Jack Harkness has lived a long time and seen a lot in that time. There's not too much that can surprise him these days.
He's surprised now.
"One male," Gwen reports. "Human, by the look of him. Young."
"Are you sure he's human?" Ianto wants to know. He's still training his gun on the figure, just in case.
"Don't be ridiculous," Gwen snaps. "What else would he be?"
"You work here and you're asking that?" Jack says. "Really, Gwen, I expect more from you. Let's get him to an exam table."
The boy is unconscious when Ianto lays him down on the table. The area is no longer Owen's domain, but Gwen can never stand here without picturing him there. She knows she should be over that by now, Jack and Ianto both are, but sometimes it's just too hard.
Ianto quickly takes the boy's blood pressure, checking under his eyelids and listening to his heartbeat.
"Clothes are modern enough," Gwen states, looking over the jeans and t-shirt, the beat-up shoes.
Jack is watching Ianto. "'Modern enough'? What's that mean?"
"It means they look normal," Gwen says patiently. "Unless you're aware of some other species who wear cotton and denim?"
Jack considers this. "Not any who look human," he says finally. Ianto shakes his head slightly and ponders the boy's blood pressure.
"He's not hurt. The landing may have knocked him out."
Even as Ianto speaks, the boy starts to revive. He opens his eyes and rubs them with his hand. Leaning up on one arm, he looks around him in bewilderment. "What's going on?"
"Lie back." Ianto pushes him back onto the exam table. "Your blood pressure's pretty low."
"What's your name?" Jack asks him.
The boy frowns and blinks. He looks about twelve years old, with unruly brown hair and brown eyes. There are freckles scattered across his nose. Looking at the adults standing around him, he searches each face, looking confused. "Am - am I in trouble?"
"Why would you think you're in trouble?" Jack counters.
"Why are you asking my name?"
"You're somewhere you shouldn't be," Ianto says. "We'd just like to know how you got here."
The boy looks more confused than before. "What?"
"You didn't use the door to come in," Gwen says lightly. "We'd like to know how you managed it."
"I was at Torchwood," the boy says, his voice rising at the end to make it a question. "Where are we?"
"Torchwood," Jack says flatly.
"I don't know any of you. This isn't Torchwood. Let me go!"
Jack leans forward. "What's your name, kid?"
"I don't have to tell you anything. I demand you call the authorities."
"I am the authority. Which Torchwood were you in?"
"What do you mean, 'which one'? There's just the one."
"Right - and we're it."
The boy shakes his head. "You're not," he says firmly.
"There was a flash of light before you arrived here," Jack continues. "Did you do that? Did you bring yourself here?"
"Did you come through the Rift?" Ianto asks.
"That wasn't the Rift," Gwen says. "It was something else. How did you manage it?"
"Manage what? I don't even know where we are."
"This is Torchwood," Gwen tells him. "Just as he said. My name's Gwen. This is Jack and that's Ianto."
The boy sits up all the way on the table. His skin is so pale the freckles on his face stand out. He looks like he's going to be sick.
"Where are we again?" he asks.
"Cardiff," Ianto answers. "Wales."
"And, and this is a Torchwood?"
"This is Torchwood, period," Jack says, looking at him closely. "Are you going to quit stalling and tell us what you know? For starter's, what's your name?"
The boy swallows hard. "Could I have something to drink?"
Seated around the conference table, they drink tea and quiz the boy. He is not cooperating and won't give them any information.
"You're here now," Jack says, barely keeping his patience intact. "Somehow you harnessed enough energy to come here. How did you do it? Where did you come from?"
"I already told you. I was at Torchwood."
"And we've told you before - this is Torchwood. This is the only Torchwood left."
The boy finishes his tea and licks his lips. He looks around thoughtfully and seems to brace himself. "You're the only Torchwood on this world."
"This world." Ianto repeats the words. "Are you saying you're from a different world? Aliens with their own Torchwood?"
The boy shakes his head. "I'm not an alien."
A memory floats up to the surface of Jack's mind. A small room filled with deadly radiation at the end of the world. A harsh red light and a man standing on the other side of a door. A young woman, laughing up at him.
"You're human like us," Jack states, although he hasn't been as strictly human as the others in quite some time. "You're from Earth."
"Of course I'm from Earth."
"You're just not from this Earth," Jack continues without missing a beat. "There are worlds parallel to us out there, and you and your Torchwood belong to one of them."
"That's pretty far-fetched, Jack," Ianto says.
"Is it? Tell me your name, kid."
There is a moment of silence, with Jack and the boy playing a staring contest and Gwen and Ianto looking thoroughly perplexed.
"Parallel worlds," Gwen says. She's heard that before, somewhere. "Is that where you came from?"
"Why did you come here?" Ianto asks. "Another world or not, what brought you here to us?"
"Nothing brought me here!" the boys says indignantly. "I mean, something did, because I'm here, but I didn't do it."
Jack leans forwards, rests his arms on the table. "What do you know about that beam of light?"
The boy can only shake his head. "I was at Torchwood."
"The Torchwood on your planet," Jack says, just so they're clear.
"Is there another?" The boy is clearly stalling for time now.
"Yes, there's us, right here. Are we going to go round and round on that or can you accept the fact that you're here with us and move on?"
The boy scowls but shrugs an agreement. "I was with my dad. At Torchwood. On Earth," he adds with enough sarcasm to leave no doubt what he thinks of Jack so far.
"And what happened?" Gwen asks. "Was there an attack? An accident or something?"
"No. I went to one of the...one of the labs. They've been working on a... thing. Nothing top secret or anything."
"What was it called?" Gwen asks urgently.
The boy is silent.
Jack sighs loudly. "Look kid, you can play evasive all you want, but the more you tell us, the more likely we can figure this out and send you on your way."
The boy seems to consider this. "It's called a beacon," he says finally.
"Did the beacon activate somehow? Did you touch it?"
"No. I don't know what it does. I walked away 'cause it was pretty boring. I don't know anything else about it. There was a table in the same lab, a table with a black box on it. I didn't touch it. But when I got close it exploded. Or something. And then I got here."
"And your dad?" Ianto asks him. "Where is he?"
A troubled look crosses the boy's face. "I don't know. He wasn't there when it happened."
"Last time it was a dimension cannon and dimension jumpers," Jack says to Gwen and Ianto. "They were strong enough to bring people from the other world over to this one."
"Could this be something similar?" Gwen is appalled at the mere suggestion. Not because of the technology, but simply because of the memory of what happened the last time people crossed parallel worlds to come to this one and what happened afterwards.
"No telling what that Torchwood's gotten up to."
"But why did it bring him here?" Gwen asks. "From Torchwood to Torchwood, one world to another."
"It could just be a coincidence," Ianto suggests.
"Seems pretty unlikely for a coincidence," Gwen disagrees. "But to attempt to open up the dimensions - why would they be doing that?"
"It's got to be a mistake, a malfunction or something," Jack says. "How the hell did you manage it, kid?"
"You can't seriously think this child is from another dimension or universe or world," Ianto protests.
"Ianto, after everything we've seen, you're questioning this?" Jack asks. "After all that's happened here?"
"I'm not questioning the existence of things, Jack. But this child engineering it is a bit far-fetched."
"Jack?" Gwen says. "What do you think?"
Jack looks at the boy. "I think someone will be looking for you."
