The two Torchwood agents strode through the tiled hallways of Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport. Doctor Miranda Ryan and Captain Jack Harkness had both decided to make this trip personally. Jack was still as silent as he'd been when he'd driven the SUV from Cardiff and Miranda, who'd known the immortal man for nearly a century, had left him to his solitude. They rode the service lift down to the morgue, again in silence, Miranda laying a comforting hand on Jack's shoulder outside the morgue doors.
"You sure you want to go inside, Jack? I can handle it myself," Miranda offered.
Jack shook his head, lifting her hand to his lips, kissing the back of it briefly. "I'm good, Will. You can take point."
Miranda nodded and smiled at the old nickname. She'd been using the name Wilhelmina Cho when Jack had met her back in 1919 and the man refused to call her anything else. Then again, Miranda realised Jack didn't even know her true name.
The two pushed their way through the swinging doors towards the attendant. With a bright smile and a confident look, she said, "Evening. We're here to take possession of a body."
The startled attendant looked up from his dinner. "I'm sorry you need-"
"Authority? We have that," Miranda said handing over the bogus paperwork. It would be flawless of course. Ianto Jones was nothing if not thorough.
"Heddlu Gwent?" the attendant said, scrutinising the paperwork. "Above my pay grade to argue. You parked by the doors?"
She nodded. "We'll take it from here. Just show us where he is."
"You sure? Corpses ain't exactly light."
"It's fine," Miranda said and the two of them followed the attendant into the morgue's cold storage. The body they needed was laying conveniently on one of the gurneys. Jack strode over and opened the bag. Miranda saw the brief flicker of pain across the immortal's face before he sealed the bag back up.
"They were about to autopsy," the attendant said, reading the tag affixed to the bag's zipper.
Jack and Miranda shared a knowing glance and Miranda said brightly, "Our jurisdiction now. Thanks for your help!"
Her and Jack seized the gurney, wheeling it out of the morgue and down the hallway towards the lift. Jack hit the button with his elbow. The attendant came jogging down the hall. "Wait! I need you to sign!"
Miranda took the clipboard from him and signed a random name. "There you go."
The attendant offered again to help them but they politely refused. The two immortals took the lift up one floor and wheeled the body out the side door they had parked next to. Jack folded the back seats down and helped Miranda slide the body bag into the SUV's boot, handling the body with care.
The drive back to Cardiff didn't take long and again, the two took the drive in silence. By the time they'd arrived back at the Hub, it was late and had just gone nine. Joseph Fischer, or Fish as everyone affectionately called him, was waiting for them in the Hub's garage with the gurney. The Torchwood technician had a solemn look on his face.
He pushed the gurney forward and laid a comforting hand on Jack's shoulder as the immortal man got out of the SUV. "I'm sorry about your friend, Jack."
"He had a good long life here. I just wish I could have sent him home."
"When did he crash, Jack? Was it '72? or '71?" Miranda asked.
"Neither. It was 1970," Jack said as he carefully slid the body bag from the SUV and arranged it on the gurney.
Fish started to wheel the gurney away. "Autopsy table, Evie?"
"Yes, thanks, Fish," Miranda said smiling as Fish used his own nickname for her. When the two of them had met in 1995 she'd been using the name Evelyn Wei.
Once Fish was out of ear shot, Miranda stepped over to Jack who was watching the gurney as it disappeared down the hall.
"I'll be respectful, Jack," she said softly. "Are there any religious or cultural restrictions you're aware of?"
"None that Max ever mentioned to me. He joined the Episcopal church soon after he crashed here. I thought it was to fit in better but he really believed, kept trying to get me to go to church with him," Jack said shaking his head. "I'm gonna miss him."
"I don't see any harm in allowing him a church burial," Miranda said softly. "I'll speak with his step-daughter. Have you talked to Ruby?"
"Yeah… she's hanging in there…" Jack sighed. "Yan and I still need to pack up his house."
"Leave it for tomorrow," she said, laying a hand on his shoulder and immediately felt Jack cover it with his own.
Jack nodded and took a shaky breath. "We are. I'm going to go get some air."
And in a swirl of greatcoat, he was gone. Miranda knew he was headed up to the roof. With a heavy sigh she headed for the autopsy bay. Normally a simple xenopsy like this could wait but Miranda wanted to get this one over with. Max had been her friend as well as Jack's. It was better for everyone if this was settled away quickly.
