Torchwood Advent Challenge - 3rd December

[m_findlow]

Title: Mr Fix-it
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 2,896 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for prompt "Duct tape"
Summary: Ianto is running short on tools

Ianto idly tapped the console with his fingers, drumming out a beat to an invisible tune in his head. In truth, he was bored to bits. Somewhere far below him on the planet their ship was orbiting, was Jack. He couldn't remember the exact details of how he they'd come to agree to deliver the transmitter device. He suspected Jack had brokered the arrangement when he had his back turned at one of the many way stations they stopped at to pick up supplies. It never paid go let Jack go up to a bar to order and pay for drinks. He always came back with more than just two glasses.

'It's not a million miles out of  our way, Ianto,' Jack had explained. 'Anyone else would charge them a fortune to drop this baby off.'

'And what are we charging them? ' He'd meant that question facetiously, already knowing the answer was nothing. Jack couldn't help himself, and Ianto couldn't hold it against him. They had enough credits for now, and probably for a good long while to come.

What he hadn't known at the time, was that delivering the device would require more than a little travel to get it to its intended target, quite a bit of which would be on foot. Normally not a problem, but an accident a few weeks ago had rendered Ianto with a fractured ankle, so he wasn't going anywhere.

'Gimme a day,' Jack said.

'You're sure you'll be okay?'

'What's a little bit of desert? I grew up on a planet that was eight tenths sand. 'Trekking across miles of dunes didn't faze him in the least. 'I can hitch a ride most of the way. You just make yourself at home and I'll be back before you know it.'

Being stuck aboard their ship annoyed him, not the least because he was finally out here, exploring space and he'd hardly seen any of it yet.

'Relax,' Jack has said placing a hand on his shoulder when he gave Jack that disappointed frown. 'It's just sand. You'd never get crutches to work in sand.' That much at least was true. He wouldn't even be able to beam down to the transmat station and wander around without getting into all sorts. Still, it didn't help him watch Jack leave their ship, armed with nothing but a backpack and a canteen of water.

 

'I tell you what, Ianto,' Jack had said over his comms, staring up at the blistering got sun as it beat down on him. 'That gorgeous Welsh skin of yours wouldn't survive out here,' he reported, puffing slightly as he trekked the fifteen or so miles from the main township to the village.

'Hot, is it?' he asked, resting his ankle on the console in front of him.

'Very.'

'I'd have covered up. That's what they invented sunscreen for.'

'Too hot for that,' Jack said, feeling the way the sweat dripped down the middle of his spine, but evaporated before it reached the bottom.

'So you're just tanning nicely, then?' Ianto asked.

Jack grinned. 'Ianto Jones, are you picturing me without my shirt on?'

'Well, I wasn't until you mentioned it, but that does give me something to do, at least.'

'Sorry to disappoint, then. Even I'm not crazy enough to be out here exposed to the elements.'

'A guy can dream,' Ianto replied, leaning back in his chair. And dream he did as the boredom finally set him drifting off to sleep while he waited.

 

Napping had worked for a while, as had fiddling with the controls that set the ship's climate control. It was always too hot up on the bridge and too cold in their main living quarters for his liking. Perhaps now that he had a quiet moment alone, he could finally figure out how to rectify that niggling little problem. Now that appeared sorted, and another brief power nap out of the way, he was back to being bored.

As if he'd been mentally willing some thing to happen to break up the monotony, the ship's console began to blare out an alarm. He brought up the display, trying to troubleshoot the problem, with his limited knowledge of the ship's functions. Before he could try to analyse the output scrolling across the screen, it sparked wildly and went blank. Then everything began to rattle and shake, a gentle buzz at first, and then more insistently. Well, that wasn't good.

He tapped his comms unit, hoping Jack was still in range. They'd been in constant contact between the transmat station and the main township, but the reception between the town and the village Jack was headed to, was patchy at best. Jack had muttered something about isochronic disruption, whatever that meant.

'Hey Jack? You there?'

The signal crackled slightly, but the response  came through clear enough. 'Yeah.'

'Just a quick question. Probably nothing, but is the ship meant to start shuddering when it's orbiting around a planet?'

'It's not meant to shudder anytime.'

'Oh, okay. Just thought maybe it was getting restless like me.'

Jack stopped waking, currently out in the middle of nowhere, on his way back to the main town, having successfully delivered the device to a very grateful family. Even calling where they lived a village was stretching the very definition. It was more a cluster of tents in no man's land. 'Why?'

'We might have a little problem, then.'

'How bad is it?'

Ianto grabbed the arms of his chair as another wave of tremors rocked the bridge. 'Ever been inside a shaking maraca?'

'What do the computers diagnostics say?'

'I'd tell you except the computer seems to be fried.'

'Great. You'll have to go down to the main power generator room and take a look.'

