An hour later, they were all in the boardroom. The three men had searched the warehouse but there had been nothing out of the ordinary to see. They'd arrived back at the Hub about the same time Gwen had turned up, and Jack had immediately ordered them into a meeting.
"So there are what? Three 'Time Agents' running around Cardiff then?" Owen asked.
"Maybe," muttered Jack. He'd been in a sour mood since Tosh had identified the rift energy pattern and it didn't look like improving any time soon. "Time Agents aren't the only people who can travel through time. There are other other species out there that have been travelling through time for billions of years before humans evolved, and plenty of other species can easily pass for human." He glanced at Ianto, wondering if he remembered what he'd been told about the Doctor at Torchwood One.
"So we don't really know what we're looking for then. Could be anyone," said Gwen.
"Yes. All we know is that there's three of them. Well, probably three," Jack amended. "For all we know, there could have been six, and they only split into pairs."
"Not unless they were half our size," put in Tosh. "The rift activity wasn't big enough. If we presume they're humanoid and our size, then it was four at most, but more likely only three."
"Any reason we should presume that though? There are species out there that are half our size," said Jack with a frown.
"Well, there haven't been any reports of a sudden influx of dwarves in town," said Ianto. "And if I remember rightly, the Zocci race have bright red skin, which I'm sure would get some attention."
"You've met a Zocci?" asked Jack incredulously.
"Not in person, no. But there are photos in the archives."
"It's still more likely then, that we're looking for three humans," said Owen.
Jack sighed. "All I'm saying is, we really don't know what we're up against here and we shouldn't make any assumptions. Plus, Hart told me the Time Agency had been shut down, so that reduces the likelihood of it being agents."
"Providing he told you the truth," snorted Owen. Jack glared at him.
"Tosh, did you figure out why the Rift Predictor program didn't warn us?" asked Ianto.
"Oh, that's easy," said Tosh. "The program only works on normal -random -rift events. Which this wasn't."
"So if someone chooses to enter the Rift and uses a device to make it spit them out here, we won't have any warning?" asked Gwen. Tosh nodded.
"That means whoever they are, they're here for a reason," growled Jack. He somehow contrived to look even more displeased than he had already.
"So, there's nothing we can do about it for now, but keep our eyes and ears open for any trouble these unknown visitors might cause," concluded Tosh. Jack nodded.
"I want us to keep a close eye on police reports and all our usual channels and be ready to jump on anything that looks even slightly out of the ordinary," he ordered. "Let's get to it."
"Right, coffee then?" Ianto offered. There was a chorus of acceptances as they all stood to leave the room. Gwen's phone rang as she followed the others down. She looked at the caller and turned the phone to silent.
"Avoiding someone?" asked Ianto. Gwen followed him over to his work area and leaned on the stair railing behind. He set about making a fresh round of coffee.
"Everyone, I think." Ianto raised an eyebrow at her.
"It's the wedding," she sighed. "None of them remember what happened, which is for the best.."
"But?" Ianto prodded.
"But, that means they're all desperate to see the photos. Not one of them has actually admitted that they don't remember of course, which is amusing in itself," she grinned. "Can you imagine? My Mam and Brenda trying to explain it without admitting they must have had too much to drink? But I've had at least one call from nearly everyone who was there, and several from both our mothers, and it's getting tiresome. Not to mention, the photographer wants to meet up with us to choose which photos we want printed, and getting away from here to meet up with him and Rhys for a few hours isn't easy."
"Talk to Tosh and see what the Rift Predictor says," Ianto suggested. "If we've only got minor rift activity coming up, the rest of us should be able to handle it. Jack won't mind giving you an afternoon off. Here you go," he said, handing her coffee to her. "And take Tosh's too, you can ask her while you're there."
"Thanks Ianto," smiled Gwen.
