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aviv_b_artworkTITLE: Chapter 95 - Partings
AUTHOR: Aviv_b
RATING: Chapter 95- G/PG
CHARACTERS: Ianto, Jack, Mickey, Ricky & Archie!
DISCLAIMER: Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's
WORDS: 1265
SUMMARY: Torchwood marks the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Canary Wharf . The first manned mission to Mars is set to begin its three year journey.
Title is from: Life is made of ever so many partings welded together. Charles Dickens
Ianto's Journey begins here: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/1972.html
All Chapter are linked.
‘I’m the last man standing,’ Ianto told Jack as they stood almost alone at Canary Wharf. All the other survivors were dead now and not one relative or friend of all the casualties or survivors showed up. ‘I’m seventy-three, so I can understand why there are no other survivors left,’ Ianto thought. ‘But no one’s spouse or children or friend bothered to show up. No one remembers. No one realizes that this is where it started.’
Only a UNIT honor guard and Mickey and some other Torchwood officials showed up. Ricky as head of Torchwood Cardiff attended and to everyone’s surprise, the retired head of Torchwood Two, Archie MacDougal also made an appearance. “He must be in his nineties,” Jack whispered to Ianto. “I have to admit, I didn’t think he was still alive.”
The small group stood at the Monument and listened to the names being read for probably the last time. Afterwards, Mickey took the small group from Torchwood to lunch where he told them that given the attendance, a formal ceremony would next be held on the 75th anniversary of the Battle.
‘Well, I guess we’ll all be missing that one, except for perhaps Jack,’ Ianto snarked.
“Yeah,” Mickey agreed, “it’s a shame that no one will ever know the truth of what happened here.”
‘And with the first manned mission to Mars taking off in a few months, people will be looking for aliens in the sky, not here on Earth.’
"All the rifts seem to be quieter but maybe that's because we can send most displaced aliens back to their time and space coordinates now,” Mickey added. “Bowie Base One,” he said wistfully. “Makes me wish I was a bit younger; maybe I could have gone on that mission.”
They spoke some more about the mission and of how the space station would be built using the landing module as the main component. Several unmanned cargo ships were accompanying the main space craft and would land on Mars several days after the space craft. The team going to Mars was on a one way ticket. They either had to make it work or die.
“Some incentive plan,” Ricky laughed. “You lose, you die. You win; you get to live out your life on a barren planet dependent on regular cargo drops from Earth that take three years to reach you. Sounds like fun.”
“But it’s the first important step in mankind spreading through the stars. Just think, within a few centuries man could be all over this solar system if not the galaxy. Imagine the changes the next several generations are going to see. I don’t think there’s a larger leap in technology or science for hundreds of years following that,” Jack said.
‘What motivates such a rapid increase in space travel? Is it population growth, environmental degradation, war…? I know you can’t tell us Jack, but it has to have been something pretty serious to make everyone get up and leave.’
“You know I can’t say anything except that it’s a combination of factors. And as far as I know it’s an orderly type of emigration, nothing on the order of an evacuation…at least as far as I know.”
“So Archie,” Jack said changing the subject. “What have you been up to?”
The portly elderly man had been dozing just a bit at lunch and startled as he heard Jack speak to him.
“What? Hmmm… just a little of this and that. Still play a round or two of golf every week; had to give up tennis last year after I slipped and broke my elbow.”
‘I feel like a slug. The most exercise I get is from a little gardening when the weather is nice.’
“You feel like a slug; the rift is so quiet that it’s like working in a library,” Ricky retorted.
Mickey smiled. “I’ll trade you. I’ll sit in your library and you can deal with the Prime Minister and his representatives. I spend more time keeping them happy than protecting the planet.”
‘That’ll change,’ Jack thought. ‘Not during your tenure but one of your early successors is going to have his or her hands full.’
The lunch broke up shortly thereafter. Mickey and Ricky were going to be driving Archie to the train station and they had a planning meeting to conduct later in the afternoon. Jack and Ianto had already paid their respects to Aaron’s and the Brigadier’s graves early that morning with Stephen and wanted to avoid London end of day traffic.
Ianto didn’t talk much as they started the drive back to Cardiff. His thoughts were preoccupied with his being the only living survivor not to mention the fate of the planet. But one person was foremost on his mind on this day of remembrance. ‘Jack, I’d like to make a short detour to Swindon, OK?’
“Sure, what’s there?”
‘It’s where Charlie Mackenzie is buried. I haven’t visited for many years and this seems like the right day to do it.’
It didn’t take them long to find the cemetery as Ianto could remember exactly where it was located. Likewise, he knew precisely where the grave was. Ianto wasn’t surprised he remembered the location so well. He’d always had a keen sense of direction, and could almost always navigate his way back to anywhere he had been to before no matter how long ago.
He was surprised when he saw two relatively new graves which upon closer inspection were for Charlie’s parents.
‘I just got a card from them at Christmas. I wonder what happened…look they died two days apart from each other.’
Jack and Ianto stayed just a few more minutes and then headed back to their car to continue on to Cardiff. Ianto searched the Internet with his smart-phone and it wasn’t long before he had the answer.
‘Shit. Their car was hit by a drunk driver going down the street the wrong way. The driver was going so fast that the collision pushed their car down an embankment and it rolled several times. Mrs. Mackenzie was killed instantly. Her husband survived the crash but never made it out of the hospital. Drunk driver walked away from the accident uninjured.’ Ianto read a bit more. ‘Only family is a niece.’
Ianto sighed. ‘I’m really going to be the last one standing,’ he thought.
Jack didn’t have to be empathic to know what Ianto was thinking. He didn’t say anything but glanced over at Ianto every few minutes until he saw Ianto doze off.
It was Jack’s turn to sigh. He worried a lot, probably too much about Ianto’s health. He noticed that Ianto was getting a bit more forgetful but Ianto’s physician had assured them that this was just part of the normal aging process. Ianto had had one Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) a year before when he had woken up early with numbness in his left hand. He attributed the problem to Jack sleeping on top of it. But when the feeling didn’t come back by midday, Jack insisted on taking Ianto to an urgent care facility. By the time he was finally seen, some movement was returning to his fingers and he didn’t have any other symptoms. A CT-scan showed no bleeding or clots, so the doctor had him add a low dose of aspirin to his daily regime. Ianto’s most recent physical showed no change in his condition.
'The good news is he’s in pretty good health for a man his age. The bad news is that he won’t be the last man standing,' Jack thought. 'I will.' '
Chapter 96 is here: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/57715.html
