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badly_knitted) wrote2025-04-17 06:13 pm
badly_knitted) wrote2025-04-17 06:13 pm
Entry tags:
Fic: It’s A Breeze
Title: It’s A Breeze
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1356
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: What is it about this particular planet that makes Jack insist that both he and Ianto wear protective gear?
Written For: The Weekend Challenge Prompt, ‘Windy’ at
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1_million_words.Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
A/N: Set in my Ghost of a Chance ‘Verse.
“Why do we have to gear up like this?” Ianto grumbled, donning a lightweight surface suit with a hood, goggles, face mask, and breather. “According to our instruments, the air is perfectly breathable, and I can’t imagine anywhere could smell worse than the planet of those gassy aliens. We didn’t wear breathers there.”
“I did suggest it, if you recall,” Jack reminded his lover. “You said you’d been tending stinky aliens for years. In fact I distinctly remember you saying, ‘How bad can it be?’ and then you stepped off the ship and your eyes started watering. You spent most of your time there trying not to breathe. Anyway, it’s not the smell you need to worry about here.”
“What is it then?”
“You’ll see. Just believe me when I say you’ll be grateful I made you wear all this. You’d soon find yourself in trouble without it.”
“You’re really not going to tell me?”
“I’m not trying to be difficult, it’s just that any explanations tend to fall far short of the reality. Some things are better understood by experiencing them, you’ll understand once we’re out there. Pull your hood cord tighter, you don’t want to leave any gaps.”
Ianto did as instructed, muttering something about Jack being uncharacteristically overcautious. “Happy now?” he asked finally. “We could have been out there unloading the cargo half an hour ago if you hadn’t made such a big deal about suiting up. The only time we’ve had to wear protective gear before was on that planet with high chlorine levels in the atmosphere.”
“Which should tell you something,” Jack pointed out. “I wouldn’t have advised this if it wasn’t necessary.”
“I suppose. Can we get on with this now? Bad enough we had to set down in the dead of night., only to sit around waiting.”
“Why are you in such a hurry?” Jack teased, fastening his breather in place.
“We landed three hours ago, and we usually start offloading right away.”
“The locals don’t come to the surface until after sunrise; they’re coldblooded, so when they’re out here they need the sunlight to get their circulation going. Conditions for landing are better at night though, so we come down then, and wait until someone’s available to take delivery. Come on, let’s get out there. They should be along shortly.”
Moving to a panel on the wall, Jack keyed in the commands that would open the shuttlecraft’s cargo bay doors and lower the ramp. Ianto strode down the ramp, ready to clear any obstacles out of the way before they began offloading, since this was a basic landing pad setup rather than a spaceport. He made it almost to the bottom, then pulled up short, feeling like he’d just slammed face first into a brick wall.
“Bracing, isn’t it?” Jack said, sounding amused as he pushed his way past Ianto against the roaring gale, which had been deflected by the shuttle’s defensive forcefield for most of the ramp’s length. “The wind gets up every morning, around the same time as the locals do, then drops at sunset, which is why we landed at night. It would be impossible the bring the shuttle down in daylight, we’d risk being blown off course and slammed into the mountains.” He turned to look back at his lover. “Now do you understand why we have to wear breathers here? You’d never be able to draw a breath without the wind snatching it away.”
Ianto forced his way down onto the ground to join Jack, having to lean forward against the wind just to make headway. Suddenly he was grateful for the weighted boots that helped keep his feet firmly on the ground.
“You’d think they’d schedule deliveries for a time of year when it’s not likely to be blowing a gale,” he said, relying on the communicator in the breather to transmit his words to Jack. There was no way they’d be able to hear each other over the wind without it.
Jack laughed. “They do. As far as the people who live here are concerned, this is a light summer breeze. You wouldn’t want to visit during storm season, when the winds are gusting up to three hundred miles an hour, sometimes more. It’s why they only have a landing pad, not a full spaceport; buildings can’t withstand the gales.”
“Not sure I can either.” Ianto fought his way to Jack’s side.
“You’re doing fine, better than I did the first time I came here. Of course, I wasn’t wearing the weighted boots that time. Got blown across the landing pad like a tumbleweed. Not the best first impression I’ve ever made. Some of the Reffikki had to rescue me and help me back to the ship.”
“Wish I could have seen that.” It wasn’t often that Jack made such glaring errors of judgement when visiting alien planets.
