Pack Animals

pushed Jack’s wheelchair over to the viewing gallery. Ianto saw them both peering down into the well of the medical area. Even though he was invisible, Ianto felt naked and vulnerable in front of them.

Owen tapped at his analysis computer, and the flat-screen panel beside him resolved itself into a series of scans. ‘Hard to do a full physical examination,’ he admitted, and waved his bandaged hand at the display. ‘Easy enough to confirm that vital signs are OK. Nothing unusual with your blood pressure or resps, Ianto. But fluids analysis is a bit tricky, ’cause I can’t see it to test it. Or in the case of blood, I can’t take a sample. So the reference ranges on these charts are meaningless.’

‘We can tell that you’re literally invisible in the optical spectrum,’ noted Toshiko. She walked down the short flight of steps, and pointed at the display. ‘Actually, as far down as ultraviolet at one end and up through thermal infrared at the other. Wavelengths in air between about two hundred and eleven hundred nanometers.’

‘Mind you…’ Owen tapped another control, and the image changed. ‘I was able to take X-rays. You’ve got no broken bones. And the best I can tell from the ultrasound scan is that you have no serious disruption to your internal organs. So while this is an unusually severe and persistent injury, it doesn’t look like it’ll be fatal. In A amp;E, I’d probably send you back to your GP…’ He stifled a laugh. ‘Except he probably wouldn’t be able to see you for ages.’

Ianto’s exasperated groan filled the room. He knew this was Owen’s revenge for all the ‘dead’ jokes Ianto had been using on him.

‘I’m so hungry,’ Ianto’s voice shivered. ‘But maybe I’ll freeze to death first.’

‘Oh yeah. Tosh wants to analyse your invisible clothes,’ agreed Owen. He indicated the empty slab to Jack. ‘He had to take them off anyway, ’cause they were covered in tiger shit.’

‘Wait a minute…’ Jack cocked a saucy eyebrow. ‘Am I hearing this correctly? Ianto is sitting there… naked?’

‘Like, but unlike, one of my recurring nightmares,’ said Ianto’s voice in a plaintive tone.

Jack stared at the ceiling and laughed aloud. ‘Oh, that is such an unfair advantage in naked hide-and-seek…’ He trailed off as he realised Owen and Toshiko were both looking at him. ‘What?’

Owen shook his head sorrowfully. ‘So don’t want to know,’ he told Jack.

‘It’s a bit… creepy having you walk around the place like that,’ Toshiko said.

‘I kinda like it,’ said Jack.

‘He’s naked.’

‘You say that like it’s a bad thing.’

‘Here’s an idea,’ suggested Owen. ‘I could bandage your head. Like the invisible man. I’m good with bandages. Medical doctor, trained and everything.’

Ianto was unimpressed. ‘I’d prefer a cure.’

‘Not sure there is one,’ Owen confessed. ‘We haven’t even got the device that did this. Your Achenbrite mates must have taken it with them.’

This piqued Jack’s interest, and he leaned on the rail to call down to Toshiko. ‘Any information on Achenbrite yet?’

‘It’s collating now.’

‘OK, patch it through to the Boardroom. We’re about to start.’

Toshiko pointed at his wheelchair. ‘Do you want a push?’ Jack seized the chair’s wide wheels in his strong hands. ‘Give me a head start. See you in five minutes.’

‘See ya,’ grinned Owen.

Ianto sighed so heavily that papers moved on the work surface beside him. ‘Am I going to stay like this?’

Owen cocked his head as though contemplating this calamity. ‘May depend on new cell growth. Difficult to test anything on that dead guy.’

‘I thought that nails and hair grew after death?’

Owen stroked his own clean-shaven chin. ‘Take it from an expert, that’s a myth. Best you can hope for is that your cells renew visibly as they get replaced. We’ll only know that by waiting.’ He was fighting not to smile again. ‘You should keep a record of what you notice. Maybe some regular entries in your diary, Ianto.’ The smile couldn’t be suppressed any longer. ‘You could write it in invisible ink.’

