reversedpolarity | [ddd; log; Jack]

Jack listened to what Scotty was saying, about ships falling through a wormhole, changing history, and he had to wonder...if these things didn't work differently here than it did where he came from. If the rules were different, or... "Well, it's no wormhole, but. What does it sound like then, Mr. Scott? What are you thinking? And, more importantly..."

Jack cocked his head at Scotty, leaning forward in his seat. "How do you know that it did that?" he asked, looking at the other man intensely across the table. "How do you know that it changed history, that it supposedly branched you off into another universe? Unless someone told you about it. In which case..."

Jack sat forward, propping his head in his hand. "Time travel is dangerous, you know. There are rules that have to be followed. At least, within your own universe, and all. If you travel back in time and meet yourself, but you can't remember meeting yourself to begin with, for example... Well, that's a paradox. And the Rift. It's not just a means of travel. There are creatures that live in there that love to come out and rip your universe apart, if you run around creating paradoxes like that."

"I know," he replied, leaning forward as well, "because it wasn't me that discovered the equation for transwarp beamin'." He hated to admit that, but it was, unfortunately, the truth. "It was me in the future that did that. One o' the ships that fell through - it was Mr. Spock, only from that other future. It was him that gave me the equation, an' from what I hear, he spoke briefly with his younger self. As odd as it is tae say this, the laws o' time might not be universal. It might be different here than it is where you're from. See, thing is - the other ship that fell through, Nero's ship... It's a long story, but short version is, they destroyed a planet that exists in that other Spock's future. So either this reality branched off, or else that paradox is rippin' apart the very fabric o' space-time itself. Which it's not. Pretty sure we'd notice if it was."

Personally, he didn't like to muck around with time travel - doing so tended to get very messy and very complicated very quickly. He had several theories regarding alternate universes and splintering time lines, and going by what Jack said about time travel in his universe, the only logical conclusion was that somehow, universal laws weren't constant across the multiverse.

"As for that Rift o' yours... sounds like a rift. A rent. A tear. How far off am I?"

Jack shook his head, unable to keep himself from chuckling a little at that question. "Not too far off at all, but. That would be because it is a rift, Scotty. It's a rift in space and time, that's why we call it the Rift. It's a tear, and things fall through from other places and times, or get sucked to other places and times from here. Everything from aliens from other planets and times, to a plane that flew through a rift storm from the 1950's and ended up in our time."

"That's how it works," Jack said, sitting back a little, and sipping his drink, now that he was kind of reassured that things must not work the same way between their universes, because otherwise he wouldn't be there and talking to Scotty anymore, because the Reapers would have gotten rid of anyone involved in the paradox there at all. "It's unstable, because it's a tear and all, so when there's a buildup of energies, it forms a storm, and anything caught in the center of that is sent into the space-time vortex, and end up wherever they happen to end up. It's not anywhere near as direct as a wormhole, and unless you've got a vortex manipulator, you end up wherever it spits you. Which could be pretty problematic, especially if it ends up spitting you out into the middle of a star, or deep space, or anything like that."

"Is there a way tae repair it?" he asked, folding his arms on the table in front of him. A typical engineer question, that. Something's broken? Find a way to fix it. "Patch it, maybe, if not outright close it?" The answer was probably no, he thought, because if there was a way to repair the Rift, it probably would have been found at some point. "No," he answered his own question. "No, because if I'm understandin' the temporal laws o' where you're from, if you'd repaired the Rift before something from the distant future fell through..."

He shook his head, raising a hand to scrub his fingers through his hair. "So the best you can do is keep an eye on it, then? Because o' the paradox that fixin' it would create. Right?"

"Dead on," Jack said, taking another bite of his food. "Even if there were some way to fix it, that kind of technology... We don't have it, in the 21st century. Or in the 51st century, as far as I'm aware. Wasn't exactly dealing with this sort of thing back then, though, so. Can't say for sure."

