Jack sighed heavy and laboured. Oh he knew all about what Torchwood was when it started. The selfish aims Torchwood One maintained before it fell. He'd tried so hard over the last few years to change things. To try and sort them out, but sometimes mud could stick. He could hardly blame the TARDIS for being annoyed at Torchwood and its reputation.

"Yeah," he said, "I know all that. "But it's not the same as it was. Not any more. Who do you think I'm doing all this for?"

It felt almost a little too honest, they both knew quite well what and who Jack did this for, so he had a silence of his own before going on, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Yeah. Yeah I know." He knew all about loneliness too. "Best not tell him you and me had a chat then, huh? Wouldn't want to ruffle his Time Lord feathers. Or have him come after me... Then again..."

He laughed slightly at his own humour and nodded. "Should be able to patch you across the comms system. Then again... maybe not. We've had a few errors ever since the time lock. Overloaded the system a bit, don't want you getting stuck."

Okay. Think about this logically, he thought.

"Right, is there some sort of technology, some sort of something that you could download your consciousness to?"