The Man Who Dreamed of Stars (short story)

The Man Who Dreamed of Stars was a short story written by Brian Minchin and originally published in the 2009 Torchwood Magazine's issue 16. Ben Willsher provided the artwork.

It was subsequently reprinted in 2017's Torchwood Archives: Volume One.

Summary
In the dying days of World War II, Captain Jack Harkness took two severely injured airmen to the Queen Victoria Hospital and sought help from burns specialist Bill Wainwright. Over the course of two days, and with assistance from a laser scalpel and quantum anesthetics, the two worked tirelessly and successfully on saving their lives. Following the ordeal Jack and Bill went their separate ways, until the ageing surgeon contacted him again years later regarding a recent burns victim, Silas, who also hailed from the 49th century.



In the isolation Ward II, Jack encountered Silas for the first time and surveyed his burns. Having observed that Bill has already given Silas a whole heap of medicine to no effect, Jack offered up his own ampoule giving the man thirty whole pain-free minutes. Immediately Silas recognised Jack as a Time Agent and begged him to help him escape the hospital, however, he soon realised that the hospital equipment was all that was keeping him alive and that Jack wasn't there to save him rather to gouge him for answers. Revealing that he was a low-level empath, Silas began talking to Jack telepathically and allowed him to enter his memories to learn his secrets.

Inside the memories Jack found himself in the vacuum of space, Silas was wearing a spacesuit and they were both floating away from the burning ruins of a Class Five space cruiser, Taurus X. The cruiser's oxygen deck had apparently caught fire causing a massive explosion and, in an attempt to escape the ensuing carnage, Silas and his family boarded an escape pod which was equipped with an emergency time jump, but the pod was caught in Taurus X's resulting explosion and Silas was left floating in space. He soon became caught in the Earth's gravity and was pulled, burning, through the atmosphere. It had been a miracle that he survived.

Now back to reality Silas once again requested that Jack save his life, pointing out that there were various points in the future where technologies had advanced in order to cure him, although it dawned on Jack that Silas hadn't told him the whole truth and he pressed him to see more. Reluctantly, Silas invited Jack back into his memories where it became clear that he himself had caused Taurus X's destruction to prove a point after his people had been recalled from their colony as it had been deemed too expensive. However, Silas had been betrayed by those who assisted him and they sabotaged his escape pod, leaving him to die in the 21st century. Silas was able to temporarily subdue Jack by making him relive a memory of his mother on the Boeshane Peninsula, and attempted to leave his ward. After a brief stand-off with Jack the thirty-minute effect of the painkillers wore off and Silas died. Bill later questioned Jack as to who Silas was but he remained evasive, and told him to burn his corpse instead of placing him with the other deceased servicemen.

Characters

 * Jack Harkness
 * Bill Wainwright
 * Silas
 * Co-pilot
 * Jack Harkness' mother

Worldbuilding

 * In World War II, Jack drives an Austin truck.
 * Jack visits Bill in the isolation ward of the Queen Victoria Hospital.
 * Silas is from the 49th century.
 * Silas was found outside Worthing, by Totnes Weir.
 * Silas was the navigation officer of the spaceship Taurus X. They were on a convoy mission returning from the New Earth colonies.
 * The 23rd century has surgeons that could heal Silas.
 * The Free Colony Movement wants to break away from Earth. Jack knows that by the 51st century, the Movement failed in its purpose.

Continuity

 * Jack tells Silas that he used to be a Time Agent. (TV: The Empty Child)
 * Taurus X was returning from the New Earth colonies. (TV: New Earth, Gridlock)
 * Jack remembers the Boeshane Peninsula, his mother angry, and his father gone. (TV: Adam)