"But you're right about the best thing we can do is to keep an eye on it. Which is what we do, in Torchwood. We monitor the Rift, and deal with what comes out of it, keep track of who or what it takes... Take care of them if it sends them back..." That part had been Jack's special added touch of humanity to Torchwood, but he wasn't going to go into it. It was a little too depressing for a first meeting, and all. "I'm the captain, Gwen's the people person, and Ianto's...well. Everything else. That's Torchwood, in a nutshell," he explained.

"Sulu explained a bit about it. Ah. Your Earth, it hasn't had the sort o' contact with alien life that ours had in the twenty-first century, has it? Or rather... Sulu said your Earth has a lot more alien contact than our Earth had, because o' the Rift, but I take it there's not been any First Contact situation like what we've had." He smiled then, reaching for his drink. "I'm glad the captain's cleared you tae be on board, by the way - an'... I feel I should apologize for my attitude when we first spoke. I hope you won't hold it against me."

Jack nodded. "Oh, yeah. Earth's had a whole lot of alien contact already. And unlike whatever first meeting you guys must've had, ours hasn't been public, or anything. Most of the world is in denial that any of it has ever even happened, and we'd really rather like to keep it that way. Or... Well, we try to. Explain it away, Retcon them... Whatever works best."

"Don't get me wrong," Jack said, "I'm well aware that there are good aliens out there. I know a great deal of them personally, and believe me when I say that they're good," Jack said, a little hint of his normal flirting showing through for a moment. "But the Earth is currently on restricted access, so. Really the only ones we ever end up dealing with are either ones that ended up there by accident, or ones whose intentions have been...well," Jack said, his eyes lowering to the table as he recalled the most recent threat, the 456. "...not so good, really."

"I'm sorry, but... Retcon?" Out of everything else, that was what stuck out the most. He had no idea what that could possibly be. He knew the definition of the word, but in the context Jack had used it, it didn't make any sense.

He did reply to the rest of Jack's comments, though, because the topic of the differences in history between Jack's world and his were absolutely fascinating. "The Vulcans - the aliens that initiated first contact - had a rule that there was tae be no contact with planets that hadn't discovered warp drive yet. Between Earth an' Vulcan, the Federation was founded, an' that rule about first contact still exists as the first an' most important rule o' what we do here. I'll grant you, we got lucky. If it had been the Klingons that'd found us first, or the Romulans..."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, Retcon. Compound B67. It's... Well, it's an amnesia pill, basically. An amnesia drug. Give them one pill, and they'll forget everything they've done for the last day or so. Everything they've seen. Make them really susceptible, so you can plant false memories and the likes. It..." Jack said, trailing off, realizing he should probably explain a little more. "It was something I picked up from the Agency, and brought along with me to Torchood. The recipe is under lock and key, though. Wouldn't want something like that getting out for the general public anytime soon, after all."

"But yeah," Jack said, shaking his head. "Official first contact, when the Proclamation takes its hold off of visiting the planet, is a lot more peaceful than what the real first contacts of the planet were, and all. We had to try and save face from all of the bad examples that all of the others had set, and all, so." He shrugged. And what a whole lot of bad examples out there there were, too.

It was Scotty's turn to nod, both at Jack's comments about his world's official first contact and about the amnesia pill. "I can understand why you'd want tae keep that recipe a secret. I can only imagine what'd happen if it were widely available." He paused, to take another bite of food, only to discover that somewhere in the middle of his lecture about the warp drive and talking temporal theory he'd managed to finish his meal without realizing it. "It's amazin', isn't it? The differences between your world an' this one. Even our galaxies're different - I mentioned Klingons tae Ianto, an' he had no idea what I was talkin' about. An'..." He trailed off, clearing his throat, knowing that there was no way Jack was going to miss the blush creeping into his cheeks. "You hadn't heard o' the Orions."

"No," Jack said, smiling slightly at the blush now coloring Scotty's cheeks. "I hadn't. I mean... There are aliens like that where I come from too, but. Not the same, and they're not called Orions. I'm willing to bet that the really the only similar lifeforms between our two universes would be the human race. I mean, I certainly hadn't heard of Klingons or Vulcans before speaking to any of you guys, but if I started going on about the Sycorax and the Daleks and the Cybermen, you'd probably have absolutely no idea what I was talking about either, now would you?" Jack asked, tilting his head to the side with a smile.

