As he stared at the blue demon picture, the image of the man changed.
In its place, a young man, fair-haired, thin, geeky almost.
Idris suddenly realised who it was. ‘No…’ he muttered. Then, louder, ‘No! No! No no no no no…’
Beneath it, the text of the location and date shimmered and blurred too, but he couldn’t see that now, couldn’t focus, because the sound of his own screams of denial filled his head, filled the room, echoing even after he’d shut up, and there was no escaping it…
TWENTY-FOUR
With a swift kick from Jack, the doorway to the top of the roof stairs gave way, flying off its hinges and skidding across the asphalt. Jack pelted through, Gwen and Ianto at his heels.
‘I don’t think it was locked, actually,’ said Ianto.
‘I wanna look cool, OK?’
Ianto made a ‘whatever’ with his fingers and followed the others to the dish. Jack was up and on it, already grabbing the base of the aerial.
Gwen tapped her comms. ‘How’re we doing, Tosh?’
Toshiko’s voice echoed back to her from the Hub. ‘You’re doing fine, Gwen. I’m less convinced by Owen and me, frankly.’
‘We’ve lashed the Rift Manipulator into Tosh’s computer and old man Bilis there is putting the box inside,’ reported Owen.
There was a beat.
‘Well?’ snapped Jack.
‘He’s not exactly one for urgency, Jack,’ Owen said.
‘Can he hear me?’
‘Can now. I’ve patched the comms through to-’
‘Bilis, it’s Jack. I don’t have time for you to mess about. Get that damn box in there and opened up.’
They heard Bilis’s voice. ‘It is ready.’
‘So are we,’ said Ianto, as he and Gwen finished connecting the cables to the aerial.
‘How bloody primitive is this,’ Jack muttered. ‘A hundred years of alien tech, and it looks like Ianto jump- starting the SUV.’
‘Oi, the SUV never needs jump-starting,’ Ianto retorted.
Jack grinned. ‘I just have an image in my head of you with jump leads and a pole. I was saying the SUV to save Gwen’s blushes.’
‘Oh don’t mind me,’ Gwen said. ‘I gave up listening to you two hours ago. Days ago. About a year ago actually.’
‘Yeah, well, some of us don’t have that luxury,’ Owen said in their ears. ‘Thanks for the image, guys. We good to go, Tosh?’ There was no verbal reply, but Owen’s voice came straight back. ‘Tosh gave me a thumbs up. I like to think that’s Kabuki for “yes”. And not “we’re all gonna die in flame and devastation”. But you never know, it could mean both.’
Jack sighed, pulled the box of electronic gubbins from his pocket and looked up. ‘Now would be really good, guys,’ he said.
Gwen was looking over the edge of the roof at the mass of black-eyed people gathered at the foot of the building, like ants. She thought for a moment of Idris Hopper, trapped in that house a few miles away, raging against all this. For all she knew, Rhys could be out there too. And all their friends, family… anyone, everyone.
Ianto joined her.
‘I really, really hate heights, me,’ Gwen said.
‘You should go on a date with him,’ Ianto said, jerking a thumb in Jack’s direction. ‘To him, up on a place like this, that’s a great night out. But when I suggested a rollercoaster once, oh no, that was a death-trap apparently.’
Gwen laughed.
Then she stopped and looked Ianto in the eye. ‘What happens now, Ianto? We saw the future.’
‘We saw
‘How will Owen and Tosh get over this?’
‘They will. Tosh will feel guilty and get introspective. Owen will never mention it again. That’s their way of dealing. You?’
Gwen shrugged. ‘You’re right. I’ll ignore it. And I’ll tell Rhys that if I ever get pregnant, we’ll have a home birth. Or go to Spain.’
‘Guys? Please!’ That was Jack.
‘Jack?’ And that was Tosh. ‘I’m ready wheneveryou are.’
Jack pointed at the box of electronics at the foot of the mast and the thin wires attaching it to the aerial. ‘Ready as we’ll ever be.’
‘Residual energy from last night’s activity… connected. It works, Jack, it works!’ Toshiko coughed slightly. ‘Sorry. Rift… activating… now!’
And, sure enough, above their heads, Jack, Gwen and Ianto watched the crimson ribbon of the Rift flare into existence, now bereft of extraneous light creatures.
‘Hooray for us,’ muttered Ianto.
Jack was at the electrics, twisting the dial Tosh had set up.
Gradually, above their heads, the Rift began to fluctuate. The ribbon of energy moved, until it was in a direct line from the top of Stadium House to the area of Tretarri.
‘Now Bilis, now!’ snapped Jack.
‘He’s gone,’ Owen confirmed from the Hub.
Wharf Street, Tretarri.
A spike of Rift energy stabbed into the new concrete, and all the lights exploded. Bilis ignored the flying glass. Another ribbon of energy connected with the ground, earthing itself. The windows in every house exploded outwards, but still Bilis refused to let it affect him.
Ianto pointed west. They watched a streak of Dark light rising upwards.
‘Well, that’ll be Idris I guess,’ Gwen said.
Jack tweaked the dials on the box. ‘Let’s hope we’re in time,’ he muttered.
And another thin black spike of raw Dark energy speared up, this one from below, shooting past them and into the Rift energy ribbon.
Ianto watched and saw the assembled citizens drop to the ground one by one, as the Dark light fled their host bodies, hungry for Rift energy.
After a minute, once the last person had dropped, the Dark light stopped pouring up.
‘We’re done, Tosh.’
Bilis raised the diary and began flicking through the pages faster and faster. The light creatures were escaping from the ink and being drawn into the safety of the Rift energy and back under the ground, to keep whatever existed beneath the surface caged. Their eternal task.
He noticed the face of Greg Bishop, momentarily etched amongst the lights in the Rift ribbon. It seemed… serene.
One day he might tell Jack Harkness about that.
Then again…
‘Oi, Bilis,’ someone shouted.
He looked up. Idris Hopper was rushing out of 6 Coburg Street, no sign of the Dark in him now. ‘What’s going on?’
Then Idris hit the ground. The street was shaking and, one after another, the houses of Tretarri began to crumble. The roads were splitting asunder; building after building collapsed in upon itself.
