Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Far Future

The mute whirrs and beeps quietly carried in the room as the first of many pods opened in the dimly lit room.  The two figures in the control room watched as the machines continued their duties.

"Do you really think this will work?"  A deep rich voice asked

"We'll know soon enough, it's an extreme measure, but at this point, we're running out of viable options."  A lighter contralto answered.

"You do know, if those two find out, there could be some trouble, don't you?"  the mysterious female asked.

The shadowed male nodded.  "The first won't know for a long while and the other is on the revival list. We just won't revive him till way later"  he said.

The woman gave him a sharp glance.  "Why do I think you know something you aren't saying?"  she asked.

He just laughed.  "It can't be kept from them forever, but by the time they learn of this, it will be far too late.  Let's just say, time is on our side for this."

The woman paused as she considered what she was told.   "I have no choice but to trust you on this; as you said we are running out of viable options."

Both shadowed figures continued to watch in pensive silence.

Chapter Text

He was with Jack facing down the 456. He felt dizzy and weak. It was getting harder to breathe. Jack was holding him. Crying. That was so wrong. He didn't like seeing tears in Jack's eyes. His time was ending, he could feel it; perhaps it was time to confess. Why did he always leave it till it was too late? Too shy, too reticent, too resentful at first. But, it was Jack and he'd gotten over it. "I love you."

Jack held him begging him to stay. How he wished he could. The darkness began to claim him and then he was taking in a deep breath and blearily blinking unfocused eyes. He could hear electronics chirping away around him as the white glaring light blinded him. He'd been dying, so why wasn't he dead yet? A better question occurred to him as his vision came into focus, where was he?

He felt the lukewarm crisp sterile air around his body. Wait, was he naked? Yes. Yes, he was. And things seemed different. The lights were dim but he could see clearly as if he was in a brightly lit room. What was going on?

Slowly Ianto sat up taking stock of his environment not even conscious of how a part of his mind also internally cataloged everything about his body.

Slowly, he began to filter in that he was aware of time to the tiniest detail among other things he could not put a name to. This was wrong. Where was Jack or Gwen?

"Jack? Gwen? Hello?" he said loudly. "Is anyone there?"

Slowly the lights came up and a sultry voice came from over head. "Rise and Shine Mr. Jones. As you are aware, you are no longer in the 21st century and you are no longer on Earth. I am a sentient room - your sentient room and assistant. Welcome to the Phoenix Watch Torchwood Division. Approximately 6 billion years have passed since the Original Earth you knew has existed and it's about 1 billion since its natural demise. More will be explained to you a little later. First, please note the highlighted wall is where your clothes are put away. Normally it would be one of the uniforms but as you aren't officially part of the current Torchwood's roster, we have, from historical files, replicated the clothes you last had. After you have dressed, I will guide you to the dining room."

Ianto sucked in a sharp breath before calmly getting up to get dressed. There was too much he still didn't know. How did he get here this far into the future? Where exactly was here, if not Earth? And...was that two heartbeats he felt thumping wildly in his chest? The moment he was aware of it, his body relaxed sending the necessary biochemicals to calm him down. It was going to be a long day. Where was Jack? If that much time had passed, he assumed Gwen was long gone. It was time to get his answers.

After he got dressed and properly groomed -after some help from the room's voice. Why did it have that seductive purr anyway? If this future Torchwood had information on him, surely they must know he'd been with Jack. Then again, he did like the voice. Ianto shrugged and made his way out the door and followed the lighted guide path to the dining room.