A week later, nothing had happened. Jack had been in a bad mood for most of it, and they were all tense, expecting something to go wrong at any moment. Every time an alarm sounded they all jumped and feared the worst, but it was nothing more than the space junk they usually found. Jack had been briefly excited when a sonic blaster fell through the rift, but it had been damaged beyond repair and not even fit to place on display. Ianto archived it. By the end of the week, a sense of normality was reasserting itself over the team. Jack's mood finally seemed to lift and the team subconsciously relaxed.
Owen threw himself into the sofa with a dramatic sigh. Another night of weevil alerts had helped pass the time, though Owen didn't know why he bothered. They seemed to be coming out more and more. Actually, something about that was bothering him tonight.
"Hey Jack!" he called.
"What?" Jack was in his office, catching up on paperwork at 3am. He hadn't been kidding when he told them he didn't sleep much -not unless there was a warm body to cuddle up to, anyway. And Ianto had gone home tonight.
Owen wandered into the office and slouched into one of the chairs opposite the desk. Jack seemed happy for the distraction.
"What can I help you with?"
"Weevils. We know they live in family groups, right?"
"So you've told me. You're the expert Owen, you've done all the research on them."
"OK, but.. other than that one time just after I died, have we ever had more than one go rogue at a time?"
"You mean, together? I don't think so. It's highly unlikely," said Jack thoughtfully. "More than one at a time, in different areas, yes, but not in pairs or groups."
"I had a trio tonight," said Owen.
Jack was incredulous. "Three? Together? What were they doing?"
"Nothing. Not fighting, not shagging, not even going anywhere. Just standing there."
"That is very odd." Jack looked thoughtful again, but then shrugged. "Keep an eye out, see if it happens again I guess."
Three days later, Owen led Jack and Ianto on a weevil hunt, or what passed for one now. There wasn't so much hunting involved anymore.
"Seriously Jack, they'll be just around this corner, standing around doing nothing, or else just moaning." Owen walked up to the corner where the laneway intersected with a narrow alley. They peered around it and sure enough, there were three weevils. One of them was crouched low and making the low keening noise they'd observed in their resident weevil, Janet, whenever she was in pain. The other two were just standing there.
"And they don't object when you herd them back into the sewer?" asked Jack.
"Nope. In fact -and I know this sounds crazy -but I would almost swear they're grateful."
Ianto looked sideways at the doctor. Maybe being dead was affecting his rationality after all. Owen saw the look and glared back.
"Why is she moaning?" asked Jack, bringing their attention back to the weevils. Nobody had quite worked out why Jack referred to them all as females.
"Don't know," said Owen. "There don't appear to be any physical injuries, and if it was a reaction to the pain of another weevil, then I'd expect all three to be doing it."
"And you said it's happening everywhere?" asked Ianto.
"In four different places around the city, there's been the same two or three weevils standing outside a sewer entrance each night for the last two days, or three days if you count tonight. I'm starting to count them as acquaintances. And last night there were two new locations as well. If those ones start making it a daily habit too, we'll have at least fifteen weevils emerging every night for no reason."
"Maybe we should be locking the sewer entrances they're using," mused Jack.
"Don't know that it would help," said Ianto. "They've been known to break steel grates before. Probably best if we keep sending them home for now."
Owen sighed. "Well, at least I won't be bored of an evening." The other men watched as he moved forward to urge these ones back into the dark safety of the city's sewers.
Jack stood at the head of the boardroom table.
"Toshiko, what are we looking at today?"
Toshiko glanced down at her PDA. "Small rift spike predicted this afternoon, nothing else today. Possibly something bigger tomorrow morning, but I won't know for sure until closer to the time."
"Owen, update on the weevils?"
"We're still getting the usual one or two going rogue every day or so, and our new spectator groups are still coming out every night. The first group I noticed, in Bute Park, is up to 4 members now, all the others are still just two or three."
"And still no idea why?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Captain."
"Keep on it. Gwen, how's-" Jack was interrupted by a mobile ringtone. He looked at Ianto.
