Ficlet: Underwater World
Oct. 20th, 2025 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: Underwater World
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 691
Spoilers: Nada. Set in my Through Time and Space ‘Verse.
Summary: Jack and Ianto are visiting a world that is mostly ocean.
Written For:
romanajo123’s prompt ‘Any, any, sea life’, at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
threesentenceficathon.Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
The universe is a vast place, and even after over a century of travelling from world to world, space station to space station, Ianto knows that he and Jack have still barely begun to scratch the surface of everything that’s out there. They’ll need the entirety of their immortal lives, and all of time at their disposal, just to explore a fraction of what their universe has to offer, and even then, they’ll probably miss out on more than they get to experience. Many of the wonders could be there and gone, over before they are ever aware of them. Even they can’t know and see everything, no matter how much they bounce back and forth through time, and they really should try to avoid crossing their own timelines too often.
They can’t let the possibility of missing out on something worth witnessing deter them, though, because the sheer size of the universe guarantees that however much they don’t get to see, for whatever reason, there will always be more than enough to amaze and delight them. The universe is still growing, stars are dying and being born all the time, planets are forming, life is evolving, civilisations developing, and fading into the past. Nothing lasts forever, with the possible exception of the two immortal men.
So they travel from one place to another, from one time to another, helping anyone in need whenever they can, trying to make their unlikely existence count for something. And it’s worthwhile, because every world they visit is different, and every world is unique, with differences in climate, in flora, in fauna, in a thousand ways, big and small… Some are one vast landmass with only small bodies of water, while others, like this one, are mostly ocean, the only dry land a few dozen small, scattered islands, barely big enough for a small landing shuttle to set down on.
That doesn’t matter to them, however, because unlike other visitors to the planet, Jack and Ianto don’t need to resort to landing craft. Their own spaceship can land anywhere, even in the water if needs be, but they pick a medium-sized island instead, perhaps half the size of a rugby field, where there is grass and a few trees inland from the beach. A spot where, if there’s suddenly one extra tree, it won’t look out of place.
They’re not here for the land, which is of little interest to them, or anyone else; they’re here for the sea life. Vast coral cities lie beneath the ocean, inhabited by aquatic humanoids and their herds of rainbow-coloured fish. Pastel sponge beds are their equivalent of farms, the different sponge varieties their crops, tended by the locals with the aid of tentacled creatures, their riding animals and beasts of burden… Seaweed forests surround each city and its attendant farmland, with cobbled roadways running through them for ease of travel between the populated areas.
Visitors are rare, but always welcomed; the people are peaceful, gregarious, but far from helpless, well able to defend themselves, if necessary, but who would be fool enough to invade such a pastoral paradise, when there is nothing to be gained from it? Most visitors are tourists, come to see the sights, but few venture beneath the surface, simply because they can’t breathe the water; instead, they view the undersea world from the safety of glass-bottomed boats.
Jack and Ianto are no more able to breathe water than the other visitors, but a compact, lightweight futuristic form of scuba gear allows them to wander the submerged streets, trading tools for trinkets and souvenirs, marvelling at a civilisation that could never exist on dry land.
It’s restful, alternately strolling and swimming along the roadways between cities, browsing the markets and stores, chatting to the locals, and admiring the colourful herds of fish, but they can’t stay down there for too long. As evening approaches, they have to return to the surface and make their way back to their TARDIS, waiting patiently in the middle of the island. Daytrips beneath the waves are fine, but sleeping underwater isn’t something either of them would care to experience.
The End
They can’t let the possibility of missing out on something worth witnessing deter them, though, because the sheer size of the universe guarantees that however much they don’t get to see, for whatever reason, there will always be more than enough to amaze and delight them. The universe is still growing, stars are dying and being born all the time, planets are forming, life is evolving, civilisations developing, and fading into the past. Nothing lasts forever, with the possible exception of the two immortal men.
So they travel from one place to another, from one time to another, helping anyone in need whenever they can, trying to make their unlikely existence count for something. And it’s worthwhile, because every world they visit is different, and every world is unique, with differences in climate, in flora, in fauna, in a thousand ways, big and small… Some are one vast landmass with only small bodies of water, while others, like this one, are mostly ocean, the only dry land a few dozen small, scattered islands, barely big enough for a small landing shuttle to set down on.
That doesn’t matter to them, however, because unlike other visitors to the planet, Jack and Ianto don’t need to resort to landing craft. Their own spaceship can land anywhere, even in the water if needs be, but they pick a medium-sized island instead, perhaps half the size of a rugby field, where there is grass and a few trees inland from the beach. A spot where, if there’s suddenly one extra tree, it won’t look out of place.
They’re not here for the land, which is of little interest to them, or anyone else; they’re here for the sea life. Vast coral cities lie beneath the ocean, inhabited by aquatic humanoids and their herds of rainbow-coloured fish. Pastel sponge beds are their equivalent of farms, the different sponge varieties their crops, tended by the locals with the aid of tentacled creatures, their riding animals and beasts of burden… Seaweed forests surround each city and its attendant farmland, with cobbled roadways running through them for ease of travel between the populated areas.
Visitors are rare, but always welcomed; the people are peaceful, gregarious, but far from helpless, well able to defend themselves, if necessary, but who would be fool enough to invade such a pastoral paradise, when there is nothing to be gained from it? Most visitors are tourists, come to see the sights, but few venture beneath the surface, simply because they can’t breathe the water; instead, they view the undersea world from the safety of glass-bottomed boats.
Jack and Ianto are no more able to breathe water than the other visitors, but a compact, lightweight futuristic form of scuba gear allows them to wander the submerged streets, trading tools for trinkets and souvenirs, marvelling at a civilisation that could never exist on dry land.
It’s restful, alternately strolling and swimming along the roadways between cities, browsing the markets and stores, chatting to the locals, and admiring the colourful herds of fish, but they can’t stay down there for too long. As evening approaches, they have to return to the surface and make their way back to their TARDIS, waiting patiently in the middle of the island. Daytrips beneath the waves are fine, but sleeping underwater isn’t something either of them would care to experience.
The End
(no subject)
Date: 2025-10-20 08:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-10-20 08:47 pm (UTC)Thank you!