He looked around as he walked, noting how sterile and blank this facility seemed compared to their Hub back in Cardiff. He missed it. He knew for a fact, the last time he'd seen Jack, he'd been dying because of the virus the 456 released. How did they manage to revive him? Not just clone him, but with all his memories intact? More questions in need of answers. He came to a door a which he paused while it opened up to the dining room and stood there looked around to get his bearings. His eyes widened. There at the table sat a group of people he knew should be long dead now. What was going on? Beyond them was a bay window staring out into the depths of space. A space station then. They hadn't seen him yet, so he made his way over to where the light guided him and a panel opened in which a tray sat with what looked like a full breakfast. Did they even have hens to lay eggs on a space station or the plants to make the coffee or bread? Was it all synthetic? He took a sip of the coffee as he walked to the familiar group of people he'd seen earlier. Well, it tasted like real coffee, the good kind. Just another smaller mystery on top of the much bigger ones.

As he stopped at the table and sat down he called out a greeting. "Hello Gwen, Owen, Tosh, Rhys. I'm guessing this is as much a mystery to you as it is to me?" He said.

Chapter Text

Ianto Jones sat down in the empty chair next to his friends. Owen glanced over at Ianto and snorted. "What, you get brought back, but not Jack, guess there's no accounting for the logic of choice."

Ianto merely sipped at his admittedly lovely coffee and merely quirked a brow. "Mornin' or whatever passes here Owen."

Gwen shook her head as Rhys laughed. "Ok, you two, enough of the pleasantries. We're apparently all here except Jack. I'm not sure if that's indicative of whether or not he's still alive. I mean it's at least six billion years into the future, or so we've been told. Not to mention, apparently we've all got bodies that aren't human in case you haven't noticed. Although I've got a feeling, we've all noticed whether we wanted to or not. It's weird, I mean, does anyone have that awareness of the bodies and everything around them?"

Rhys shook his head. "No love, you're right. There seems to be this acute awareness of self and surroundings. It's a little disconcerting and a bit distracting. I definitely think some answers would be welcome right about now. We're definitely not on earth and while I don't have anything to go by, except a 'feeling' for lack of a better description, it's definitely not our solar system or the twenty-first century. Last memory I have is. Well. We were together, me and Gwen. Anwen was off to college so it was just us. We'd gone on vacation and then the next thing I know, she and I were waking up in this sterile talking room."

Gwen nodded, "Yes, we were going on vacation. We'd packed and everything and we locked up our house and got into the car and after that, everything goes fuzzy. But the next clear memory was waking up next to Rhys just as he said. Something tells me we're neck deep in something and I'm not sure we're prepared for it. "

Gwen cocked her head as she continued, "I'd say we're definitely beyond our time because the last time we worked together, you two died and later on even Ianto died during the incident with the 456" she said as she nodded in Tosh and Owen's directions and then towards Ianto. "Well, that's something at least, we got you back and I'm glad of it. Now if we could just figure out exactly where we are and where Jack is, whatever is happening, we'd be far more equipped to handle it."

Tosh and Owen had been silently listening up to this point before Tosh spoke up. "That's just it, if this is long after we were alive, who brought us back and why? I don't recognize the layout of the place either so making a beeline for a computer terminal is out till we get a better bearing on our location. If Jack isn't here, it may be he's still around and isn't aware we're here. Or he's being held captive somewhere. What we really need is more information."

Owen snorted, "Good luck with that. What I'd like to know is why we aren't even human? I mean, if this far future holds the technology to 'resurrect' us, why not as human beings? Why put our consciousness into alien bodies?" And I've never been a huge science fiction fan but it doesn't make me completely ignorant, so does this mean there's someone out there with copies of us just sitting in some huge computer memory terminal? What's their game?"

They all paused in thought and mentally go through what little they all knew so far.

Ianto had been keeping an eye on the only entrance available during the whole conversation as he continued to sip his coffee. "Looks like we're about to find out," he muttered as the door opened and a Young woman in dark uniform with a golden bird emblazoned on its chest sauntered in. She wasn't all that tall, around five foot three inches and long flame red hair. She casually made her way toward their table and stopped in front of them.