"Sorry," said Ianto, looking flustered as he hurriedly tried to turn it to silent. The sound stopped and Ianto replaced the phone on the table in front of him. "Please, continue."
"How are we with the Local Authorities Shared Intelligence report, Gwen?" Gwen shuffled the papers in her hands and opened her mouth to answer, when Ianto's mobile started to vibrate loudly on the table's surface. Owen snickered as Ianto snatched it up again.
"Sorry," he said again. Jack looked at him with amusement.
"If it's important Ianto, you could just excuse yourself."
Ianto blushed. "Ah, no, it's just.. my sister. I'll call her back." The phone stopped vibrating in his hand and he took the opportunity to turn it off this time.
"Right, then-" A shrill alarm sounded in the main hub.
"Rift activity!" said Tosh, dashing off to her workstation.
"Sorry, Gwen," said Jack as they all moved to follow her. "We'll have to come back to this later." Gwen just smiled. She wasn't bothered; this was Torchwood. The report wasn't that interesting anyway. Jack reached Tosh's side.
"What've we got?"
"And why didn't we have any warning?" asked Owen. "There was no mention of this a minute ago."
"Don't know, activity size is moderate, could be a bio," said Tosh. A living organism of some description.
"Right people, let's move," ordered Jack.
They piled into the SUV; Tosh, Gwen and Ianto squeezing into the back. Often it was easier just to take four but when possibly about to meet with an unknown species of unknown temperament, the more people on the ground the better. Tosh and Ianto pulled the system screens forward as Jack put his foot down and the SUV roared out onto the street.
"Whereabouts Tosh?"
"It was north-west. I'm just bring the system online here, I'll have a more precise location in a moment."
They waited impatiently for the technology to boot. It only took a few moments but it seemed like forever when you needed the information now. Within a minute they had scans running.
Ianto frowned at his screen. "Uh, Tosh?" Gwen looked over to Ianto's screen to see what the problem was, but Tosh had already noticed on her own.
"That's odd.." she said. She tapped out a few commands, but there was no change.
"What's odd?" demanded Owen from the front.
"Tosh?" asked Jack in concern.
"It's gone," she replied. "There's nothing there. It doesn't look like there ever was."
"What?" asked Jack. He pulled the SUV over and turned to look at them.
"She's right," confirmed Ianto. "There's no rift activity, not even the trail of energy we get after an event."
"So, there's no rift activity?" asked Owen.
"Apparently not," said Gwen, still looking over Ianto's shoulder.
"That doesn't make any sense," said Jack. "How can the system record a moderate amount of activity possibly indicative of a bio and then suddenly take it back?"
Tosh looked stunned at the thought of her precious technology failing the team. She ran all the scans a second and third time, but the results were still the same.
"I don't know, Jack," she eventually admitted. "Maybe when we get back to the hub I can run some more tests?"
Jack turned to the road again. "Better check it out anyway, just in case. Whereabouts was it?"
Tosh gave directions and a few minutes later they were cruising through residential streets at what Jack considered a 'slow' pace.
"This is impossible," grumbled Owen. "Even if there's something here it could be in or behind any one of these houses -we'll just go straight past it."
"Or not," said Jack. Owen looked up as Jack stopped the car. There was a single-car accident in front of them. Only the back of the car was visible, turned slightly as though the driver had tried to swerve before hitting something in the middle of the road. There was steam rising from the unseen front of the vehicle. Jack jumped out and strode towards it, the others scrambling to follow.
"There's our moderate bio," said Jack. "A new species for your collection, Owen?"
The 'bio' in question was a large plant, similar in size and shape to a fern, but with bright blue stems and stalks where an earth plant would be brown or dark green.
"Leaves are still green; probably has something similar to chlorophyll that allows it to use visible spectrum light as an energy source," observed Owen. "Perfect candidate for the greenhouse."
"Let's get it back," ordered Jack.
R&R?