Fic: What's Out There
Title: What's Out There
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Ianto’s Tad.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: CoE.
Summary: Since he died, Ianto’s horizons have expanded beyond anything he’s ever imagined.
Word Count: 1037
Written For: Prompt 046 - Horizons 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.
Once upon a time, Ianto’s horizons had been close at hand, the curve of the earth only allowing him to see just so far ahead and no more, even when buildings or hills didn’t block the view. It had been comfortable, normal, the panorama available to any earthbound human; like everyone else he could only see further afield if he climbed to a higher vantage point or travelled by plane, helicopter, hot air balloon… However vast the world might be, few people ever got to see further than their eyes could encompass and their minds could comprehend.
The scope of his life had been the same, defined by a normal human lifespan but inevitably shortened by the dangers of working for Torchwood; few agents made it through their thirties, and he’d long since made his peace with that. Better to live his life protecting the planet and its people, seeing wonders they could never conceive of, than to be stuck in a tedious nine to five office job and never have any idea of what lay beyond the insignificant little planet he’d been born on.
Then he’d been killed, as he’d always expected to be, in the line of duty, standing up to an alien threat. It had been a badly thought-out plan, hopeless defiance that gained nothing but the deaths of himself and over a hundred innocent people. If they’d had the time, if the government hadn’t been hounding them, attempting to stop them from interfering by any means at their disposal, Torchwood Three might have been able to come up with a more effective response to the alien threat, but they’d been forced to play the hand they’d been dealt.
Lying there in Jack’s arms, feeling his life draining away, Ianto had silently cursed his own stupidity. He didn’t blame Jack, he’d thrown his own life away, too caught up in the desperate situation the world was facing to think things through properly. He should have found that HAZMAT suit before confronting the 456…
That day was many years in the past now though. If his life hadn’t ended the way it had, on the floor of Thames House, then he wouldn’t be here now, so on the whole he could hardly regret dying. Unpleasant though it had undoubtedly been, it had opened up the universe for him, broadened his horizons beyond anything he could ever have imagined.
Space is far too big for even an immortal to wrap their head around. Trillions upon trillions of stars, billions of them with planets, millions of which are inhabited by beings so diverse they make the movie aliens of Ianto’s childhood look positively ordinary by comparison. Not all of them are intelligent, and of those that are, there are some that have proven less than friendly, even a few species that are outright hostile to any race of beings other than their own. For the most part though, he and Jack are managing to avoid such people. The races they interact with are generally far more civilised, interested in trading their goods with other worlds, meeting new and interesting people, and sharing ideas. Cultures mix and mingle peacefully. If only it could be that way back on earth.
Ianto likes the people he meets on his travels, enjoys learning about them and their worlds, relishes the adventure and variety inherent in his new life, travelling from planet to planet, and one space station to another. Nowadays, his horizons are only limited by the amount of fuel he and Jack have for their cargo ship. They can go anywhere they choose, although most of the time they go wherever the cargo is going. They still have to make a living, and besides, they never know where their next cargo might wind up taking them, what new planetary horizons they might get to explore, what cultures they might get to experience. Every world is different, and every alien race he meets teaches him something new.
Back on earth, growing up on the council estate, his father had driven him to work harder, apply himself at school, and Ianto had resented him for it. He’d been too young to understand that what his father had wanted was a better life for his son than he’d had himself, something more fulfilling, something greater than a shop assistant at Debenhams could aspire to.
“You need to broaden your horizons, boy, get away from the estate and see what’s out there, make something of yourself! There’s more to life than what you’ll find here but you’ll get nowhere if you don’t push yourself!”
Ianto can’t help but wonder what his father would think if he could see him now, hundreds of light-years from earth, trading in commodities both familiar and strange. He likes to believe his tad would be proud of him, maybe even a little envious.
‘I did it, tad, I got out, left the estate behind, went a lot farther than you’d have ever expected, and now I’m seeing as much as I can of what’s out here. There’s a lot, it’s going to take lifetimes to see just a fraction of the universe, but that’s okay; time is one thing I’m not short of. I’ve got all of it there is. I just wish I could go back in time, just for a little while; I’d tell you I’m sorry, and that you were right. It took me a while, but I understand now why you always pushed me so hard. Thank you.’
“Ianto? You okay?”
Ianto turned to Jack, smiling a little wistfully. “I’m fine, I was just thinking. My tad always wanted me to make something of myself, but somehow I don’t think ‘immortal spaceship pilot’ is quite what he had in mind.”
Jack chuckled. “Perhaps not. Is that a bad thing?”
“No, not at all, I just wish I could share some of what I’ve seen with him. He had a lot of regrets, never got to travel the way he wanted to. He loved adventure stories. Used to say all the best stories happened beyond our horizons.”
Jack nodded. “He was right. All of our stories are out past the horizon. Let’s go find some more.”