"Greetings, my name is Mira, I'm an android originally from the Orion system, but that has long since gone. I'm here to answer any questions you might have. I know it must be rather disconcerting to suddenly wake up in a strange place, not knowing what is going on. Please, enjoy your meal and when you're done, Mother - she's the station we're on, and she'll get explained more in depth later as well - will show you where to go. Just let her know you're done and would like to know the way to the conference room."

With that she gave a parting nod and walked back out of the dining facility.

Chapter Text

The group finished their breakfast and sat back. An Ood came by and asked if he could be of assistance. Gwen declined. "Thank you, luv, but we're fine right now." She smiled at the Ood. "My name's Gwen, do you have a name?"

The Ood paused a moment before answering, "I am designated Ood Psi Tau. I am very pleased to meet you, Gwen." He gave a slight bow before withdrawing.

Gwen turned back to the group. "I know we want answers, but perhaps it would be a good moment, before we go, to get our bearings," she suggested.

Rhys nodded. "I think your right, Gwen. It might benefit us to get a little bit more acclimated....and why the bloody hell am I speaking like that? Is it me or does anyone else think we've gotten more than just a physiological upgrade? It feels like there's plenty of information swimming around in my head as well." Rhys grumbled.

Owen snorted. "Probably an improvement for you then. " he snarked as the others rolled their eyes at him.

"Right, that's enough of that." Tosh said, "It's time to figure things out."

Gwen nodded, "When we first woke up, the room Rhys and I had told to us that this was Phoenix Watch and that Torwood was one of its branches. Ironic really if you think about the origins of Torchwood."

Owen snorted, "No kidding! But what I want to know is what they want with us. Apparently, we aren't even human now. I mean difference in ability to shag aside, as a Physician, my first concern is what are the side effects of what's been done? I mean, is this short term or long term and what's the goal?"

Ianto rolled his eyes at the shagging comment before adding his own tidbit. He'd thought about what his experiences were and what would Jack do? He also couldn't help but factor in the information his room 'assistant' gave him this morning. "I think we should wait and see what Mira has to tell us. It doesn't do us good working on limited information."

Gwen nodded. "You're right Ianto, I think it's time to go see Mira. She looked up and spoke the word Mother who answered her.

"Yes, Gwen?"

Gwen paused in a brief startlement. "Er. We're done with breakfast, if you could just show us where to place our trays and then show us to Mira's office, we'd appreciate it."

Mother confirmed. "Yes. Most people leave the trays for the service staff, but if you follow the light up arrows, they can show you where one of the recycling stations are. After which just keep following them and they will lead you straight to Mira's office."

They made it to Mira's office which had a Golden Phoenix emblazoned on its doors. Which then disappeared as the door itself faded out to let them in. They entered as they looked around them. The office itself could have passed for one in the 21st Century with its efficient set up of a desk with a PC Screen on it and some old fashion hardback books on sleek-looking shelves. There was a screen on the wall showing a nature scene of a stream tumbling down a small waterfall. The soothing sounds of water and birdsong filling the office.

Mira looked up as they walked in. "Welcome!" she said smiling. "Please get comfortable and take a seat."

The group all came in and arranged themselves on the various seating and getting comfortable. And Gwen spoke up. "Thank you for speaking with us. I'm sure you must be very busy, but - and I think I can speak for all of us - what the bloody hell is going on? We wake up not only in a strange location but in strange bodies! Why? If we've been, for all intent purposes, resurrected, why bring us back in non-human bodies? If this is that far in the future, just what is really going on?"

Everyone else nodded with Owen adding his own comment. "Here! Here! Well, sweetheart?"

