NINETEEN

Gwen hadn’t expected it to be this easy to get into Achenbrite. A big red-headed guy, barrel-chested, big as a set of drawers, escorted her and Owen from the SUV and into the building. He’d not been surprised when they drew their handguns, and even raised his hands voluntarily like he was under arrest. She and Owen let him lead the way.

Their journey through the Achenbrite building ended in a luxuriously appointed conference room. On the way, Gwen had seen the bloody evidence of several violent struggles, including a gory side room full of mutilated corpses. A surveillance room just beyond where she now stood contained another dead man and a heaped pile of alien corpses.

When she settled into a chair at the head of the wide conference table, Gwen saw there were fresh scratches across its polished surface.

‘Been in a fight?’ she asked Ianto.

Ianto said he’d scratched the table when he threw a PDA onto it.

Gwen indicated his left arm. There were scrapes on Ianto’s skin, and his shoulder was smeared with dried blood. He licked his thumb and wiped ineffectually at the brown-red marks. ‘That’s where the bushes outside scratched me. These people haven’t laid a finger on me.’

Jennifer Portland smiled benevolently at this reassurance. But her emotion seemed brittle. Gwen wasn’t sure she liked her. The woman was in her mid-fifties, calm and composed in her seat beside Ianto. ‘They haven’t put any clothes on you, either,’ responded Gwen tartly.

‘He’s got that A5 pad,’ observed Owen. ‘Or was he just doing dictation?’

Gwen nodded to the two red-headed men on the other side of Jennifer. They’d been introduced as Jennifer’s sons, Chris and Matthew. They studied the Torchwood people sullenly. ‘Didn’t one of you have a spare boiler suit?’

‘We’ve had more pressing problems than clothing,’ Jennifer snapped. ‘You’ll have seen the people who died here today. Seven members of staff, including…’ She paused for a little breath, regaining her composure. ‘Including Toby. One of my sons. He was at the zoo.’

‘Yeah, we saw something of him,’ Owen said.

One of her other sons reached across and squeezed his mother’s hand. Her only acknowledgement was a slight inclination of her head.

This smallest of gestures made Gwen feel more sorry for the woman. ‘What happened here today?’

‘Gareth.’ Jennifer’s voice was barely more than a whisper. ‘I thought he was returning the device he’d stolen.’

‘The catalogue thing?’ prompted Gwen. ‘Is that what brings the creatures through the Rift?’

Jennifer nodded. ‘Three of them. A Hoix and a pair of Chantri Golems. They overwhelmed my team before they could respond. Chris and Matt managed to transfer them into the surveillance suite, and I flooded it with kolokine-7.’

Gwen looked at the nearby Monitor Room, nervously wondering whether the air seal on the door was impervious to alien toxic gases. ‘In there?’

Jennifer nodded. ‘Transmitted them into that room through the PDA’s video signal, and asphyxiated them.’

‘All right…’ Jack’s booming voice interrupted them. The image on the wall of flat-screen displays wobbled and steadied itself, resolving into a giant close-up of Jack and Toshiko. They were looking into a camera on Toshiko’s desk back at the Hub. ‘We’re all set here.’

‘What kept you?’ asked Gwen.

‘Wait and see,’ he responded. ‘OK, Mrs Portland. Whadda ya got?’

Jennifer looked up at Jack’s image as it loomed over the whole room. ‘We need to combine our resources, Captain Harkness.’

Jack’s shook his head, a huge gesture on the display. ‘You don’t get it, Mrs Portland. You think you’re in charge here, but you’re not. You’re really not.’ He leaned in, and seemed bigger than ever. ‘We know you’ve gotten your hands on some kind of alien tech. We know you’ve used it today in the mall and the zoo and in the centre of town. We know you tested it beforehand – an earlier visit to the zoo, a dogs’ home…’

‘A farm,’ prompted Toshiko.

‘Yeah, that poor guy is never gonna work out where his alpacas went. What were you hoping? To sell the stuff? Exploit it? Salvage what was left of your late husband’s failing electronics firm?’

Gwen studied Jennifer’s reaction. She didn’t seem angry. A kind of weary resignation hung on her pale face.

‘Torchwood has been picking up the pieces of your “tests” for months,’ Jack went on. ‘And today, Achenbrite carelessly lost control of that device at the zoo. Nearly killed one of my officers. Nice to see ya, Ianto,’ he added.

Jennifer’s composure seemed to slip. ‘If your officer here hadn’t tampered with it, that device wouldn’t have killed my Toby.’

‘Are you blaming us?’ Jack’s tone was steely.

‘I’m saying that it’s not as simple as you make out.’

‘Alien tech never is. Leave it to the experts.’

‘Experts, indeed!’ Jennifer Portland sniffed loudly. ‘You’ve seen our work. We were able to control your communications network. We recognised your infiltration of our systems. And we have the equipment and expertise to contain the creatures from the Vandrogonite Visualiser.’

‘Oh, wait a minute…’ That had surprised Toshiko. ‘Why do you call it that? Vandrogonite was just our best guess about its origins.’

‘I know,’ said Jennifer smoothly. She tapped at the keyboard built into the conference desk. One of the sixteen flat-screens changed to show a computer display.

‘Picture-in-picture,’ Ianto told Gwen.

‘That’s a Torchwood file,’ said Toshiko in an aggrieved tone. ‘You hacked our system?’

Ianto chuckled, then turned it into a cough. ‘Not funny,’ he said. ‘Very serious, of course.’

Toshiko’s head shifted slightly out of frame. Gwen could hear the clattering noise as she tapped furiously at her own keyboard.

‘OK, we’re officially impressed.’ Jack settled more comfortably into the centre of the picture. ‘So, where’s the fire? You don’t need us, right?’ His sarcastic tone suggested otherwise.

Jennifer seemed to be taking a deep breath before speaking. ‘Yes, Captain Harkness. We need your assistance.’

‘And we should help you… why?’

‘Because we have all of this.’ Jennifer touch-typed a swift series of keystrokes.

Toshiko gave a cry of amazement. ‘Wow!’

The computer display flat-screen now showed the three-dimensional rendering of the Achenbrite warehouse. Gwen recognised it from their planning session in the Hub. The difference was that the whole of the blue wireframe was alive with brighter spots of light, like a firestorm over the whole complex. And she knew that indicated Rift activity.

‘I’ve turned off the non-disclosure field,’ Jennifer explained.

Toshiko’s head kept popping back into frame as she reeled off a list of what she could see. ‘The whole place is awash with Rift energy. You’ve got dozens of pieces of alien tech… peak traces for recent incursions… residual hot spots where living creatures have penetrated…’ Her voice trailed off incredulously.

‘You’re offering us this?’ asked Jack. ‘Because you sure ain’t gonna fight us with it any more.’

‘We weren’t fighting you in the first place,’ retorted Jennifer. ‘We were trying to contain the damage done by Gareth.’

‘We’ll just take it all,’ Jack replied coldly. ‘Close you down. This isn’t a negotiation. That’s the lesson you’ve learned today, Mrs Portland.’

Jennifer slammed her palms down, and Gwen felt the angry vibrations through the conference table’s surface. ‘I don’t need a lecture, I need your help. I want Gareth back. I want my son. I’ve lost too many good men today from Achenbrite to care about anything other than that. We can’t contain this any longer. Torchwood certainly can’t, that much is clear from your fumbling attempts throughout the day. We need to work together.’

Jack leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. His image still dominated the room. Gwen saw something in that look. Maybe he wasn’t telling them everything, but Jack could sometimes let his hurt pride get in the way of doing what was right.

So she leaned forward on the conference table and said to Jennifer: ‘Tell me about Gareth.’

Jennifer’s eyes darted to Gwen.

‘Gareth?’ Jack was saying on the screen. ‘That’s your son with the mental problems who’s walking around town with a Vandrogonite Visualiser?’

‘Jack!’ snapped Gwen angrily. ‘Just listen to her!’ Sometimes, she thought, he really didn’t get the whole Good Cop part of things. She smiled at Jennifer. ‘Go on.’

Jennifer looked to her two sons. The woman who had seemed so in control when Gwen had first entered this conference room was now close to tears.

The older of the two sons, Chris, held her hand again. ‘That Visualiser thing,’ he said. ‘It was part of our first find. Up at the Rhiwbina dig. We thought it was just an alien toy, y’know. And Gareth wasn’t interested in Achenbrite.’

‘Gareth’s a sensitive lad,’ interrupted his mother.

‘Mum, he’s not right,’ Chris told her.

‘Stop it!’

‘Face it, Mum! Look at what he’s done here. The mood swings, the obsessions… is it any wonder? None of us have ever been able to control him. You can’t. Dad never could.’

‘Don’t speak that way of your dad. If he were alive today…’

‘… he still wouldn’t be able to control Gareth!’ shouted Chris. ‘He’s unstable.’ Now Chris was talking directly to Gwen. ‘He loves his warcraft and his games and his computers, but he’s got a gap up here when it comes to real people.’ He tapped his own temple. ‘You saw what he did to his girlfriend, didn’t you?’

Gwen kept her expression neutral, though her heart was racing now. ‘So what’s been going on, Chris?’

‘Gareth stole the Visualiser. Thought it was a toy. To be honest, it seemed harmless enough, and it kept him happy and out of our hair. He based that card game of his on the contents of the catalogue, set himself up in the garage where he was lodging. Got a lot of interest for MonstaQuest from toyshops and the Press. But then we saw the monsters started appearing for real…’

‘And you thought you could just tidy up after him,’ said Jack. Gwen could feel the cold anger in his words. ‘Achenbrite are way out of their depth here. That Vandrogonite device is fuelled by emotions. The MonstaQuest cards just add to the excitement. And Gareth’s unstable. You gave a blow torch to a pyromaniac.’

‘No, worse than that,’ said Ianto. He emphasised his point with urgent hand gestures above the conference table. The writing pad slipped from his lap, but he no longer cared. ‘Gareth isn’t controlling that thing any more. He thinks he is, but it’s using him. Those flowers you found at the mall, Tosh? They were here too, in the corridor. Alien flora. It’s like the device is trying to create the ideal environment for the creatures it brings through.’

‘Oh boy,’ murmured Jack. ‘Terraforming. Or whatever the Vandrogonite word for it is. Creating an alien world right here in Cardiff.’

‘There’s something else,’ said the other son, Matt. Gwen couldn’t decide whether he sounded more worried or ashamed than his brother. The big man was shuffling in his seat, almost absurdly. He reminded her of a naughty toddler caught out in a lie. ‘The transmission frequency.’

Gwen looked blank. ‘The what?’

‘That Visualiser thing,’ said Matt, ‘has an affinity for other devices that transmit visuals. You know, CCTV, video phones that kind of thing. If the conditions are just right, the creatures can be transmitted to another receiving device.’

‘That makes sense,’ piped up Toshiko from the video wall.

Everyone in the room stared at her image. Toshiko blinked back at them worriedly.

‘Oh, for goodness sake!’ cried Gwen, exasperated. ‘There are no Rift creatures in here at the moment.’ She chewed her lip worriedly. ‘Are there?’

‘You’re missing the point,’ Jack told her. ‘You said it yourself, Gwen: Torchwood can control small groups of scavengers for day trips to Cardiff. Even Achenbrite can stop some of those.’ If he could see the dirty looks that the Portland family were giving him, he just ignored it. ‘But use this Visualiser near any passing camera phone, and Gareth’s got something that’ll give numberless creatures a season ticket to anywhere on Earth. We gotta find him!’ He must have noticed that Toshiko was doing her ‘aha’ face again, because he turned to her and asked: ‘Got something?’

Toshiko rattled some more commands on her keyboard. Part of the wall display changed into the interface of an audio player. The sound of a radio interview began to play through the conference room speakers. Gwen saw from Toshiko’s smile that she was enjoying making a point: she had not only regained control of the Torchwood computer, but she was now able to manipulate the Achenbrite systems remotely.

David Brigstocke’s voice filled the room. Jack rolled his eyes, but Toshiko made a shushing gesture and indicated that they should listen.

Brigstocke was concluding a live radio link from the centre of Cardiff. He was interviewing celebrity shopper Martina Baldachi. From the edge to his voice it was clear he thought the assignment below his dignity. The Italian supermodel was in town because her husband, Jakob, was playing in the international between AC Liguria and Cardiff United. She’d taken their son, Galileo, to Wendleby’s toy store. Brigstocke prompted her to say some platitudes about the terrible traffic accident just outside the store, and Martina turned the interview into a bit of a car crash by explaining that they’d missed the whole thing because their chauffeur-driven limousine had taken them to privileged access at the rear of the store.

Was there a note of smug satisfaction in Brigstocke’s voice? ‘Looks like Galileo has a memento of his trip today. You bought him a pack of cards instead of a toy telescope.’

‘Oh no,’ purred Martina. ‘He has heard all about these MonstaQuest cards. He is so pleased to meet the man who invented them. Thank you so much, Gareth.’

‘You’re welcome,’ said a young man’s voice.

‘Gareth!’ breathed his mother as she listened to him over the conference room speakers.

Brigstocke was explaining to radio listeners now that Gareth was wearing his Cardiff United shirt, but had just accepted a couple of VIP tickets for the match from the captain of the rival team. Jack was evidently too busy to enjoy the humour of this, because he was watching Toshiko’s agitated reaction to some other data that she’d received.

‘Electromagnetic spectrum analysis,’ Toshiko explained. She muted the audio, and displayed a schematic of Cardiff.

Slap bang in the city centre was Wendleby’s department store. And all around that, the Rift energy was going off the scale.