There were less than half a dozen resident aliens and other riftugees living among humanity. It was very seldom did the rift deliver aliens or humans alive and uninjured. The assimilation process was also extremely difficult. Suicides were not uncommon. Those who integrated into society were strictly watched by the Torchwood team, being checked on monthly by the staff, usually Jack or sometimes Ianto. When they died, they were treated like Torchwood's own, their bodies interred in a morgue drawer and their possessions packed away and placed in Torchwood storage.
Max Evans was an alien who had crash landed in Cardiff bay. His small one person ship had been badly damaged by an asteroid and Max had limped through space. He'd manoeuvered his way to Earth because he'd had no other choice. His hull had been compromised and his navigational systems had malfunctioned. When his ship had crashed into the bay, it had been a small miracle that he'd even survived. It didn't happen often that an alien crashed landed on Earth like Max, someone who was willing and able to integrate into human society but when it happened, they tried their hardest to make it work.
Torchwood had taken care of everything. Max's species was humanoid and the blue swirling markings on his skin could easily be dismissed as tattoos and hidden by clothing or make-up. They'd provided Max with a new identity, a temporary place to live and had helped him find work. They'd taught him about human society and to speak English. All in all, Max Evans had integrated well into humanity with Jack's help. The immortal man had taken a personal interest in Max and the two had been close. Unlike the monthly visits to the other resident aliens, Jack's visits to Max had been social, the two sharing a meal and playing chess. By the time Miranda had met Max in 1977, he had his own business, a successful appliance repair shop and was living in a modest home in the suburbs of Cardiff. He even had a girlfriend.
She'd had been invited to the wedding, of course. The entire Torchwood team had been invited. It was a small affair and Jack, who had stood as best man, had been happy for his friend. The marriage had ended in divorce in the 90's but Max still kept in contact with his step-daughter. That was where Max had been, visiting her in Newport, when it seems he'd had a heart attack and died. The minute Max's information had been entered into the hospital's system, Torchwood's software had caught it.
Miranda had gotten to know the alien over the course of her on and off tenure with Torchwood. She hadn't been as close to Max as Jack had but after learning of Max's love for the game of chess, Miranda had taught the alien to play go. He hadn't taken to it as well as chess but if Jack was unable to make his monthly visit, Miranda would go in his place and the two would play the ancient Chinese game.
With a sigh, she walked down the stairs. Fish had removed the body from the bag and had left it on the autopsy table and Ianto was laying out her usual instruments. He looked over his shoulder at her.
"Hey, Mandy. Gwen and Fish have gone home. Is Jack on the roof?" Ianto asked.
She nodded. "He'll be fine, Ifan."
Ianto nodded, knowing he should leave his lover to his thoughts for now. "The hospital records said it was a heart attack."
Miranda shook her head. "Max's species has a different cardiac configuration than ours. Likely, the A&E staff killed him without realising it."
"How do you reckon?" Ianto asked.
"I did a full work up on Max back in 1977. His heart's electrical system is completely different from ours. When the A&E staff hooked him up to an ECG, the readout would have looked like he'd had a severe myocardial infarction, a heart attack. I didn't know much about Max's physiology but I figured out enough to know that the anticoagulants and vasodilators they would have given as treatment would have killed him instantly."
Ianto looked down at the man's body with sadness. It was always a risk when they tried to introduce aliens into human society. The good intentions of doctors and nurses could often spell disaster or death as medical staff attempted to administer medications and perform procedures incompatible with their species. Miranda was Torchwood's medic but she also served as regular physician for every resident alien.
"Don't be distressed, Ifan. I think Max was sick already. Jack said he'd lost some weight when he'd visited last and, for some evolutionary reason I can't fathom, the Nepanthian digestive system is attached to the circulatory system. The weight loss could have been a sign of early cardiovascular disease," she said as she changed into a pair of scrubs. "Would it have been better if he'd come here instead?"
Miranda shook her head. "Probably not. I don't know enough about his physiology or anatomy to properly treat him. I'll know more after the xenopsy."
"Why do you always call it a xenopsy?" Ianto asked, curious. The immortal woman had always referred to it as such but he'd never known why nor had he asked before.
"The word 'autopsy' is derived from Ancient Greek, autos or 'oneself'. It's why the word 'necropsy' is used to describe dissection of non-human bodies. Max isn't human, he's Nepanthian, hence 'xenopsy'."
"Learn something new everyday…" Ianto laughed. "Let me know if you need anything else, Mandy. I'm going to go check on Jack."