As if previously they’d been on pause…
‘Where am I, Bilis?’
He turned and looked at her, resting an arm on the back of the chair, to all intents and purposes regarding her as a schoolteacher would a mildly intelligent pupil that had passed a test.
Kind of patronising.
He smiled. ‘Welcome back. I do apologise for needing to… temporally disable you, but it was important.’
‘I felt nothing,’ Toshiko said, trying to be as emotionless at possible. ‘So you didn’t even hurt me.’
Bilis shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t waste time hurting you, Toshiko. If I’d wanted to do that, I could just as easily have killed you. That would have been neater.’ He turned back to his desk. ‘I need you. For now. If you’ll excuse the pun.’
Toshiko couldn’t see the pun, so she ignored it. Instead, she tried to get her bearings. Instinctively she tapped her ear.
‘You are a little out of range,’ Bilis said, again somehow knowing what she was doing. ‘You’ve done it thirty times so far,’ he added. ‘I’ve viewed every permutation of every action. Such is my curse.’
‘Curse?’
‘I see time, Toshiko.’ He sighed. ‘I made a deal once, and I am still paying the price. I can cross into history, and into possible futures. Not far into the future obviously, that would be catastrophic, but I see enough.’ He stood still, with his back to her, then reached his arms out. ‘Everything.’
Toshiko was in a shop, she realised that now. A Stitch in Time, she remembered Gwen saying it was called. Timepieces repaired and restored. Or stolen in the past and brought to the present to be sold as antiques.
‘How far back can you go?’
‘I don’t know. I do know, however, that it would be foolish to go back too far. Every action has an opposite reaction. I learned that to my cost a long time ago.’ Arms still outstretched, he finally turned to face her.
His eyes were gone – in their place were tiny orbs of burning white light, tendrils flickering around the lids and the bridge of his nose.
‘Right now,’ he continued, ‘we’re in that tiny splinter between now and then, next and last, here and here. And this is where I met them. And they gave me a task, something to do while I grieved for my Lord, who you took from me.’
Toshiko was getting lost. ‘Why did you knock me out? What did you do when I was unconscious?’
And Bilis smiled a horrible, cruel smile. ‘As I said, I needed to disable you temporally. I fear you misunderstood. I meant exactly that. You are outside time as you know it, Toshiko Sato, because I have a task for you.’
‘Which is?’
He grabbed her hands so she couldn’t wriggle free. ‘Let me show you your true potential.’
And Toshiko was somewhere else, watching someone else, seeing through someone else’s eyes.
It was a street in Cardiff. A building she didn’t recognise, brand new. All concrete and blue-tinted glass.
A car pulled up, a small sports car – Toshiko wasn’t an expert on cars, but she could recognise something smart, new and expensive. The doors opened automatically, upwards. The passenger got out, briefcase, smart jacket and skirt, hair swept back. Power-dressed to the nines. On the briefcase was stencilled a logo in leather; she recognised it as a slightly modified Torchwood logo.
Oh my God, somehow, she knew, this was the new Hub, but right at the heart of the city centre, in full view of everybody.
Staff were gathering on the steps, applauding lightly and uniformly.
The woman from the car looked up, adjusted her glasses, smiled at the assembled staff and then placed the case on the floor and returned the applause.
It was Toshiko.
After a minute, the car driver joined her. Sharp suit, similar glasses. Owen Harper.
There was something wrong though – it was his hand, his left hand. It was metal and, as it flexed, she could hear dozens of tiny servos moving the fingers, and she just knew this was some kind of alien prosthetic, linked into his nervous system, working perfectly in unison with the rest of his body.
Owen took Toshiko’s hand in his, and she now noticed the weddings bands.
Toshiko and Owen, married?
She and Owen!?!
Toshiko Harper spoke to quieten the applause. ‘People, thank you. You’ve done us all proud. Today, this building stands as a testament to the work of Torchwood throughout the Empire. Five years ago, Torchwood was buried away, ashamed of its roots, ashamed of its past. But today, we stand proud, we stand tall and, above all, we stand united with all the other Torchwoods across the globe, throughout the entire Empire.
‘I am honoured to be your CEO. Mr Harper here, Owen, is, as you know, going to head up our science and medical divisions. Mr Lawson there – good morning Eric – will run logistics and Mrs Williams, who sends her apologies, but the baby just wouldn’t wait and she went into labour last night-’
There was another round of applause.
‘-and she’s using Torchwood tech to ensure smooth delivery and a healthy baby boy should be here in about, oh, three hours. Anyway, when she returns to work, Mrs Williams will head up our humanities division. Welcome, ladies, gentlemen and others-’
At this, a small grey alien pushed through the crowd and stood at the front, applauding lightly.
‘-Everyone, welcome to Torchwood Cardiff.The home, the heart and the soul of the Torchwood Empire. We run planet Earth, ladies and gentlemen, let’s treat it and its peoples with the love, care and dedication that they deserve.’
More applause.
Toshiko turned to Owen. ‘You think he would approve?’
Owen laughed, squeezing his wife’s hand. ‘Nah, he would’ve hated all this, but you know what, deep down, I think he’d be proud of what you’ve achieved in his name.’
‘And let’s face it, lover,’ Toshiko replied, ‘without his unique properties, none of this would have been possible. You could say he’s still the heart and soul of the Torchwood Empire.’
They passed the crowd, nodding at various staff, shaking hands with a couple of divisional leaders.Two great glass doors slid open, and the flock of people followed their leaders in.
The atrium of Torchwood Cardiff revealed forty storeys of offices, labs and R amp;D areas. Below, an undisclosed number of basements, sub-basements, vaults and state-of-the-art cells, containment areas and other secrets.
In the centre of the atrium, next to the reception desks, was the old water tower, moved from its original home in the Bay, now stretching up towards the high ceiling, the Rift Manipulator on display to the world at large.
And at the foot of that was a glass rectangle embedded in the floor.
Inside was a figure, wired up to something hidden beneath the rest of the cream-coloured concrete flooring, tendrils snaking away from every joint, every inch almost of the body, powering… powering Torchwood itself.
No wonder they said he was the heart and soul – the body was Captain Jack Harkness, trapped in a frozen moment of time, his immortality being drained and, in turn, running the entire Torchwood Empire.
Toshiko looked down into the glass container, Owen smiling that thin, almost cruel smile of his, at her shoulder, always one reverential step behind his wife and mistress.
‘And as for you… what can I say?’ Toshiko was asking. ‘You showed me the truth, you showed me how anything could be achieved if I just explored my potential.’
‘No greater responsibility than potential,’ Owen added. ‘You told us that.’
And Toshiko leaned in and touched the glass. ‘I owe you everything.’
‘Oh and Jack?’ This was Owen. ‘Thanks again for this.’ Owen flexed the artificial fingers on his left hand. ‘Best birthday present ever.’
Suddenly, there was a commotion at the door, two guards went flying and a tramp ran in. No, not a tramp, but a dishevelled young man, screaming obscenities in Welsh, shoving his way through the crowd.
‘He’s got a gun,’ screamed a young woman, somewhere.
Sure enough, a pistol was in his hand, and he waved it around, as if focusing, looking for something