Mira merely gave Owen a cursory glance. To start with, my name is Mira, not sweetheart and the ancient organization of Torchwood has become a branch of the Phoenix Watch. Yes, the Earth organization has survived far into this epoch, though there were periods of time where its survival was in question, particularly during those heavy Dalek periods of history where much of Earth's history was lost. We are six billion years into the future; six point five slash banana slash 9 to be exact. One billion years after the natural end of the Sol 3 star system. As you've noticed, you are in non-human bodies; Specifically, Gallifreyan bodies loomed specifically to download your biodata into. We currently have a partnership with Gallifrey, the natural home to the Time Lords, whom the Doctor found a way to save and hide away originally. However, their population took a huge hit and while they've taken to having womb born children, they don't naturally reproduce very easily or quickly so looms are also used. The knowledge and history of which are also downloaded into your mind along with a variety of other education. Ironically, the mission of Torchwood has expanded since it's origins. Now it's mission is to protect the many species of peoples of the New Multigalactic Alliance from dangerous threats. Torchwood Archives has kept our history quite safe and you lot were some of the best agents of the twenty-first century under the former Time Agent Javic Piotr Thane otherwise known as Captain Jack Harkness; who was a former companion of the Doctor. As I have mentioned, we have an alliance with Gallifrey and part of the agreement was to allow a couple of their representatives to vet and choose a few of Torchwood's agents from history and basing them at the joint base on Armintor. The satellite station we are currently on is in orbit around Armintor currently."

She pulled up some three-dimensional pictures and graphs. "The facility itself has top of the line equipment. In addition to the duties of liaison agents between Gallifrey and Torchwood HQ, this specific compound is also our monitoring station for any time anomalies specifically in this quadrant. Keeping an eye out for any threats does not just occur in one time or place. As I've mentioned we are currently on a mobile satellite station whose main function is to help acclimate and reorient persons not originally of this time period. The Satellite itself is actually a Tardis specifically designed for this job. Tardis Coral is another sentient species that developed symbiotically with the Gallifreyans through many billions of years and therefore have minds and personalities of their own. This one prefers to be called Mother and is one of the few Tardis who can verbally interact with her inhabitants. As an Android from an earlier time period, I do not have the ability to enjoy a telepathically symbiotic partnership with Mother so I am temporarily in charge until her pilot and co-pilot arrive. We also have some personal vid pods that each of you can access for additional information. Are there any questions?"

Ianto raised his hand and she gave him the nod. "Where's Jack?"

Owen piped in "And why not resurrect as human and not as Human?

Chapter Text

 Interlude:

Not far from the space station tardis and Armintor on a floating asteroid A lady of indeterminate age, blue-black midnight hair cut in the style of a shaggy pixy and piercing fierce cerulean blue eyes sat at an antiquated heavy looking wooden desk one would have found on ancient earth. In front of her, she studied the flickering data of the holo-file as her door-field dissipated letting in a gentleman enrobed in the official dress uniform of Gallifrey's Military Officers. She looked up "Hello Galrin, I'm just going over the data that was sent to me. Things are progressing quite nicely at the moment, though I expect things won't stay that way. I'm recommending we don't resurrect the Captain just yet and we've taken a page out of the Doctor's book and hidden this part of space out of synch with normal space so that it's in its own little pocket. It's temporary, but it'll buy us the time we need." Galrin, studied the woman with the furry contralto voice as she spoke.

"A Page out of the Doctor's book or the Daleks' book?" he asked ironically.

He made his way over to a shelf of antiques, filled with books and Earth-based knick-knacks of various eras and studied them. "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, a mini-holographic gene decoder, and a variety of other items that did not look very interesting. Mavereen was always a bit of a collector.

She chuckled lightly. "Yes, well, perhaps they learned it from him? At any rate, we're well hidden here. The other wing of the project is gearing up to start on their end as well. The Doctor's Legacy and family is a far-reaching one. We can't afford mistakes at this point. We won't be able to keep it secret forever, but we will have to do our very best to keep it under wraps for as long as we can."

Galrin looked at her blankly at that last sentence. "Under wraps?" He asked.

Mavereen rolled her eyes, "It means to be discrete about something. Really, don't you study the historical Earth vernacular of the 20th and 21st Century?"

