Do I trust him? Hell, yes. He trusts the Doctor in the same way that he trusts gravity. Both have the power to keep his world in proper alignment -- or send him spiraling down into disaster if he's careless. He can't find the words to say this, but the Doctor wants an answer, so Jack nods. This is just gorgeous. It sums up so much about them, not only on Jack's part, but also that the Doctor won't see the entirety of it.
(Doctor)"I'm a Time Lord. The timelines here are trivially easy to read. All of them lead to the collapse of your civilisation, and most to its utter destruction. Normally, I'd let events shape themselves, but too many innocents have suffered. It ends now." (Jack) He slips into mission analysis mode. Data. Known factors. Motives. Anomalies.
I love that you show just how fundamentally different the Doctor is. Jack plans and acts like a human - gather information, create plans, try to anticipate. The Doctor, I've always thought, has exactly the opposite approach. He sees millions of possibilities and acts to potentiate the outcome he wants. Like navigating 10 moves ahead, on an enormously complex chessboard, with other people jumping in and moving pieces. It explains why sometimes he seems just unbelievably lucky, and other times, things goes south.
Great chapter, and I'm thrilled there's more coming.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-11-07 09:45 pm (UTC)This is just gorgeous. It sums up so much about them, not only on Jack's part, but also that the Doctor won't see the entirety of it.
(Doctor)"I'm a Time Lord. The timelines here are trivially easy to read. All of them lead to the collapse of your civilisation, and most to its utter destruction. Normally, I'd let events shape themselves, but too many innocents have suffered. It ends now."
(Jack) He slips into mission analysis mode. Data. Known factors. Motives. Anomalies.
I love that you show just how fundamentally different the Doctor is. Jack plans and acts like a human - gather information, create plans, try to anticipate. The Doctor, I've always thought, has exactly the opposite approach. He sees millions of possibilities and acts to potentiate the outcome he wants. Like navigating 10 moves ahead, on an enormously complex chessboard, with other people jumping in and moving pieces. It explains why sometimes he seems just unbelievably lucky, and other times, things goes south.
Great chapter, and I'm thrilled there's more coming.