no signs to guide us home | captain jack harkness

[Oswin Oswald]

After returning back to Earth from the realms of the Enchanted Forest, there was only one thing on Oswin's mind. Find the Doctor and quickly. She couldn't stand to be trapped on here again, though it did make her feel a little better than she was at least in a place where he could find her. The only problem was, both of her communicators were out of commission, so the ease of just radio-ing the TARDIS was completely out of the question. She'd have to find it somehow, or get to a computer that was powerful enough to send out a distress signal. Unfortunately, a computer like that was rather hard to come by, and finding the TARDIS in all of space and time was completely impossible. So. Oswin would just have to do this the old fashioned way. Which would be difficult with limited resources.

But, Oswin wasn't the Doctor's companion for nothing. And she certainly wasn't a girl genius for nothing. Tucked away in the front pocket of the shirt she'd worn was one folded sheet of psychic paper, a precaution Oswin had taken ever since she'd been left behind before. It hadn't been for long, and Oswin had managed to use the paper to bring the Doctor right back to her side the last time. But, for some reason, there was something interfering this time, perhaps a side effect of traveling between worlds and realities. But, that didn't mean it couldn't work in other ways. And the only thing Oswin needed it for was to get into the building she'd traveled to, which housed a computer strong enough to hail the TARDIS.

Confidently, Oswin strode up to the building, flashing her paper at the guard standing at the door. "Inspector Clara Smith," Oswin told her, using her alias that she used whenever she and the Doctor needed to get into anywhere without being detected. The Doctor and Oswin Oswald were rather...memorable names, and it was usually easier to just be John and Clara Smith. " 'S just a routine look around, shouldn't take long." To her relief, the guard let her inside, and Oswin was able to pass through most of the building without a problem. The only thing that briefly got in her way was an electronic lock, but a bit of hacking got her right past that and down in the corridor beyond. Rather belatedly, Oswin realized that it might have been a good idea to find out where this computer was being kept.

Then again, where was she supposed to get that information? Oswin didn't have her own computer with her, she would've used that to get in contact with the TARDIS. So, there wasn't much she could have done by way of locating the computer. The corridors wound through the building, and Oswin was glad that these ones had windows. She would have dug up some rather nasty memories, had they not. So wrapped in finding the computer was she, that Oswin failed to notice the presence of someone else in the hall and ended up knocking into him. Without really getting a good look, she immediately flashed her paper. "Sorry. Clara Smith, inspector. Just having a look around, routine stuff." Unfortunately, what Oswin didn't know was the person she'd knocked into knew psychic paper when they saw it...

[capnjack]

Torchwood base was pretty lonely without anyone else there to keep Captain Jack company. It was strange, he'd woken up one morning and the other members just... weren't there. He'd tried calling them but they either weren't picking up or were gone. Sure, Jack was worried, but there wasn't much else he could do but look for them. A scan for the other members' phones came up with nothing. Their phones were just not there, not on planet Earth at least. But if someone was getting rid of Torchwood members, why hadn't they gotten him, too? It was way too confusing for Jack's tastes, but that's pretty much life when you work with Torchwood. Typing in a few keys, Jack started a second scan, just in case the first one had missed something.

Jack stood up from the black leather computer chair he was sitting at and stared around the base. It was as cluttered as it always was, looking about as official as a kid's bedroom. For all the clutter, it still seemed... empty. Usually there would be more people there chatting about whatever was going on with them or something. Jack glanced back at the screen. It said there was going to be about an hour for the scan to be done. Well, there wasn't really much else to do than run scans since alien activity in Cardiff had been at an all-time minimum. It was a bit refreshing, not having to deal with some random alien threat all the time. Sure, something would probably crop up in a bit, but he might as well take the time he had to go on a walk.

