The Orphan and Her Family

Chapter Forty-Eight

Almost as soon as the lift reaches the top, there is a loud wheezing, groaning noise, familiar to both Sophie and Jack. The big blue box appears directly in front of the duo.

Sophie glances up at Jack, and he glances down at her. She shrugs, and walks up to the door, knocking lightly on it. The door squeaks open, and the smiling Doctor pops his head out. His hair blows slightly in the wind. "Sophie!" he cheers. Jack steps up beside the woman, and the Time Lord greets him a little less enthusiastically.

Sophie rolls her eyes, and pushes herself into the TARDIS, a smile on her face. She waves at Martha, and leans against the central console, "So, where are we headed?"

The Doctor takes a moment to look affronted, before resuming his maniacal smile, "Wherever the TARDIS takes us!" Jack is still standing in the doorway, and the Doctor tosses him a look. "Well, get in here and shut the doors, Captain. I'm not standing around here all day."

Jack rolls his eyes, "Wasn't sure I was invited." He steps into the box, and swings the doors closed. 

The Time Lord studies some readings on the screen, "Finito. All powered up. A lot faster than normal. Care to explain why the Rift's so active Captain?"

"Nope."

The Doctor shrugs, "Fair enough." He walks over to the large lever, and tosses it, with a grin, "Allons-y!"

Something on the console sparks, and the TARDIS starts to shake uncontrollably.

"Whoa!" Martha shouts, grabbing a hold of the railing ,"What's that?"

The Doctor clings to the side of the console, he pushes himself onto his feet, and studies the screen once more, "We're accelerating into the future. The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion. Fifty trillion? What? The year one hundred trillion? That's impossible."

"Really!" Sophie asks, "This seems a bit crazier than normal."

"One hundred trillion?" Jack asks, "That's the end of everything. Time Agents were warned against coming that far!"

The ship keeps shaking, and then, all of the sudden, it stops. The Doctor glances at the scanner, and sighs, "Well, we've landed."

"So what's out there?" Martha asks, letting go of the railing.

"I don't know."

Sophie smiles, "Say that again. It's rare that I hear you say that."

The Doctor glances over at her, his eyes wide, "Not even the Time Lords came this far. We should leave. We should go. We should really, really go."

He then grins manically, and runs for the doors. Martha, Sophie, and Jack immediately follow. As they set put across the dark, barren planet that the TARDIS landed on, Martha turns and grins at Jack, "So, Captain Harkness, what have you been up to since we last saw one another?"

Jack notices the flirty tone, and smirks back at her, "Oh, this and that. Been fighting aliens keeping the world safe."

"Oh, is that all?"

He shrugs, "I lead a humble life, Dr. Jones. And what have you been up to?"

"This and that. Been fighting aliens, keeping the universe safe."

Jack smiles, "Well played."

They continue on in silence for a little while. Then, Martha turns to look at the Captain again, "You never did tell me how you met the Doctor."

Jack and the Time Lord glance at each other. The Captain grabs Sophie's head, and covers both of her ears, and launches into a description. They continue along the path, Sophie being directed by Jack. A while later, he let's her go, and she turns and glares at him, "What the f*ck, Jack."

He places a finger to his lips, "Hush. This is the good part." She crosses her arms, and pouts, continuing to glare at him. "So there I was, stranded in the year two hundred one hundred, ankle deep in Dalek dust, and he goes off without me," he taps his Vortex Manipulator, "But I had this. I used to be a Time Agent. It's called a vortex manipulator. He's not the only one who can time travel."

The Doctor scoffs, "Oh, excuse me. That is not time travel. It's like, I've got a sports car and you've got a space hopper."

Sophie laughs at the affronted look on Jack's face. He rolls his eyes, and continues on with his story, "All right, so I bounced. I thought 21st century, the best place to find the Doctor, except that I got it a little wrong. Arrived in 1869, this thing burnt out, so it was useless."

The Doctor snorts, "Told you."

"I had to live through the entire twentieth century waiting for a version of you that would coincide with me."

Martha turns and looks at him incredulously, "But that makes you more than one hundred years old."

He smirks, "And looking good, don't you think?" he winks at her. "So I went to the time rift, based myself there because I knew you'd come back to refuel. And then, just as Sophie and I head up to the Plass, there you are."

Martha turns her gaze to the Doctor, "But the thing is, how come you left him behind, Doctor?"

The Time Lord shoves his hands in his pockets, and shrugs, "I was busy."

Martha looks down a little sadly, "Is that what happens, though, seriously? Do you just get bored with us one day and disappear?"

"Not if you're blonde," Jack mutters.

"Oh, she was blonde? Oh, what a surprise!"

Sophie clears her throat, "Not blonde," she says, pointing up at her hair.

The Doctor shrugs, "You were, you grew out of it. But, we're at the end of the universe, all right? Right at the edge of knowledge itself and you're busy blogging! Come on."