“I’m glad you didn’t, it was embarrassing, and it wasn’t even as windy that day as it is now. According to instruments, windspeed is only around a hundred and twenty, maybe one thirty at the moment. We’ve been lucky with the weather; when dust and sand start blowing around, it’s like being sandblasted, but here’s been heavy rain recently, so we shouldn’t have to deal with that.”
“That’s a relief. How can anyone survive here?”
Jack shrugged. “Just like anywhere else: Evolution. The Reffikki are perfectly adapted to the conditions here; they’re a lot lower to the ground than we are, and with tough skin that can withstand being regularly scoured. They look kind of like scorpions, only with ten legs, four arms, and no stinger, and they’re reptilian rather than insectoid. All their manufacturing and agriculture takes place underground, in caverns around thermal springs, but they spend a lot of time on the surface during daylight hours, hunting the local herd beasts, when they’re not basking in the sun. Like humans, they’re omnivores.”
“As long as they don’t decide to hunt us.”
“No chance of that,” Jack reassured him. “They’re a very civilised people, with a flair for philosophy. Here they come now.”
Ianto had to squint to see the party approaching them. They stood at most two feet tall, and their colouring blended in with the mosses and lichens and the sandy soil that made up the area around the landing pad. Jack had been right about the Reffikki being suited to their environment; they scuttled across the ground as easily as if there was no wind at all, and Ianto felt a surge of envy. His legs were seriously going to ache later; it was taking all his strength just to remain upright as powerful gusts slammed against him like pummelling fists.
“Why don’t you go back aboard and start ferrying the goods out?” Jack suggested. “I’ll just have a quick chat with our friends here, then I’ll join you.”
Ianto nodded, turning to go back up the ramp, narrowly avoiding being slammed face first into the dirt by a particularly strong gust. Maybe Jack was taking pity on him, or maybe he was just getting the job moving along so they didn’t keep everyone waiting around any longer than they had to; at this point, Ianto didn’t particularly care. He’d just be glad for a few minutes’ respite from the gale.
One thing was far sure, next time they landed on a planet where Jack said they should wear some form of protection, even if he couldn’t see any reason for it, Ianto wasn’t going to argue. He wasn’t on earth anymore, and even if most of the planets they’d visited so far seemed similar to his homeworld, there were bound to be a lot more that weren’t, and the differences weren’t always going to be immediately noticeable.
Jack was far more experienced in all aspects of space travel. Ianto may have prided himself on knowing everything about the Torchwood Three Hub, Cardiff, and even Wales, but out here, even after more than eight months, compared to Jack, he was very much a novice. Today’s events were providing a timely reminder that he still had a lot to learn.
The End
“I did suggest it, if you recall,” Jack reminded his lover. “You said you’d been tending stinky aliens for years. In fact I distinctly remember you saying, ‘How bad can it be?’ and then you stepped off the ship and your eyes started watering. You spent most of your time there trying not to breathe. Anyway, it’s not the smell you need to worry about here.”
“What is it then?”
“You’ll see. Just believe me when I say you’ll be grateful I made you wear all this. You’d soon find yourself in trouble without it.”
“You’re really not going to tell me?”
“I’m not trying to be difficult, it’s just that any explanations tend to fall far short of the reality. Some things are better understood by experiencing them, you’ll understand once we’re out there. Pull your hood cord tighter, you don’t want to leave any gaps.”
Ianto did as instructed, muttering something about Jack being uncharacteristically overcautious. “Happy now?” he asked finally. “We could have been out there unloading the cargo half an hour ago if you hadn’t made such a big deal about suiting up. The only time we’ve had to wear protective gear before was on that planet with high chlorine levels in the atmosphere.”
“Which should tell you something,” Jack pointed out. “I wouldn’t have advised this if it wasn’t necessary.”
“I suppose. Can we get on with this now? Bad enough we had to set down in the dead of night., only to sit around waiting.”
“Why are you in such a hurry?” Jack teased, fastening his breather in place.
“We landed three hours ago, and we usually start offloading right away.”
“The locals don’t come to the surface until after sunrise; they’re coldblooded, so when they’re out here they need the sunlight to get their circulation going. Conditions for landing are better at night though, so we come down then, and wait until someone’s available to take delivery. Come on, let’s get out there. They should be along shortly.”
Moving to a panel on the wall, Jack keyed in the commands that would open the shuttlecraft’s cargo bay doors and lower the ramp. Ianto strode down the ramp, ready to clear any obstacles out of the way before they began offloading, since this was a basic landing pad setup rather than a spaceport. He made it almost to the bottom, then pulled up short, feeling like he’d just slammed face first into a brick wall.