"I'm willing to bet that outside of Earth's solar system, there's probably a lot of variation between the two universes as well. Like... I bet you don't have a planet called Raxacoricofallapatorius, now do you?" he asked, with a grin.

"Raxa- No. No, we haven't got anything like that," he replied, smiling back at Jack. "Or Daleks, or Cybermen, or... Sycorax, did you say? But that's astoundin', isn't it? That between our two universes, humans seem tae be the only constant. Amazin'. Absolutely amazin'. Not sure what it means, y'know, if it means anythin' - which I'm not sayin' it has to - but still." For a moment, he couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with what Sulu had told him - that this universe was fictional on some worlds. But then that begged the question of which came first, the fiction or the universe, and quite frankly, that wasn't something Scotty wanted to think much about.

"It is," Jack agreed. "I mean, humans aren't even that special. We're not too advanced, like the Time Lords, nor are we too simple, like the Hoix..." Jack trailed off, realizing that Scotty wouldn't know what he was referencing in referencing those two aliens. "Uhm, Hoix are little more than big, toothy, walking trash compactors. Seriously, they eat everything. And Time Lords. Well, I mean, there's only two of them left, but. Have... Have you met the Doctor over the community, yet?" Jack asked. The same Doctor that he was leaving his world in the hands of while he sat back and waited for the other to fix the problem. The one that he was currently worried as hell about. Yeah, that Doctor. Everything kept coming back to his problems, even their conversation, even when he was trying to distract himself, it seemed.

Edited 2010-12-20 00:23 (UTC)

"I wouldn't say humans aren't that special. Maybe we're somewhere in the middle, as far as developmental complexity is concerned, but that doesn't mean we're not something incredible." But that, it seemed, was a discussion for another time, as Jack led the conversation in the direction of the Doctor - who he'd mentioned before, and who Scotty still hadn't spoken to. "I'm afraid I've not had the chance," he answered Jack's question, shaking his head slightly. "I'd been keepin' an eye out, since you'd mentioned I might want tae talk tae him about the mechanics o' the vortex manipulator, but we've not spoken yet."

"Ah," Jack said, nodding his head and falling silent for a moment, trying to keep himself from jumping to any conclusions there. The Doctor would be fine--he was the Doctor, after all, and he dealt with this sort of world-ending chaos all the time. He'd be back and on top of things quicker than...well. Something fast. Jack had never been one for optimism, certainly not lately, but he was trying, damn it, and wasn't that what mattered in the end?

"Well, then," Jack said, forcing himself to say something after his few moments of silence. "I, ehm. I hope that you do get to talk to him. Eventually, that is. I mean. He'd be a great help. When... When he's done with all of this that he's dealing with now, that is..."

Scotty caught that change in Jack's tone of voice and decided that further talking about the Doctor wasn't going to help anything. He couldn't know for certain if the Doctor was who Jack had mentioned earlier was taking care of what was happening currently back on his world, but it seemed likely. "I'll just have tae be a bit patient, then," he replied, before deciding that a subject change would likely be good right about now. Fine job he was doing, distracting Jack, if he let the conversation carry on in the direction it was headed.

"How about we go an' see about gettin' you a place tae stay?" he suggested, though setting up guest quarters would only take a few minutes. Not much of a distraction, that. "An' after that's out o' the way, why don't we have a drink or two?"

Jack quirked a smile at Scotty's suggestion of drinks. "God, would I ever go for a drink after all of this. Count me in," he said, smiling and shaking his head. "Although assuring me that I've got a place to stay first would probably be best," he said. Not that it really mattered, though, the order of things. Alcohol still carried a bite, but it was a lot harder for him to get pissed enough to have to be dragged back to his room, or anything like that. Still. He did appreciate a good drink, nonetheless, and well. Scotty looked like he did too, for that matter.

"Sorry to be keeping you from what you could otherwise be doing here, though, Mr. Scott," he said. "I know that you're off now, but. I don't know, you certainly weren't anticipating having to show me around when you reported for duty earlier, now did you?"

