taking Jack's hand.
Chapter Nine: The Resurrection Casket
Date Written: 7/19/09
Rating: PG/T
Word Count: 1,184
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Characters/Pairings: Ianto Jones/Jack Harkness, mentioned Suzie
Spoilers: Doctor Who 02, Torchwood 02, and for the Tenth Doctor Adventure novel The Resurrection Casket
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: Thanks so very much to my darling betas totally4ryo and katestamps. I know, it's been a while since I've done one of these. For gingerlr, who needs a little bit of fluff right now.
Summaries for the books can be found at Wikipedia, at the Doctor Who wiki, and at Doctorwhoguide.com.
Previous chapters found here.
Being an archivist -- especially for a never-ending needs-to-be-stored-forever archival machine like Torchwood -- meant that even when things were slow upstairs, Ianto Jones always had things to do. While he appreciated a break as well as the next guy, there were only so many rounds of solitaire a person could play before their mind turned into complete and utter mush.
When things were slow, sometimes Jack would come and dodge his reports and conference calls by spending time in the archives. While it was a big running joke that Jack didn't know how alphabetical order worked, he actually was quite a help.
(when he wasn't purposely messing with things to get a rise out of Ianto, of course. because Ianto would get cross and start snarking at Jack, which would make Jack pout but give as good as he got. and then they ended up getting a rise out of each other and then nothing whatsoever would get done.)
Jack was sitting in the corner, looking through a box of as of yet unidentified but probably harmless Rift jetsam to see if he recognized anything. Past Torchwood Three directors had been more than happy to keep Jack as a freelance agent, and when he'd taken over the Cardiff branch he'd been busy rebuilding a team and headhunting other agents. He hadn't thought about the underground disaster that was the archives until, according to team lore, Suzie had asked him a question about an alien that Jack didn't know the answer to. The half-arsed job they'd done until Ianto got himself hired (weaseled his way in) hadn't helped the already-growing chaos.
For all the damn control Yvonne had kept in London, she had let Cardiff roam free. Maybe it was true, as his Tad had said, that the whole of South Wales could fall into the sea and London wouldn't even bat an eyelash.
"Aha!" Jack's crow of discovery broke Ianto out of his little mental digression. "Oh, I haven't seen one of you in a while."
Ianto turned to look at whatever Jack was cooing over. The Captain had what looked like a broken little toy spaceship made of brass and wood in the shape of a steamboat, a flat open wooden deck laid out before what would be a soaring steam pipe if it was to scale. There had been a dome over the deck, probably crystal or some sort of glass, but all that remained were little shards wedged into the seams of the toy.
Jack grinned up at Ianto, turning the toy back and forth in his hand. "I had one of these when I was a boy," he said. "It was really a handy toy to give kids on an ocean planet."
"Is it really steam-powered?" Ianto asked. He held out his hand expectantly and Jack handed it over. The entire thing looked almost retro, with rivets and crudely-welded seams. The paint was flaking off, and the smoke stack had a thin layer of black film that was peeling up off the rusting copper.
"Not that one," Jack said, rising to peer down at the toy too. He touched the film, pulling back a corner. The underside was a web of minute circuitry. "Solar panel," he explained. "You put water in the bottom compartment and let the kids take it outside. Panel heats up the water and it steams up through this smaller pipe here behind the big one. Gives the illusion of being steam-powered."
"Steampunk," Ianto said with a grin. "Victorian technology in a futuristic setting."
"Oh, you have no idea," Jack replied. "These things are necessities in some parts of the universe by my time."
"How's that?"
Jack grinned. "Out there, in the universe, when we start getting out there and exploring, we find out that there are places that are complete technological dead zones. Some planets, sometimes whole planetary systems, just naturally give off really weird magnetic fields that interfere with ships' computer systems. As more and more people started exploring the universe on their own dime, they needed to figure out how to get to those places they couldn't get to."
"So they went low-tech and branched out sideways," Ianto theorized. When Jack nodded, he chuckled and looked back down at the toy in his hand. "Why would people want to go somewhere like that? Without knowing what could happen to them, what they'll find?"
Jack tapped his nose teasingly. "That's why they do it, Mr. Jones. They don't know. Humans are curious creatures. If we don't know how something works, we'll take the whole thing apart to figure it out, even if we don't know how to put it back together. The same thing applies to what's out there in the Wild Unknown."
"Futuristic Doctor Livingstones," Ianto said.
"Minus the sexy accents," Jack replied. "Of course, later humans used EMPs to keep dirty little secrets hidden. They needed steamships to get to them."
"What sort of secrets?" the Welshman asked.
"All sorts of secrets," Jack replied mysteriously. "Of course, the most popular was hiding booty." His grin turned lecherous. "The kind you keep in a trunk, I mean."
Ianto rolled his eyes in fond exasperation. "Pirates?" he asked, more than a hint of disbelief in his voice.
"Hey, I'd like to point out that the Earthbound were the ones that coined the phrase Sea of Stars," the Captain teased softly. "Humans are greedy. They want what's not theirs and they want what they have to stay away from other greedy humans."
Ianto smiled softly, enjoying watching Jack open up about his own childhood and his past. He'd seen so much bad that he tended to keep a tight lid on the whole thing, not enjoying the good memories he still had.
"There were lots of pirate stories when I was growing up," Jack continued. He suddenly laughed at a memory. "There was this one about a pirate... I think his name was Hamleck Glint. He was one of those really bad guys who always got away... They said he'd found the best treasure of all."
Ianto tilted his head to the side, watching as Jack turned the tiny little toy back and forth in his hands. "What treasure was that?"
"Immortality," Jack said with a rueful grin.
'Poor unfortunate sod,' Ianto thought. Jack lapsed into silence, still studying the toy in his hand. The young archivist cleared his throat. "You know, we have plenty of pirate stories too. Us poor Earthbound."
Jack looked up and grinned. "Yeah?"
"Yup." Ianto shut the filing cabinet he'd been working on before Jack had discovered the toy and grinned. "I even know a few with a Captain Jack in them."
"Now I demand that you tell them to me," the Captain insisted.
"Better I show you," Ianto said, taking the toy and setting it on top of the cabinet. "Come on. Gwen's gone for the day, and the Rift's projected to be quiet."
Jack grinned teasingly. "My, my, Mr. Jones. Leaving work undone."
"A mess like this won't get sorted in a day," Ianto said, taking Jack's hand.