“Bracing, isn’t it?” Jack said, sounding amused as he pushed his way past Ianto against the roaring gale, which had been deflected by the shuttle’s defensive forcefield for most of the ramp’s length. “The wind gets up every morning, around the same time as the locals do, then drops at sunset, which is why we landed at night. It would be impossible the bring the shuttle down in daylight, we’d risk being blown off course and slammed into the mountains.” He turned to look back at his lover. “Now do you understand why we have to wear breathers here? You’d never be able to draw a breath without the wind snatching it away.”
Ianto forced his way down onto the ground to join Jack, having to lean forward against the wind just to make headway. Suddenly he was grateful for the weighted boots that helped keep his feet firmly on the ground.
“You’d think they’d schedule deliveries for a time of year when it’s not likely to be blowing a gale,” he said, relying on the communicator in the breather to transmit his words to Jack. There was no way they’d be able to hear each other over the wind without it.
Jack laughed. “They do. As far as the people who live here are concerned, this is a light summer breeze. You wouldn’t want to visit during storm season, when the winds are gusting up to three hundred miles an hour, sometimes more. It’s why they only have a landing pad, not a full spaceport; buildings can’t withstand the gales.”
“Not sure I can either.” Ianto fought his way to Jack’s side.
“You’re doing fine, better than I did the first time I came here. Of course, I wasn’t wearing the weighted boots that time. Got blown across the landing pad like a tumbleweed. Not the best first impression I’ve ever made. Some of the Reffikki had to rescue me and help me back to the ship.”
“Wish I could have seen that.” It wasn’t often that Jack made such glaring errors of judgement when visiting alien planets.
“I’m glad you didn’t, it was embarrassing, and it wasn’t even as windy that day as it is now. According to instruments, windspeed is only around a hundred and twenty, maybe one thirty at the moment. We’ve been lucky with the weather; when dust and sand start blowing around, it’s like being sandblasted, but here’s been heavy rain recently, so we shouldn’t have to deal with that.”
“That’s a relief. How can anyone survive here?”
Jack shrugged. “Just like anywhere else: Evolution. The Reffikki are perfectly adapted to the conditions here; they’re a lot lower to the ground than we are, and with tough skin that can withstand being regularly scoured. They look kind of like scorpions, only with ten legs, four arms, and no stinger, and they’re reptilian rather than insectoid. All their manufacturing and agriculture takes place underground, in caverns around thermal springs, but they spend a lot of time on the surface during daylight hours, hunting the local herd beasts, when they’re not basking in the sun. Like humans, they’re omnivores.”
“As long as they don’t decide to hunt us.”
“No chance of that,” Jack reassured him. “They’re a very civilised people, with a flair for philosophy. Here they come now.”
Ianto had to squint to see the party approaching them. They stood at most two feet tall, and their colouring blended in with the mosses and lichens and the sandy soil that made up the area around the landing pad. Jack had been right about the Reffikki being suited to their environment; they scuttled across the ground as easily as if there was no wind at all, and Ianto felt a surge of envy. His legs were seriously going to ache later; it was taking all his strength just to remain upright as powerful gusts slammed against him like pummelling fists.
“Why don’t you go back aboard and start ferrying the goods out?” Jack suggested. “I’ll just have a quick chat with our friends here, then I’ll join you.”
Ianto nodded, turning to go back up the ramp, narrowly avoiding being slammed face first into the dirt by a particularly strong gust. Maybe Jack was taking pity on him, or maybe he was just getting the job moving along so they didn’t keep everyone waiting around any longer than they had to; at this point, Ianto didn’t particularly care. He’d just be glad for a few minutes’ respite from the gale.
One thing was far sure, next time they landed on a planet where Jack said they should wear some form of protection, even if he couldn’t see any reason for it, Ianto wasn’t going to argue. He wasn’t on earth anymore, and even if most of the planets they’d visited so far seemed similar to his homeworld, there were bound to be a lot more that weren’t, and the differences weren’t always going to be immediately noticeable.
Jack was far more experienced in all aspects of space travel. Ianto may have prided himself on knowing everything about the Torchwood Three Hub, Cardiff, and even Wales, but out here, even after more than eight months, compared to Jack, he was very much a novice. Today’s events were providing a timely reminder that he still had a lot to learn.
The End
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no subject
The people look strange, but they're quite charming.
Thank you!