Jack+Doctor=tricky

[beccaelizabeth]

Been thinking about the constraints on Jack when looking for the Doctor.

He can't cross his own timeline without risking Father's Day style apocalypse. Which would be bad. And besides, that version of the Doctor wouldn't know what happened anyway.

He can't screw up history by crossing the Doctor's timeline earlier than they actually met. Plus, again, the not knowing applies too.

But he also can't screw up history by going anywhere history says the Doctor was and Jack wasn't.

That leaves only times history says Doctor+Jack were there, but Jack can't remember. Because usually that would mean that they haven't happened on their personal timelines yet. Except Jack is missing two years of his history, so he can't be sure. Not sure enough to risk apocalypse anyway. Plus he'd never know what sequence they were in - bumping into his later self would certainly be an issue, and presumably more likely than becoming the later self because there's a lot more of the later-later than that particular incident he wishes to be in.
... which possibly makes no sense in English. BUT, by time travel logic, means he can't risk going where Doctor+Jack is.

Which, basically, rules out everything. He can't go find the Doctor any place he knows the Doctor is. Anywhere in history, he can't risk screwing up time by going where he knows about.

Soooo... how the fuck can he catch up with the Doctor?



Find him where history doesn't have a record

and/or

Be found.




/logic


Time travel makes my head hurt.

Comments

[ryttu3k.livejournal.com]

Yeah - he couldn't have popped into UNIT and met Three before Nine met him, or he couldn't have gone to London while the Slitheen were taking over, since they hadn't met yet, and he would have definitely had to stay out of the way during the events of Boom Town to avoid meeting himself and maybe accidentally triggering the Blinovitch Limitation Effect (although I did see a fic where, while everyone was out at lunch, he ducked into the TARDIS and hid until after the events of the Game Station XD) Which bears thinking about, what DID post-Game-Station!Jack do during the events of Boom Town?

Actually, there is one way. Wait until the Doctor shows up somewhere, then run like hell to try and get there in time. Anything after he left the Doctor would work - he could (try to!) meet up with the Doctor after the Sycorax invasion, or at Deffry Vale, or during Canary Wharf, or during the thing with the Racnoss. In that case, though, he can only rely on actually GETTING THERE in time.

(I have a particularly angsty plotbunny which has Jack bolting for London as soon as he hears about Canary Wharf / the Doctor being there, getting caught up by the Cybermen and Daleks (hi PTSD!) and arriving at Torchwood Tower... just in time to see the TARDIS dematerialise.)

So the only way to catch up with a time traveller is... to sit and wait and not time travel. Damn.