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Ianto’s Tad.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: CoE.
Summary: Since he died, Ianto’s horizons have expanded beyond anything he’s ever imagined.
Word Count: 1037
Written For: Prompt 046 - Horizons 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.
Once upon a time, Ianto’s horizons had been close at hand, the curve of the earth only allowing him to see just so far ahead and no more, even when buildings or hills didn’t block the view. It had been comfortable, normal, the panorama available to any earthbound human; like everyone else he could only see further afield if he climbed to a higher vantage point or travelled by plane, helicopter, hot air balloon… However vast the world might be, few people ever got to see further than their eyes could encompass and their minds could comprehend.
The scope of his life had been the same, defined by a normal human lifespan but inevitably shortened by the dangers of working for Torchwood; few agents made it through their thirties, and he’d long since made his peace with that. Better to live his life protecting the planet and its people, seeing wonders they could never conceive of, than to be stuck in a tedious nine to five office job and never have any idea of what lay beyond the insignificant little planet he’d been born on.
Then he’d been killed, as he’d always expected to be, in the line of duty, standing up to an alien threat. It had been a badly thought-out plan, hopeless defiance that gained nothing but the deaths of himself and over a hundred innocent people. If they’d had the time, if the government hadn’t been hounding them, attempting to stop them from interfering by any means at their disposal, Torchwood Three might have been able to come up with a more effective response to the alien threat, but they’d been forced to play the hand they’d been dealt.
Lying there in Jack’s arms, feeling his life draining away, Ianto had silently cursed his own stupidity. He didn’t blame Jack, he’d thrown his own life away, too caught up in the desperate situation the world was facing to think things through properly. He should have found that HAZMAT suit before confronting the 456…
That day was many years in the past now though. If his life hadn’t ended the way it had, on the floor of Thames House, then he wouldn’t be here now, so on the whole he could hardly regret dying. Unpleasant though it had undoubtedly been, it had opened up the universe for him, broadened his horizons beyond anything he could ever have imagined.
Space is far too big for even an immortal to wrap their head around. Trillions upon trillions of stars, billions of them with planets, millions of which are inhabited by beings so diverse they make the movie aliens of Ianto’s childhood look positively ordinary by comparison. Not all of them are intelligent, and of those that are, there are some that have proven less than friendly, even a few species that are outright hostile to any race of beings other than their own. For the most part though, he and Jack are managing to avoid such people. The races they interact with are generally far more civilised, interested in trading their goods with other worlds, meeting new and interesting people, and sharing ideas. Cultures mix and mingle peacefully. If only it could be that way back on earth.
Ianto likes the people he meets on his travels, enjoys learning about them and their worlds, relishes the adventure and variety inherent in his new life, travelling from planet to planet, and one space station to another. Nowadays, his horizons are only limited by the amount of fuel he and Jack have for their cargo ship. They can go anywhere they choose, although most of the time they go wherever the cargo is going. They still have to make a living, and besides, they never know where their next cargo might wind up taking them, what new planetary horizons they might get to explore, what cultures they might get to experience. Every world is different, and every alien race he meets teaches him something new.
Back on earth, growing up on the council estate, his father had driven him to work harder, apply himself at school, and Ianto had resented him for it. He’d been too young to understand that what his father had wanted was a better life for his son than he’d had himself, something more fulfilling, something greater than a shop assistant at Debenhams could aspire to.
“You need to broaden your horizons, boy, get away from the estate and see what’s out there, make something of yourself! There’s more to life than what you’ll find here but you’ll get nowhere if you don’t push yourself!”
Ianto can’t help but wonder what his father would think if he could see him now, hundreds of light-years from earth, trading in commodities both familiar and strange. He likes to believe his tad would be proud of him, maybe even a little envious.
‘I did it, tad, I got out, left the estate behind, went a lot farther than you’d have ever expected, and now I’m seeing as much as I can of what’s out here. There’s a lot, it’s going to take lifetimes to see just a fraction of the universe, but that’s okay; time is one thing I’m not short of. I’ve got all of it there is. I just wish I could go back in time, just for a little while; I’d tell you I’m sorry, and that you were right. It took me a while, but I understand now why you always pushed me so hard. Thank you.’
“Ianto? You okay?”
Ianto turned to Jack, smiling a little wistfully. “I’m fine, I was just thinking. My tad always wanted me to make something of myself, but somehow I don’t think ‘immortal spaceship pilot’ is quite what he had in mind.”
Jack chuckled. “Perhaps not. Is that a bad thing?”
“No, not at all, I just wish I could share some of what I’ve seen with him. He had a lot of regrets, never got to travel the way he wanted to. He loved adventure stories. Used to say all the best stories happened beyond our horizons.”
Jack nodded. “He was right. All of our stories are out past the horizon. Let’s go find some more.”
The End