Title: Rainbow’s end
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 500 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 451 - Rainbow
Summary: Jack is using unusual methods to track down an alien spaceship.


The inertia of the SUV changing direction suddenly made Owen's insides feel as if they'd all shifted from one side of his body to the other. Owen heard Gwen mutter the words "I think I'm going to be sick", followed by Ianto's single word instruction "don't". Owen didn't disagree, if only for the fact that Gwen was in the middle bucket seat and any projectile vomit might end up on him if Jack didn't slow down. Still he had other things that needed his attention than Gwen's motion sickness.

'Where the bloody hell are you going?' Owen demanded to know as Jack threw the car into another sharp turn, sending Owen's organs tumbling over to the other side.

'I'm trying to get to the source of our alien problem,' Jack replied, pressing the accelerator down even harder, lurching the big vehicle forward.

'Then you're going the wrong way,' Owen told him. 'It's over there,' he said, pointing to the right and following the dot on his PDA screen. How Tosh's program could keep up with Jack constantly changing their GPS location was anybody's guess.

'There's a mountain and a few hundred feet drop between it and us right now. I love off-roading as much as the next guy, but I don't think the SUV can handle that.' He spun the wheel again and the tyres slipped underneath them for a heart stopping moment before biting back into the ground beneath them. Jack grinned as though he was enjoying the terrifying pursuit. Easy for you, Owen thought. You can survive anything. 'All we need to do is keep an eye on that rainbow and follow it,' Jack told him.

Owen spared a glance out the window at the countryside speeding by in a blur whilst the huge arc of colour remained almost unmoving, striking against the grey mist sky. There was scarcely a break in the clouds for the sun to reach through yet there must have been one tiny spot where it shot through the cumulus to create the spectacle. It almost made the Welsh countryside look beautiful, or might have done if Owen wasn't so preoccupied with Jack trying to get them all killed with his "Lewis Hamilton on psychotropics" driving skills.

'You do know you can't follow a rainbow, don't you? It's a bloody optical illusion. There's no leprechauns or a pot of gold at the end of it.' There wasn't even an end. No matter what kind of fumes or heat the ship was giving off, causing atmospheric phenomena, that just wasn't going to cut it. Jack needed to listen to Owen and follow what the computers were telling them.

'Just trust me on this,' Jack said, sending the wheels off the road as it curved around an impossible bend in the road at five times the safest speed. 'Find the end of that rainbow and we'll find our alien ship.'

'He's sodding mad,' Owen declared for the benefit of everyone else.

'We know,' came Ianto's reply.