TW-DW Ficlet: An Interesting Place
Jan. 13th, 2025 04:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: An Interesting Place
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Ianto, Tenth Doctor, Jack.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 901
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: The Doctor takes Ianto and Jack to visit an earth colony planet in the future. It’s not at all what Ianto was expecting.
Written For: Weekend Challenge: Winter at
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1_million_words.Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
It looked a lot like any big city on earth, or at least a future version of earth, which was fair, since according to the Doctor, this planet was colonised by humans during the first wave, some nine hundred years earlier. There were skyscrapers, wide boulevards, streetlamps, and billboards everywhere, although they were more like TV screens showing nothing but adverts.
There were even vehicles similar to cars, although they seemed longer than the vehicles Ianto was used to seeing on the streets of Cardiff. What would have been the boot on an earth car was much bigger, and was apparently where the fuel the cars ran on was produced. They didn’t use petrol; they were powered by some kind of biological mechanism that produced clean energy from rubbish. It sounded admirably efficient, to Ianto’s ears; no wonder the streets looked so clean and free from litter. People didn’t drop any, using it to fuel their cars instead.
“So, what do you think?” The Doctor beamed at Ianto. “Futuristic enough for you?”
Ianto was tempted to say no, because for all the improvements, it still could have been any large urban centre in, say, the United States, but the Doctor was like an eager puppy, wanting only to be praised for being clever, and Ianto didn’t have the heart to disappoint him.
“Impressive,” he agreed. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the relieved expression on Jack’s face, hidden from the Doctor’s view. Silently, Jack mouthed, ‘Thank you’, and Ianto smiled.
The Doctor bounced. If he’d had a tail, he would have been wagging it, but since he didn’t, he simply beamed. “I thought this would appeal to you!”
“I’m curious though. What’s the significance of the… ah… sculpture?” Ianto gestured towards the object, plunked right in the middle of a paved area that was presumably for pedestrians only. It had a round, glittery, silver base over a metre high and at least three metres across, topped by an arrangement of sparkly, bluish globes or bubbles, piled on top of each other to form a sort of cone shape. It was certainly pretty, and there was something vaguely familiar about the shape, but at present, he couldn’t quite place what it reminded him of.
Both Jack and the Doctor were giving him an odd look.
“It’s a Christmas tree,” the Doctor said patiently.
“Oh, of course! I thought it looked sort of familiar. Sorry. Back home, Christmas is still a few months off. I wasn’t expecting to see one and… well, I’ve never seen one quite like that.”
“Futuristic Christmas tree,” Jack said with a wink.
“There aren’t any pine trees, or any sort of native evergreen here,” the Doctor explained. “Some attempts were made to grow them when humans first settled here, but the climate, or the soil, or something didn’t suit them. Some earth plants are able to survive, some even thrive in the local conditions, but not the conifers. Shame, really. Anyway, humans are never less than ingenious, so they took a native plant and bred it selectively until… Well, you’re looking at the result.”
“It’s a plant?”
“Yes! Admittedly, you can’t really hang decorations on them, but they don’t need any. The phosphorescence is natural, they absorb light during the day, and then emit it at night. They come in lots of different colours, but I think the blue is particularly nice.”
That at least wasn’t surprising; it stood to reason that the Doctor would like anything that was a similar colour to his TARDIS.
“So it’s Christmastime here, is it?”
“No. Oh, the trees were originally bred as decorations for the winter solstice festival, but you can’t exactly stuff a living plant into a box at the end of the festivities and get it out again next winter, it wouldn’t survive, so they’re on display all year round.”
Ianto nodded. “That makes sense.”
“Anyway, when they left earth, people brought all their various customs and traditions with them, but over the centuries, a lot has been forgotten, or muddled up with other traditions. Out here, Christmas is the time when everyone bakes criss-cross buns, and worships the Blessed Brian, he of the big beard and booming laugh. They give each other gifts of decorated rocks, because they decided eggs are too easy to break. It’s a planetwide holiday, celebrated on the shortest day.”
“The future is an interesting place.” Ianto somehow managed to keep a straight face.
“Isn’t it?” The Doctor beamed and bounced some more. “Come along now, there’s a place just round the corner that sells genuine earth antiques. You’re really going to love that. They have Tupperware! And lamps made from old wine bottles! It’s fantastic!”
Ianto raised an eyebrow at Jack as they trailed after the Doctor, who was talking a mile a minute about the amazing antiques available at the shop they were going to visit.
“We’ve come to another planet almost two thousand years into our future to look at things we could pick up for a couple of pounds at the local charity shops?”