Moments later, Jack was rising up onto a sidewalk on the streets of Cardiff, unnoticed due to the technology implanted in that single block. Jack stepped out of the block and started walking down the street. Just as he'd predicted, some alien stuff cropped up. He spotted a Weevil running into a building. Jack ran after it and started chasing it through the long, twisty halls of the building. As he was running, he bumped right into someone. It turned out to be a girl who was a bit on the short side. She flashed a card to him and explained that she was Clara Smith. Jack smirked. It was psychic paper. "Psychic paper. Good one." Jack said, crossing his arms over his chest. "And the last name 'Smith'... You know the Doctor, don't you?"

[Oswin Oswald]

Oswin blinked. Someone else who knew what psychic paper was? She hadn't even expected to be caught with it, never mind by someone who knew what it was. Even Oswin hadn't been familiar with psychic paper when the Doctor had showed it to her, and she was from farther into the future than anyone here. Finally getting a good look at the man she'd bumped into, Oswin couldn't help an appreciative look up and down his body. Very nice. And his face seemed somewhat familiar to her, though she couldn't really place where she'd seen him before. Somewhere on the TARDIS files...if she could only put a name to his face, things would be a bit easier. She'd know if he could help her or not.

Relief washed over her as he asked if she knew the Doctor or not. "Yes!" Oswin's reply might have been a little too enthusiastic, but after having been wandering around with absolutely no connection, someone standing right in front of her who knew the Doctor was comforting, even if it might have been an enemy. "Or, I did, before I got lost," she continued. "Haven't seen him in a long time, got pulled out of the TARDIS a few weeks ago by something and taken somewhere else. D'you know if he's around?" It wouldn't be hard to believe that the Doctor had landed in Cardiff, as much of as coincidence as that would have been. "Point is, I'm a bit lost at the moment, and I've got to get back. I'm his companion."

Okay, maybe this wasn't the right information to be giving someone she only just met a matter of seconds ago, but still. And oh, Oswin knew his face from somewhere...TARDIS files, under companions...her eyes lit up. "Oh! I know you, you're Jack Harkness!" She grinned broadly. "You traveled with him, didn't you? His Ninth?" Another companion here, it was almost too good to be true. It explained the psychic paper thing, though, as far as Oswin knew, Jack was from an even further point in time from here. "Look, 's a bit weird, I know, but if you can get me to the computer that's here, the one strong enough to get to the TARDIS' communications, I'd be really grateful. He's probably been looking for me all over."

[capnjack]

So, he had one of the Doctor's friends here. Apparently one of the current ones, too. Either that or she was the current one until she 'got lost', which happened to all of them eventually. But she seemed like she could get back to the Doctor, so that probably wasn't the case. "I'm pretty sure he's not on Earth right now." Jack said. He did just scan all of the Earth and there was no sign of a Time Lord anywhere. Just humans and the random alien species scattered around everywhere. Definitely no Time Lords, though. "If you come back to Torchwood base with me we could probably start looking for him. It might take a while, but we could probably do it." Jack said, glancing down at his Vortex Manipulator. He pressed a few buttons on it and started a brief, Earth-wide scan for Time Lords. Never hurt to make sure.

Jack looked up at Oswin when she recognized him. That was a bit surprising. His existence was pretty much a secret since he was the head of Torchwood. But she wasn't looking over any normal files. She had access to the TARDIS' technology. The Doctor kept files on everything and everyone he met, so she pretty much knew most everything the Doctor knew about him, which really wasn't much at all. Jack was a mystery to most everyone he met, even the people he was supposed to be closest to. All of the members of Torchwood really know nothing about him and the Doctor knew only a little bit more since he met him when he was just a con man. That was probably on his file, too. Not the best thing to have on a file in a time and space traveling machine, but there wasn't much he could do to change that.

"Probably not the best idea to use a computer here. There are plenty of powerful computers at Torchwood base and it's safer to use those." Jack looked down at his Vortex Manipulator and set a few coordinates. After pressing another button, the two were teleported to Torchwood's base. The first thing Jack did was look up at the computer he'd been running the scan on. Still no sign of the other Torchwood members. As Jack started towards the computer, a pterodactyl flew over the two and screeched. Jack looked up at the pterodactyl as it perched and grinned. "Welcome to Torchwood."