Title: Fallout, Part Fourteen

Author: Emma

Characters: A whole bunch of folk.

Rating: Starts PG, but hey, it’s got Jack 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?

Author’s Note: For those of you who do not know, this fic is absolutely, positively CoE compliant. So, yes, it can be done!

Part One is here; Part Two is here; Part Three is here; Part Four is here; Part Five is here; Part Six is here; Part Seven is here; Part Eight is here; Part Nine is here; Part Ten is here; Part Eleven is here; Part Twelve is here; Part Thirteen is here

            “There isn’t a thing wrong with him, Jack. And if you ask me are you sure? one more time I’m going to smack you with the scanner.”

 

            “Sorry Martha. It’s just that…”

 

            She took his hand. “I know, ok? But I’ve compared my results with the ones from the tests the Doctor ran last month, and the only thing I can see is a slight increase in the amount of artron energy stored in his neural progenitor cells. The Doctor warned me it could happen.”

 

            “Why?”

 

            “About thirty five percent of the genetic modifications done to Ifan involved neural cells. It makes sense. If the Master wanted to convince the Doctor that Ifan was going to be the receptacle for his consciousness, he had to make enough changes in Ifan’s brain physiology to make the Doctor believe it could work. It's what the Doctor would be focusing on.” She clenched her fists. “And now Ifan has to deal with the fallout.”

 

            “Do we know what that will be?”

 

            “No. Some. The Doctor left me with some books and a link to the TARDIS’s translation circuits. I’m going to be reading up on Gallifreyan biology.”

 

            “Are you saying Ifan could become a Time Lord?”

 

            “I’m saying that his DNA has been modified to accommodate Time Lord biology. To what degree, we don’t know. What happened with the coral… last night I was looking through some of the texts and one of them said something about some Time Lords having a sensitivity to TARDIS coral. It seems to be very different than the ability to bond with a full-grown TARDIS.” She sighed. “Jack, I need help. I can’t do everything Torchwood needs and this at the same time.”

 

            “Any recommendations?”

 

            “Tish.”

 

            “Martha…”

 

            “Hear me out. I know you don’t like the idea of both of us working in Torchwood, but we’re not going to be field agents, Jack. She’ll be perfect. Her MsC is on information and knowledge management and she took a minor in linguistics. If anyone can help me plow through all this…”

 

            “Would she want to? Last time I spoke to her she wanted nothing more exciting than to find a nice job in a proper library and settle down to helping undergraduates.”

 

            “Yeah, well… I told her about Ifan and the Master. Don’t look at me like that, Jack. You think she wouldn’t notice all that discreet security you have hanging around the whole family? She stormed in last night while I was working and demanded to know what was going on. She wants in, Jack.”

 

            “All right. Get her down here and we’ll talk.”