Jack set his pack down, taking a swig from his canteen and wiping the sweat from his brow while he waited for Ianto to move from one end of the ship to the other. Just as the one sun had been setting, taking the edge off the heat of the day, the second sun was rising. He'd be glad to get back and throw himself under an ice cold shower. Too many years acclimatising to British weather, he decided.

'Made it,' Ianto finally reported. 'Never noticed how long the ship was until you have to go from one end to the other on crutches. Now, let's see. Ah, yeah, I think that might be the problem.'

'What?' Jack asked.

'We've sprung a leak. One of the pipes is cracked.'

'Okay, what color is the fluid that's leaking?'

'Er, blue. Electric blue to be precise.'

'And how much of it is there?'

'Uh, a lot,' he said watching it pool on the floor and drip through the grating into the level below. 'Must've been slowly leaking for hours.'

'Well, that's not good.'

'Probably your bad driving again. I could've sworn you hit something when we came out of hyperdrive.'

'Let's discuss my driving skills later, shall we? You've got bigger problems.'

Ianto set his crutches up against the wall, using it to keep him standing. 'Okay. So, what is it?'

'If it's blue, that'd be the ship's main coolant lines. If we don't restore the flow of coolant, the ships engines will overheat and explode.'

'Ah, so that would account for the shuddering.' There was a loud sound on the other end of Jack's comms. 'Getting pretty bad now, actually.'

Jack picked up his gear and staring walking again, making his paces long, despite the sand that threatened to swallow his legs up to his thighs.

'Ianto, I don't mean to alarm you.'

'Consider me alarmed already,' Ianto said, interrupting.

'Well, if what you're saying is true you've got about twenty minutes until the ship blows up. By which I mean I'll be really upset if you blow up our ship. It was just starting to grow on me.'

'Oh, yes, and never mind that I'll be blown up in the process. You just worry about the bloody ship!'

'Well, I'm just saying that if you stop it from blowing up, I won't have to worry about you being blown up.'

'Oh, so now it's going to be my fault?'

'Not if you fix it.'

'Couldn't you just come back and fix it yourself?' He'd never quite gotten the hang of this modern tech. It was about ten millenia too advanced for his brain to grasp the finer details. He'd had enough trouble with his car, and wasn't that what they had mechanics for?  

'Ianto, I'm at least five miles from the township, and thirty miles from the closest transmat beam. There's not enough time. You're gonna have to stop the leak yourself.'

'Gee, that's just great.'

'Don't worry, I'll talk you through it.'

'That's doesn't fill me with confidence.'

'Relax, you'll do just fine.'

'Oh, I'm okay with that, it's your skills that have me worried. That and the sudden pressure of stopping a ship from completely blowing up.'

'Ianto, I've fixed more ships in my life than you could possibly believe.'

'Well, at least we're agreed in something then,' he retorted, unsure he'd believe anything Jack prided himself on.

'Listen, I'm on my way back right now,' Jack said. It was a solid five miles of nothing but fifty foot sand dunes, but once he was there, he'd be able to grab a ride in the equivalent of a jeep back to the transmat platform. Even so, the trip back was going to be two hours minimum.

'Just for the record I'm never letting you leave me alone of the ship again,' Ianto complained, trying to get his crutches awkwardly back underneath him as the ship shuddered, trying to upend him.  

'Well, next time, don't break your ankle and you won't get left behind.'

Ianto rolled his eyes, even thought Jack couldn't see it. 'And yet again, it's my fault.'

'Can we argue later? Right now you need to grab to toolbox from the storage unit on level six.'

Brilliant, Ianto thought. Not far from where he was, he remembered the only way down to the storage unit was via a ladder. Great. Of all the times to realise their ship wasn't ambulant friendly. He made his way to the hatch, setting his crutches against the wall, hobbling over to the opening, sitting himself down on the edge. Strictly speaking he wasn't meant to put weight on his healing ankle for another two weeks. He winced as it took some of his weight, trying his best to use his arms to lever himself down the narrow steps, and then hopped across to where the large metal box sat on a shelf. He hefted it halfway up the steps, leaning its weight against the steps whilst he pulled himself back up.

'Ianto, where are you?'

'I've got the toolbox.' He'd only just managed to shove it through the top of the hatch, heaving himself up after it.

'Well, hurry up, you're running out of time.'

He saw his crutches right where he'd left them, and hearing Jack's warning, simply grabbed the box and took off at a hobbling run, hissing in pain at every step, stumbling into the wall at intervals as he headed back to the generator room.

By the time he reached the generator room, the whole place was rattling and shaking violently, and the room was starting to steam and smoke from various places where the coolant was obviously meant to be doing its job. Ignoring the pain in his foot, he dropped the box next to the leaking pipe.

'Okay, I'm here. Tell me what to do. Which of these spanners tightens the pipe or redirects it?'

'None of them,' Jack replied.

'Then why the bloody hell did you make me fetch this toolbox?'