“Just go with it. You never know what you might find in an antique shop. Maybe we can trade a few genuine earth coins, in great condition, for something interesting.”
“Well, when you put it that way, there’s no harm looking. No Tupperware though. We’ve got more than enough of that already.”
The End
There were even vehicles similar to cars, although they seemed longer than the vehicles Ianto was used to seeing on the streets of Cardiff. What would have been the boot on an earth car was much bigger, and was apparently where the fuel the cars ran on was produced. They didn’t use petrol; they were powered by some kind of biological mechanism that produced clean energy from rubbish. It sounded admirably efficient, to Ianto’s ears; no wonder the streets looked so clean and free from litter. People didn’t drop any, using it to fuel their cars instead.
“So, what do you think?” The Doctor beamed at Ianto. “Futuristic enough for you?”
Ianto was tempted to say no, because for all the improvements, it still could have been any large urban centre in, say, the United States, but the Doctor was like an eager puppy, wanting only to be praised for being clever, and Ianto didn’t have the heart to disappoint him.
“Impressive,” he agreed. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the relieved expression on Jack’s face, hidden from the Doctor’s view. Silently, Jack mouthed, ‘Thank you’, and Ianto smiled.
The Doctor bounced. If he’d had a tail, he would have been wagging it, but since he didn’t, he simply beamed. “I thought this would appeal to you!”
“I’m curious though. What’s the significance of the… ah… sculpture?” Ianto gestured towards the object, plunked right in the middle of a paved area that was presumably for pedestrians only. It had a round, glittery, silver base over a metre high and at least three metres across, topped by an arrangement of sparkly, bluish globes or bubbles, piled on top of each other to form a sort of cone shape. It was certainly pretty, and there was something vaguely familiar about the shape, but at present, he couldn’t quite place what it reminded him of.
Both Jack and the Doctor were giving him an odd look.
“It’s a Christmas tree,” the Doctor said patiently.
“Oh, of course! I thought it looked sort of familiar. Sorry. Back home, Christmas is still a few months off. I wasn’t expecting to see one and… well, I’ve never seen one quite like that.”
“Futuristic Christmas tree,” Jack said with a wink.
“There aren’t any pine trees, or any sort of native evergreen here,” the Doctor explained. “Some attempts were made to grow them when humans first settled here, but the climate, or the soil, or something didn’t suit them. Some earth plants are able to survive, some even thrive in the local conditions, but not the conifers. Shame, really. Anyway, humans are never less than ingenious, so they took a native plant and bred it selectively until… Well, you’re looking at the result.”
“It’s a plant?”
“Yes! Admittedly, you can’t really hang decorations on them, but they don’t need any. The phosphorescence is natural, they absorb light during the day, and then emit it at night. They come in lots of different colours, but I think the blue is particularly nice.”
That at least wasn’t surprising; it stood to reason that the Doctor would like anything that was a similar colour to his TARDIS.
“So it’s Christmastime here, is it?”
“No. Oh, the trees were originally bred as decorations for the winter solstice festival, but you can’t exactly stuff a living plant into a box at the end of the festivities and get it out again next winter, it wouldn’t survive, so they’re on display all year round.”
Ianto nodded. “That makes sense.”
“Anyway, when they left earth, people brought all their various customs and traditions with them, but over the centuries, a lot has been forgotten, or muddled up with other traditions. Out here, Christmas is the time when everyone bakes criss-cross buns, and worships the Blessed Brian, he of the big beard and booming laugh. They give each other gifts of decorated rocks, because they decided eggs are too easy to break. It’s a planetwide holiday, celebrated on the shortest day.”
“The future is an interesting place.” Ianto somehow managed to keep a straight face.
“Isn’t it?” The Doctor beamed and bounced some more. “Come along now, there’s a place just round the corner that sells genuine earth antiques. You’re really going to love that. They have Tupperware! And lamps made from old wine bottles! It’s fantastic!”
Ianto raised an eyebrow at Jack as they trailed after the Doctor, who was talking a mile a minute about the amazing antiques available at the shop they were going to visit.
“We’ve come to another planet almost two thousand years into our future to look at things we could pick up for a couple of pounds at the local charity shops?”
“Just go with it. You never know what you might find in an antique shop. Maybe we can trade a few genuine earth coins, in great condition, for something interesting.”
“Well, when you put it that way, there’s no harm looking. No Tupperware though. We’ve got more than enough of that already.”
The End
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-13 06:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-13 07:49 pm (UTC)Yes, I heard. What they made was simply too durable I guess.
Thank you!