Torchwood: Fanfic: Digging up the past

[m_findlow]

Title: Digging up the past
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,391 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for paceisthetrick's prompt "Any, any, not exactly what they planned" at fic_promptly and Fffc May Special Daily Challenge - May 3rd - This was supposed to be the trip of his lifetime
Summary: There's no such thing as a normal vacation.

This was supposed to be the trip of Ianto's lifetime. He was all for Jack's promises to take him out to see the stars, but in practical terms, that was unlikely to happen any time soon. They'd need a ship for starters, and though there were several perfectly good ones parked up on the moon, there was also the small matter of time. It wasn't as if they could just take off for months at a time, seeing the universe. There was work to be done and Torchwood didn't run itself, much as they might like to dream. A week's vacation was the best they were going to manage.

Ianto had always wanted to go to Egypt and see the pyramids and the Sphinx, ever since he was a kid. There was something just so fascinating about the place, thinking that people from over five thousand years ago had manged to build these monumental structures, filling them with gold and treasures and art. Even with today's technology, it would be quite a job to build something so grand, and these people had done it with their bare hands, quarrying and carving each rock by hand, lifting them into place with ropes and wood. And that was to say nothing of how much it must have cost the pharaohs to build them, paying so many people to work on them for years, even if most of them were probably slaves who worked for free. Some of them probably spent their entire lives working on just one pyramid.

It wasn't quite the beach holiday Jack had perhaps been hoping for, but there would at least be sand. Lots and lots of sand. Of course, he should have also known that no trip anywhere on Earth with Jack could be simple and straightforward.

They'd been on a tour of one of the pyramids, Ianto stopping endlessly to take pictures of the hieroglyphs on the narrow walls, when Jack grabbed his arm. 'Let's go this way,' he said, pointing to a darkened corridor off to their left that had been passed by the group as they'd been left trailing at the end of the tour.

Before he could argue with Jack all the many reasons why they shouldn't, he felt his hand being tugged forward into the darkness.

'Jack, no!' he said, trying to fight off Jack's enthusiasm. Who knew what was down here. It might not even be wide enough or stable enough for them to pass. It didn't stop Jack though, who squeezed his body down the dark passage. Ianto could do nothing but follow him now, to ensure he didn't get lost, not that he knew where they were or how to get back.

The passages were so ridiculously narrow it was a wonder how anyone ever got down here, let alone to put a sarcophagus inside. Perhaps it was as the guide had said, narrowing the passages to deter thieves from raiding the tomb of its treasures. It certainly wasn't deterring Jack, though. God, what if they got stuck? No one would know they were down here! Sodding hell, why did Jack have to complicate everything?

'Jack! Where are you taking us?'

'Trust me,' came the echoing voice in front of him. He was relying on Jack's hand to guide him since he couldn't see anything in the dark and couldn't find enough elbow room to pull out his phone and use it as a torch.

He could feel them starting to climb upwards at first and then back down again. They were probably miles from their tour group by now. Would they do a head count at the end and wonder why they were two people short? He'd been so excited to see the inner workings of the great pyramids but this wasn't how he imagined it. He couldn't see anything for a start.

Finally, he felt a distinct tug on his wrist and he stumbled into Jack's back as he'd come to a stop. Suddenly there was a light as Jack flipped open his wrist strap and bathed the room in a white light. To say it was impressive was an understatement. Every inch of the room glittered in gold and the walls were covered in hieroglyphs, and right there at the centre of the room, was a magnificent golden sarcophagus.

'Jack, are you completely mad bringing us down here? This is probably highly restricted.'

Jack shrugged. 'You wanted to see the wonders of Egypt, so that's what I'm doing.'

'We were seeing the wonders of Egypt. Then you had to go rogue.'

'I got a signal on this,' he said, pointing at his vortex manipulator. 'Thought we'd better check it out.'

'Of course you did,' Ianto replied, rolling his eyes. Couldn't they just have a holiday like normal people? 'What kind of signal?'

'It's coming from that,' he said, pointing to the sarcophagus.

Ianto heaved a sigh. 'Of course it is.'

'I think we should open it,' Jack said.

'That sounds like the worst idea I've ever heard. Haven't you heard about the mummy's curse?' Their lives were complicated enough without adding curses to them.

Jack pointed emphatically from his wrist strap to the sarcophagus. 'Whatever is sending out this signal is inside there. Besides, you didn't actually think humans built the pyramids, did you?'

Ianto wanted to sigh again. 'I did until about three seconds ago.'

Jack turned his phone on, using the camera flash to keep the room lit. 'Come help me move this lid,' he said, moving over to the head of the sarcophagus.

There was no way they were going to be able to lift it. It looked way too heavy. Apart from that, it was the most ornate thing Ianto had ever seen. It must have been made of pure gold.

'There's a cipher lock on the side, keeping it sealed up, but I think I've cracked the code,' Jack said. 'The lid should come away now.'

Desecrating archeological treasures, Ianto thought. The Egyptian government would arrest them and lock them up, throwing away the key if they got caught. And if they happened to unleash a plague of locusts or something...

'On three,' Jack instructed. 'One, two, three.'

Reluctantly Ianto grabbed the feet end of the sarcophagus and pulled upwards. At first it was stuck, but then with a hiss, the seal was broken and the lid came up. There was a puff of dust and the most foul smell Ianto had ever experienced. 'Urgh! I think we found the corpse,' he said, pinching his nose. 'It stinks!'

'What corpse?' came a voice. 'Whatchoo on about? I ain't no corpse! Besides, how'd you smell if you'd been stuck in here for five thousand years?'

Ianto stood there stunned as he watched the thing crawl out of the sarcophagus. 'Jack, it's a, um, um... little green man.' He could hardly believe he'd just said that. It was like every bad sci-fi film he'd ever seen.

'Cheers, lads,' the alien said. 'I've been stuck in that thing I can't tell you how long. Was starting to think no one was getting my signal. I mean, you expect it might take someone two thousand years to catch on, but I was starting to go barmy in there, talking to meself and everything.'

'You're a little green man inside an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus,' Ianto repeated. For some reason he was having a hard time believing it.

'Jack Harkness,' Jack said, throwing out his hand in greeting. 'And this is Ianto Jones.'

'Marvin,' the alien replied, shaking Jack's hand.

'As in Marvin the Martian?' Ianto asked.

'Blimey, no. Have you ever met the Martians? Not nice folks. Anyways, I'd love to stay and chat but the missus will be right annoyed with me. Only said I'd be gone for the weekend with the lads. Didn't expect to come here and be worshipped as a God and then get locked up in a tomb. Thanks again, yeah?' Before they could say anything else, the little alien had disappeared in a ball of light, teleporting to his ship which had been floating in orbit around the planet awaiting his return.

'Okay,' Ianto said. 'That was...'

'Weird,' Jack supplied.

'Yeah.'

'Okay then,' Jack said dusting off his hands. 'Take a picture of me lying in the sarcophagus?' he asked.

'Jack...'

'It's fine,' he promised. 'We'll swap and then I'll take a picture of you. Once in a lifetime opportunity!'

Comments

[bk_forever]

This could only happen to Torchwood!

I think Marvin might be in a lot of trouble when he gets home. Let's hope Jack and Ianto don't get in trouble!

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

Let's hope they can seal the tomb back up and sneak off into the sunset without anyone being any the wiser!
Marvin might wish he'd stayed sealed up when his missus gets a hold of him!