Galrin sighed. "Why would I do such a thing? I've got more important tasks to concentrate on as do you. I will inform my superiors of your report. I still don't understand your fascination with Earth or Humans but as many of our current allies are descended from ancient Earth lines and because it was the Doctor's favorite, I suppose it made sense to begin the current project there. Keep us informed and thank you."

He gave her a respectful nod before he left. Mavereen sighed. "Of course you wouldn't understand the importance, nor the risk. I don't agree with how we're going about this but I know what's at stake." She murmured to herself.

Taking a deep breath she left her office after sending her reports and recommendations to all other necessary parties.

Chapter Text

Mira steepled her hands as she looked directly at Ianto, who voiced the question. Right now, Mr. Jones, Mr. Harkness has not been revived as of yet. Our branch, the Torchwood Branch, is part of a larger organization called the Phoenix Watch. Phoenix Watch has multiple arms of agencies that are part of a united multi-governed system. Gallifrey is one planet among the union. New Earth is another. A multitude of species is also represented."

Ianto was about to speak up, but Mira held up a hand in a gesture of pacification, "Bear with me Mr. Jones, I will explain about Jack, but this is important and will also explain why he has not been revived yet. Now given that Gallifrey was a major part of the Time War, the other major contributor being the Daleks of course, once knowledge of Gallifrey came to light, it was felt by multiple governments of multiple planets, that to prevent another major catastrophe such as the Time War from occurring, checks and balances were needed. There were early attempts at bringing some order in the formation of the Time Agency and the Shadow Proclamation, but it led to corruption in one and fanaticism in the other, an organization known as the Silence an extremist group developed out of a branch of the Shadow Proclamation, those are but two examples, though I'm sure when the 'downloaded your mind, more detailed examples were included as a form of expedient education.

Of course, the Universe abhors a vacuum. There were talks happening when Gallifrey broke out of its stasis and came back to normal space. Of course, in order to do so, they involved the Doctor, managing to kill his then companion, Clara Oswald, or rather their actions were a contributing factor to her death. This lead to the Doctor confronting Rassilon and those involved and in a fit of temper kicking him and the high council off of Gallifrey. This action led to concerns about the safety of the Universe in general and what is known as the Web of Time. Some of the people on one of the leading Projects, The Testimony Foundation and our Ambassadorial Outreach program, decided what was needed was a new kind of organization that encompassed not just the scholarly and ambassadorial, but that a branch of law enforcement as a means of checks and balances would be needed. To that end, it was felt that those positively influenced by the Doctor would be prime candidates. To that end, both many members of Torchwood and UNIT were shortlisted as candidates, though the origins of Torchwood started out very differently. More specifically, those who worked closely with the Doctor or people who were working with the people who had worked closely with the Doctor. Because his overall pervasive influence tended to bring out the best in people"

Ianto shook his head. "That doesn't explain why Jack isn't here," he muttered and the others nodded in agreement but remained quiet sensing there was more to the explanation and content to let Ianto be their voice for now.

Mira nodded, "As I'm sure, you're more aware now of time and all it entails, Mr. Harkness was what is called a 'fixed point' or rather more accurately for a limited time, he was partially fixed and his aging process and ability to die was slowed down significantly to a negligible amount where it seemed like he did not age nor could he die. Not fully the case, as much later in his timeline, he became the entity known as the Face of Boe.

Ianto's eyes narrowed in thought as she disseminated historical information and his 'inner instructor' added to it looking at the information from all angles. There seemed to be something more going on, but he wasn't sure what it was just yet. "But he truly died eventually, so why not revive him first?" he asked.