‘We’re out of invisible ink,’ said Toshiko immediately.

‘How can you tell?’ Owen responded. Toshiko and Owen giggled like kids. Ianto said, ‘I am still here, you know.’

Owen smirked. ‘If you’re blushing, mate, no one can tell.’ He pondered the empty space where he thought Ianto was.

‘I’ll see you in the Boardroom,’ snapped Ianto. ‘Even if you won’t see me.’

He jumped down onto the freezing cold mortuary floor and stalked away to the sound of Owen and Toshiko’s laughter.

Gwen sat at the Boardroom table while she waited for everyone to gather. She turned over the few MonstaQuest cards from Rhys’s pack that hadn’t floated off downriver. They had dried out, but were crinkled and discoloured, and they smelled a bit, too. She sniffed her own fingers surreptitiously. Even after a thorough shower, she wasn’t convinced she’d entirely washed away the dank stench of the River Taff. Toshiko would be the first person to notice that, but Toshiko would also be the last person who’d ever want to tell her.

When Toshiko came in, she was fiddling with some bit of alien tech she’d retrieved from the Vaults. As soon as she was seated, she began to tap notes into the table-top computer in preparation for the meeting. The tech was like a squarish PDA with undulating edges, and it sat on the velvet bag from which she’d taken it.

‘You OK?’ Gwen asked her. ‘Owen check you over after your concussion?’

‘Yeah. Yes.’ Fussing made Toshiko embarrassed. ‘How’s Rhys?’

Gwen laughed. ‘Gone home for a hot bath.’ She smiled at the thought of him dripping his way through the November streets, drawing curious looks from passers-by. Just as she had, until she’d found the blessed anonymity of Torchwood’s invisible elevator in Millennium Square. ‘Under the circumstances, I decided it was only fair to let him go to the match later.’ She sniffed her fingers again. ‘What’s keeping the others?’

Toshiko grimaced. ‘They were a bit upset about the mess around their desks.’

‘Not your fault.’

‘You know how house-proud Ianto is. I hardly dare drop biscuit crumbs.’

‘Still, you’ve got a new friend,’ added Gwen.

‘Yes,’ agreed Toshiko. ‘I think I could grow to like that pteranodon after all.’

‘I hate the damn thing,’ said Ianto’s voice from nowhere, yet nearby.

Toshiko startled, and put her hand to her mouth. The chair next to her at the table shifted sideways a little.

‘Well, you’re not the one who has to clear up all the pteranodon crap,’ said Ianto. ‘And what do you mean, “house-proud”?’

Toshiko’s face flushed. She put her hand down again, and tried to sit a little straighter in her chair as she recomposed herself. ‘I’m sorry, Ianto. I forgot you were here.’

Ianto sighed noisily. ‘Time was that I didn’t need to be invisible for that to happen.’

The Boardroom door slid aside. Jack breezed in, propelling his wheelchair with powerful movements. His lap was full of equipment, papers, and assorted objects rescued from the Hub’s main chamber. When he bumped into the edge of the desk, items clattered down onto its polished surface.

‘Quite a mess,’ he grinned. ‘We rescued some bits for the meeting. Couple of unbroken PDAs. Notepads that didn’t get covered in dino-blood.’

‘I’d just cleaned that floor,’ Ianto said. ‘You could have eaten off it.’ There was a distinctive sound that Gwen eventually worked out was Ianto’s stomach rumbling. ‘I could murder a meat feast.’

‘It will not look pretty when you chew it,’ Owen said. ‘And it will look disgusting when you’re digesting it.’

‘So I’m going to starve to death, am I?’ Ianto asked defiantly.

Owen tutted. ‘You’re not going to look pretty if your new cells do become visible.

Jack patted thin air. Gwen wasn’t even sure if Ianto’s head was under the hand, or whether he was kidding