'You'll need the duct tape to seal up the crack.'

'Duct tape? Duct tape! Are you fucking serious?'

'Language!' Jack chastised.

'Sorry. I'll rephrase. Are your cognitive functions not at full cacapacity? I.e. have you completely lost your mind? I'm supposed to rely on duct tape the save the entire ship from blowing up?'

'Problem with that?'

'Yes! Very much so!' Duct tape was for covering over exposed copper wiring in the cord that ran from your kettle to the plug. Even then, it was only a temporary measure until you could stop off at the shops for a new one. You did not use it to stop a thirty-sixth century transport cruiser from utter annihilation. 'Where's the sonic powered mini laser welder that can patch up the hole in under three seconds?'

'It'll work just fine. Trust me.'

'Oh, of all the...' Ianto muttered, letting his thoughts trail off. He yanked open the toolbox and rifled frantically through its contents. As was typically Jack, nothing was slotted away in any neat order. Growing frustrated, he tipped the whole thing upside down on the floor, letting the contents scatter, until he spotted the round shape. He picked it up and sighed. Plain old Earth style duct tape. God help him.

'Okay, I've got it,  he said, already tugging a long strip away from the reel.

'Good. Now just start about six inches from the crack and work your way down until you've covered the entire length and then go back the other way. Just like a snake bite.'

'Oh, yes, because I've handled loads of those,' Ianto quipped.

'If you only cover the immediate crack, the heat and pressure will just cause the crack to extend. A double layer ought to do it.'

'Insane,' Ianto muttered, 'this is totally insane,' he repeated as he wrapped it around and around the pipe, just like Jack has said.

'How are you going?' Jack asked, just about tumbling down the steep side of the dune in his haste to get back. Should've brought a sled, he thought.

'Almost there,' Ianto said, feeling the roll of tape getting slippery in his hands as a layer of bright blue goo now coated them.

'Do we have enough tape?'

'Should do,' he said, watching as the leaking was slowly brought to a halt. Contrary to Jack's advice, he gave it a third layer. Who knew how long it would have to hold until they could get the ship somewhere it could be fixed properly.

'How'd the shaking?'

Ianto sat back, feeling worn out. 'It's stopped. I think it worked.'

'Good.' Argh! There was a cry of alarm that sent chills down Ianto's spine.

'What?'

'Nothing, just lost half my leg into the sand. Not quite as stable as it looked. Now you'll have to shut down all non-primary systems.'

'Why's that?'

'Less places for the remaining coolant to have to work its magic.'

'Good point. Can I do that from in here?'

'You betcha. Now all you have to do is this...'

 

By the time Jack finally beamed back aboard their ship, he was exhausted. His clothes were clinging to his skin, coated in a thick layer of sweat, and sand clung to everything else, filling his boots and his hair. On the plus side, the ship was still here, and didn't sound like it was about to shake itself apart.

He tapped his comms. 'Ianto? Where are you?'

'Generator room,' he replied.

'Keeping an eye on things?' Jack asked, wearily dropping his backpack right there on the floor and going to find his lover.

'Sort of,' came the reply.

When Jack reached the generator room, he found Ianto sitting on the floor.

'You okay?'

'I'll live. On the plus side I've had plenty of time to organise our toolbox,' he said, giving it a friendly pat. 'Next time there's a lift threatening emergency, at least you'll be able to find whatever you're looking for.'

Jack took a closer look at his lover. 'Why have you got a spanner taped to your ankle?'

'Because I think I broke it again trying to save the ship. Finally found a good use for that duct tape, though. Apart from stopping ships from blowing up, that is.'

'Where are your crutches?'

'Oh, somewhere down the other end of the ship,' he pointed uselessly.

Jack reached down to help him up, trying to take some of the weight off his ankle. 'You can fill me in on the finer points once we get you out of here. You patched up the ship, so let me patch you up.'

'And once you've had a shower,' Ianto added. 'No offense, but you stink.'

'I'll take that as a thank you,' Jack replied. 'You can thank me properly later after I've run a few system diagnostics. Not that I don't think you've done a great job, but I'll sleep easier knowing we can make it back to Sector Eight for repairs.'

'I'll sleep easier knowing that you know we can make it back to Sector Eight for repairs,' Ianto agreed.

Jack laughed. 'Alright, let's get you back. Don't think I'll volunteer to carry you everywhere. This is a one time offer.'

Ianto scoffed. 'And I've been carrying you for years. So much for returning the favour.'

'Them's the breaks,' Jack replied.

'One more thing, Jack.'

'What's that?'

'When we do get back to Sector Eight, we're going to need to buy more duct tape. I used the last of it on my ankle.'

'No problem. Worth every penny.'

Comments

[bk_forever]

Oooh, scary situation!

Poor Ianto, what an ordeal. I hope they can make it back to sector eight and get both Ianto and the ship repaired! Preferably with something a bit more durable than duct tape.