"We'll get you sorted, don't worry. If you're finished we can go ahead an' get that done now. An' really, it's no trouble. Showin' you around an' all that, I mean. Hadn't really got anything tae do, apart from a bit o' paperwork, an' that can wait. I was thinkin' about workin' a bit on that equation for the transporters, but again, that can wait. I'd much rather sit an' have a couple o' drinks." He rose, collected his plate and cup, and went to dispose of them, before rejoining Jack. "O' course, I'll admit I could do with a shower, but it'll take all o' five minutes if I use the sonic."

Jack quirked an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" he asked, with a smile. "I wouldn't want to be depriving you of a good shower and all. I've heard that these sonic ones are the new thing, before, and all, but. I can't imagine ever feeling as clean after that as you feel after a good old-fashioned traditional one, but." He shrugged, standing to join Scotty. "It's definitely up to you."

"Shall we, then?" he asked, smiling at the other man and motioning for him to lead on.

"It'll do for tonight. I've already invited you over, an' I'm not about tae take it back just because I need tae wash up a bit. C'mon, then." He set off, his pace once again brisk, although he made sure that Jack would be able to keep up. Not that he thought he wouldn't, but he'd have hated to lose Jack when he was supposed to be helping him find his way around. "If you get lost..." He trailed off, and motioned to a nearby computer station. "There're computers every corridor or so. They recognize voice commands, so all you have tae do is ask for directions."

Jack followed along behind Scotty, not directly behind him exactly, because he couldn't really force himself to move quite that fast, but at a decent enough distance to still obviously be walking with the other man. At the suggestion, Jack nodded to the computer Scotty motioned to. "Right, I'll make note of that, then," he said. "Though really, it'd be just as easy to ask someone I run across for directions as well. It's what I did last time I was here, and didn't have a guide around to direct me."

Truth be told, though, Jack hadn't really wanted to get a tour the last time he was there, either. The times that he'd gone on walks hadn't been to explore the ship. They had been because he couldn't stand sitting there alone with his thoughts for any longer, and it was the closest he could get to running away from his problems without the actual abandoning Sulu part, and all.

"I take it you're already familiar with the lifts." He was headed toward one of the turbolifts now, to head to the deck that housed the guest quarters. That particular section of the ship would be a bit quieter, less full of crew; as far as Scotty was aware there wasn't anyone currently stationed in the guest quarters, and the crew rarely had reason to head down that way. One short ride on the turbolift later, he headed off down yet another corridor, finally stopping at a door that looked no different from any of the others, apart from the number on it. "Here we are, then."

There was a small computer screen next to the door, and Scotty took a moment to bring up an input screen. "I'll let you choose your code. More likely tae remember it that way, I should think."

Jack paused, thinking of something he'd remember right off the top of his head, before inputting the first numbers that came to mind--his Torchwood ID number. Sure, it wasn't very imaginative, but it was also Top Secret, and no one knew the numbers but himself, the rest of Torchwood, and the authorities back on Earth, so. As far as the Enterprise was concerned, it was a pretty good choice, he figured.

"Alright," he said, after inputting the code. "How does this work, then, exactly? I just have to input that code every time I want to get in? Or is there something more to it, than that?"

"Just the code. If you were personnel we'd do a voice option too, but since you're likely only stayin' a few days, we'll just do the code. That way we can deactivate it once you're gone, leavin' the room open for someone else. If you're plannin' on bein' a regular guest, I could always save the code for you. The computer'll keep track of it, but you'll still be the only one who can use it." He rocked on his heels once or twice, before adding, "Did you stop by here a few minutes, then, or just head on over my way? Figure we might as well go where the booze is, but it's up tae you."

Jack shook his head. "Don't need to stop by here, really. I mean, it's a normal room, right? Similar layout to a normal cabin, right? I don't really have any luggage to drop off, or anything. Didn't bring anything with me but my coat, and well." He smiled, almost sheepishly. Almost. "I'd kind of really like to keep my coat with me instead, if possible. It's kind of an antique, even by 21st century standards, so. I like to keep it with me, more often than not, just so I know where it is all the time."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject