Jack winced. The words had passed through him like a knife. He forced up a smile. ‘Great. So, are you going to tell me about it?’
The two grey things in the limits of the shadows swished and bristled their thorny backs.
‘Here’s an idea,’ said Jack. ‘Look me in the eye. Look me in the eye, you sons of bitches.’
The grey things growled. One moved forward, its thorny greyness pouring off it like folds of dirty smoke.
It re-formed as its invested self melted away. It became a lean, blond man wearing a black suit. It stepped towards Jack.
‘You got a name?’ Jack asked.
‘Yes,’ said Mr Dine.
TWENTY-NINE
‘This wide open enough for you?’ Jack asked.
He and the individual called Mr Dine were walking down Mermaid Quay towards the Bay. It was getting late and growing dark. The sky was smudging over. There was a threat of rain on the wind.
Jack gestured to a bench facing the railings and the sea.
Mr Dine nodded and they sat down. Mr Dine kept glancing back down the Quay. Mr Lowe was following them at a distance, a sliver of shadow.
‘Your pal, he doesn’t like this, does he?’ Jack asked.
‘No,’ said Mr Dine. ‘Mr Lowe has only recently been inserted here. He does not understand the nuances of this place or your society.’
‘And you do?’
‘Not terribly well,’ admitted Mr Dine. ‘Better than my colleague, I think.’ Jack nodded.
They looked at the sea.
‘Where are you from?’ Mr Dine asked.
‘Not from round here,’ Jack replied.
‘I realised that.’
‘You?’
‘I’m from precisely around here, Captain,’ replied Mr Dine.
‘Because of the Rift, right?’
Mr Dine thought for a moment. ‘Rift? Is that what you call it?’
Jack nodded.
‘That’s nice. That’s a better name than ours.’
‘What do you call it, then?’
‘The word we use literally translates as “the Stumble” or the “the Misstep”. We usually refer to it as “the Border”.’
‘OK. The Border’s been here a long time.’
‘For as long as we can remember. The First Senior is dedicated to guarding it.’
‘First Senior?’ asked Jack.
‘Us.’
‘Uh-huh. Torchwood is dedicated to guarding it too, from this side.’
‘I know. That is why the Principal was inserted amongst you. You are the most interesting and compelling thing on this part of the border.’
‘Yeah, what does inserted mean?’
‘We have intercourse with you. Sometimes aggressive intercourse.’
‘I’m sure you do. Not tonight though, baby. I’m not in the mood.’
Mr Dine considered Jack’s remark and laughed. ‘That is a sexual joke. It contains intentional ambiguity that makes it funnier.’
‘Hey, I’m here all week,’ said Jack, ‘don’t forget your waitress.’
Mr Dine frowned. ‘Do you mean Shiznay?’
‘I don’t know who Shiznay is,’ said Jack.
Mr Dine smiled and shook his head. ‘In that case, you have lost me. You have made a cultural reference that is outside my investment data-archive. I’m sure it was funny, though.’
‘Not really. So tell me about James,’ Jack said.
Gwen walked into the Hub. Her face was pale and drawn. She had been crying a lot for quite a while.
‘Where is he?’ she asked. ‘I want to see him.’
‘Just hold on,’ said Jack.
‘No, Jack. I bloody won’t just hold on. I want to see him. I need to.’
Behind Jack, Toshiko and Owen sat at their stations, watching Gwen. They both looked shaken too.
‘Gwen,’ said Jack.
‘I forgot him, Jack,’ she said quietly. ‘I just forgot him. Everything about him and about us just went out of my mind and left a horrible gap. It’s as if he was never really there.’
‘That’s kind of the point, I think,’ said Jack.
‘How could I just forget him?’ she moaned.
‘As I understand it, there’s a certain range involved. The camouflage effect, the ability to blend in, it only works up to a certain distance. A hundred or so miles. A hundred miles from wherever James is. You went out of range, Gwen.’
‘And he just slipped my mind? That’s mad.’
‘But you know it’s true, right?’ asked Jack.
Gwen nodded. ‘I know that, once I’d forgotten him, it broke the spell. As I came back, the memories, the feelings, they all returned too, but they weren’t the same. I could see them for what they were. I could see they were lies.’ She looked at Jack, fiercely. ‘I don’t like lying.’
‘If it’s worth anything, he didn’t know he was lying,’ said Jack.
‘What is he?’ Gwen asked.
Jack smiled sadly. ‘That’s the worst thing, you know? The worst thing of all. He’s James. He is James. Except there is no James Mayer.’
James rose off a chair and stood facing them as Jack and Gwen entered the Boardroom.
He went to hold Gwen, but she backed away sharply.
‘Gwen?’ James asked.
‘We have to talk, James,’ Jack said. ‘We have to talk about stuff, and it’s not going to be an easy talk. But I want you to hear it from me.’
‘I don’t… I don’t get any of this…’ James said.
‘Well, you will. You don’t get it because you’ve been hurt. Damaged, I suppose I should say. The bit of you that should switch on in an emergency, and tell you all the secrets you need to know, well, that’s broken.’
James stared at them. Gwen swallowed when she saw his eyes. One brown, one blue.
‘You make me sound like a machine,’ said James.
‘You are, kinda,’ said Jack.
‘He’s not,’ said Gwen emphatically.
‘OK, he’s flesh and blood. That’s a real human body you’ve got there, James. Accept no imitations. I meant machine as in something that was built.’
James shook his head. He looked desperately at Gwen. She couldn’t meet his eyes.
‘Let’s sit,’ said Jack.
James sat down slowly. They took chairs on the other side of the table.
Jack cleared his throat. ‘This is how I understand it. I had it explained to me very patiently, and I still have trouble getting my head around it. Here goes…’
He looked at Gwen and then at James. ‘Cardiff isn’t the only place that rubs against the Rift. There are other places out there, other places, other worlds. We all share a common border. In one of those places, they’ve known
