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Torchwood Fic: Evolution (16/20)
Title: Evolution (16/20)
Author: Emma
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Rhys Williams, others
Rating: Starts PG, but hey, it’s got Jack and Ianto in it!
Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?
Summary: Rhys Williams has his own monsters to fight, but why can’t he remember?
Author’s Note: This story takes place in a totally different AU from Homecoming. In this one, Gwen and Owen died at the end of TW2.
Author’s Note: Yr Wyddfa is the Welsh name for Snowdon, the tallest mountain in
I woke up disoriented and with my heart trying to pound its way out of my chest. I had been dreaming, but the sense of it had been startled out of me by the alarm clock and all I could remember were random images of weevils with little girls’ faces running through a burning city.
Five days. It was hard to believe it had only been five days since Ollie’s death. Five days since Torchwood and all it represented had swept back into my life. Five days, and I was already – how had Ianto put it once? Taking the change in bad dreams.
I looked at the clock. Five-fifteen. In the ordinary days of my ordinary life, I would get up and make the first pot of coffee. Then, cup in hand, I would make a quick visit to the stables to go over the day’s schedule with Patrick, the trainer, and Kai, the head groom. Thomas was probably doing that already, but he couldn’t cope for long, not with everything else he had on his plate.
Jack had said he needed me for this, and there had been a couple of hints that he had some sort of long-term plans for me, but in his usual infuriating fashion he was playing his cards close to the vest. It only remained to see whether I would dance to his tune.
Well, I wouldn’t get my answers lolling about in bed. I got myself ready for the day and headed downstairs. The hallway smelled of coffee, and I could hear voices in the kitchen.
I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn’t to find John Hart, fucking John Hart, sitting at the kitchen table, drinking Woodstall’s coffee, and having a nice quiet chat with Jack and Martha.
Martha stood up and started towards me. I couldn’t even look at her. Turning around I headed outside, through they yard, past the stables, to the training track. There were signs of life around me, familiar sights and sounds that should have been comforting. I leaned on the rail and tried to reassemble all the pieces that had been blown apart by finding the bastard who had brought my wife’s murderer to Earth being treated like a guest in my home.
“Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t ask Thomas to kick you and your goddamned team the hell out of Woodstall land.” I didn’t need to turn around to know he was there. “And don’t say trust me.”
“I will give you two.” His voice had all the warmth of a January night on the top of Yr Wyddfa. “First, as far as Woodstall Grange is concerned, I have enough authority to turn it into an UNIT camp. If your friend Thomas were to try to enlist the influence of his titled and influential relatives, there is the little matter of a stolen child and ten million pounds in unmarked, untraceable diamonds. And second, there is the question of how many memories would be safe to let you keep.”
“You bastard.”
“Only as much as necessary.” There was a silence as if he were considering what else to say. “Did Gwen ever tell you our unofficial motto?”
“The twenty-first century is when everything changes and we’ve got to be ready.”
“Most people assume that I mean that this is the century when humans come face to face with everything that’s out there. But something else is going to happen in this century, Rhys. Historians will call it the next great step for humanity. Genetic mutations will appear and spread rapidly through all human populations. By the twenty-eighth century humans will look like you, but will be physically and mentally so different from you as to make them a completely separate race. Nobody has ever been able to pinpoint how it started. In my time the most accepted theory is that social and environmental stresses created a kind of genetic cascade. Accelerated evolution.”
“And you think it’s because of some nutters with a superiority complex?”
“Possibly. All I know, Rhys, is that some of these mutations will start appearing in medical records in about twenty years’ time. In human evolutionary terms that’s damn near impossible. And there is absolutely no trace in the historical record of any human or alien agency being involved. As far as we know, it was a totally natural development.”
“So you need to figure out whether this
“Ianto and I have discussed it. If it turns out the existence of these children would endanger the time line, we will take them off planet. There are many places and times in the Universe where they won’t pose a threat. And we do have a friend who would be happy to provide transportation.”
The casual way in which he said it nearly gave me a seizure. “You’re going to just up and leave?”
“I’m not a psychopath, Rhys. These kids are innocent and they will need looking after.”
I clung to the one word I could accept. In spite of my anger, I wasn’t ready to wrap my head around the idea of a world where Jack and Ianto weren’t around.
“Speaking of psychopaths…”
“Yes, he is. But we can trust him on this.”
“Why?”
“John’s people are master genetic engineers. In fact, that’s their planet’s primary source of revenue. Early in their history, they had some spectacular disasters when competing groups used the technology on each other. They have a strong social taboo about discussing the matter with strangers, but there are still certain areas of the planet that are totally uninhabitable. When the dust settled, the survivors enacted a series of ethical codes that makes the most draconian system of laws ever developed on Earth seem downright permissive, and they have lived by them for centuries. John is a liar, a con man, a thief, and a casual murderer, but he would die to protect a few of your cells from being misused.”
“That’s…”
“Difficult to believe? One of the things you’ll find, Rhys, is that out there morality is not exactly one size fits all. The idea that if you behave just as your momma taught you everything’ll be all right will get you killed faster than an airlock valve accident.” He started back to the house. “We’re having a briefing in half an hour. Be there. And by the way, Rhys, I should tell you that if you hurt Martha again I will strangle you with your own intestines and feed the corpse to piranhas.”
I watched him walk away. There’s nothing like knowing exactly what to expect to make you feel welcome to your intended’s family.
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BTW I love the last line about his "intended's family". Another great chapter.
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Well there's a visual!
DNA scrambling? Hmm...
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I love the last threat ... Jack is so verbal.
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Nice threat of Jack's too.
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Also I think the scene where Jack explains it to Rhys is very in character, he has that ruthless streak. I am not so keen on Rhys/Martha to be honest, nothing to do with this story, I think it may just be that Martha is my least favourite character in the Who verse, and Rhys is one of my favourites. Also I probably missed whatever happened to Tom.
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I'm very careful not to make Jack too sweet; when he feels he has to, he can be the biggest bastard of all time.
Martha and Rhys just happened, really. I killed off poor Gwen and poor Tom (plane accident in Africa), so I thought, why not? I like Martha, though not as much as I like Donna. And there they were, two widowers, so... off they went.