Mira sighed, "It was felt, at the time, because he'd lived such a long life span, it would be better to leave it till later. We don't lightly revive people, and it was much argued about bringing any of you back as it was. Not to put too fine a point on it, but among many of those in charge, you're considered unpredictable mavericks and because you worked with the former Time Agent Javic Piotr Thane who went by the name Captain Jack Harkness, it was felt his influence might be undesirable at this time. The final board decision was to revive you first and see how that works out before considering his possible resurrection; as for why the non-human bodies, part of the alliance agreement was that for Gallifrey to move forward and to help bring 'new blood' to Gallifrey, a certain amount of those resurrected would be brought back as Gallifreyans and given both an alliance citizenship and citizenship specifically with Gallifrey. Not all resurrected will be brought back as Gallifreyan, but the term 'human' in this epoch is relative. When humanity spread among the stars and started colonizing other worlds, human genetics started changing, evolving, and speciating. There haven't been pure humans from the original earth for at least a couple of billion years despite Lady Cassandra's claim of being 'the last human' at the time of the Earth's natural end. Even when there were still people on the Earth before it was permanently evacuated, the people were a mixture of different species, not all originating on the original Earth. So even had you been revived as a 'New Human' not only would your genetics still been different from your original bodies, depending on the research of your background and location origin, what kind of New Human you were brought back could have varied. At least this way, you're all brought back as the same species and given advantages to help you do the work you will be given

Gwen snorted, "Bureaucrats of course, never step a toe out of their offices, never sees the actual people, nor really care about their opinions!"

Rhys rolled his eyes, "Not everyone's going to be as sensible as you are luv, let's give this the benefit of the doubt, shall we? It may be that they'll revive him soon." He soothed.

Gwen snorted again but subsided, choosing to withhold any more comments in front of Mira.

The others sighed and nodded, their eyes meeting in brief silent communication, leaving Ianto to speak. "Fine, we'll accept that for now. I'm guessing this is going to be a rather involved learning curve, shall we get on with it?"

Mira nodded as she stood up, "Very good. Follow me and I'll take you to our debriefing center where you can get caught up to speed." She led them through another door and down another hallway.

Chapter Text

The debrief room had little stations that sort of looked like a cross between an arcade video game seat with a helmet that looked like something the video character Master Chief would wear that was attached to the interior. Mira gestured toward the high tech equipment, "Have a seat all of you. This is our debriefing room which will fill you in on other pertinent details. It will only take no more than 30 minutes, possibly less; after which, you are all free to seek out whatever recreation you wish to amuse yourselves with.

They looked at the equipment and then to each other. Gwen shrugged before gingerly sitting in the high tech cubicle seat next to her and the helmet came down. After a brief pause, the others followed her example. Thirty minutes later, they all exited their debriefing stations. "Well, that was rather informative. I would have said an overload of information but considering the current circumstances, I'm fairly sure it wasn't." Gwen spoke up.

Ianto sighed and stretched as he stood up. "I definitely think there's more going on than they're giving us information on, but until we're better situated to gather more information, I think we'll need to go along and play it by ear. And we really need Jack, we're going to have to find a way to convince them to resurrect him sooner rather than later. "

Everyone stared at Ianto before Owen piped up. "I think that's the longest I've ever heard you say anything in a group meeting."

Ianto shrugged with a small smile. "I only say anything when I feel there's a need. Right now, we're still at a disadvantage and I'm willing to bet, Jack's experience would dwarf all of ours put together life to end. They're still pulling the strings right now, but if we can get Jack back, we might be able to balance things out more. Any suggestions of what we should do now?"

Toshiko looked around and when no one else spoke up she said in a hesitant voice, "I'll see what I can come up with but perhaps, for now, we should get our bearings first. It'll help to know our layout. Though we might need to keep in mind the Station is apparently a living entity. That might make it harder to obtain any needed information."

Rhys nodded, though not formerly an active part of Torchwood, he'd had some adventure due to their organization. "Tosh is right, let's do as she suggests and if any opportunities come up that won't get us killed, well, no harm in at least seeing if they lead anywhere."

The group nodded in assent before getting ready to leave. Gwen paused at the door, "Does anyone know where the Recreation area is?