Tosh, back at Torchwood, discovered that hacking into the files concerning Alison in the 70's was far more difficult than one would imagine.

Tosh could find the right files. The right series of reports. But whenever she tried to access them, the UNIT systems immediately identified her as a member of Torchwood, and locked her out. Maximum security. Some… 'Bad Wolf' firewall.

It took her almost two hours to crack even a tiny fraction of it.

By then, Owen and Gwen had already come to a theory about the way the scientists had gotten the building to move.

"We think they're hiding their complex using… a tiny section of the rift," said Gwen. "Hence the barrier we ran into, when we tried to go after Alison."

"When they trigger the DeLorean," Owen continued, "they excite the rift. Their subject moves through time, while their complex moves through space. Easy as that."

Jack crossed his arms. Supposed it could make sense, if Alison had turned up in Cardiff, not realized what had happened, run off before she encountered that version of Torchwood, and wound up in London. Where, of course, she'd be picked up by the only person around who happened to know what an 'iPhone' actually was.

Problem was… Jack had the sneaking suspicion that Alison had never been taken to Cardiff in the first place. That the Cardiff Rift had taken her straight to London.

Which was impossible.

Except…

There was one person Jack knew who'd used the rift to move people through space as well as time. Just one. But… there was no way she could be involved.

Right?

"So where's the complex, now?" Jack asked.

Gwen and Owen looked at one another. They clearly hadn't gotten that far, yet.

Jack nodded. Turned to Yan.

"Professor Feldman," said Ianto, plunking down a big series of papers and files in front of Jack. "Had some odd theories about time, once made a bet with Steven Hawking that he could build a fully-functional time machine. He'd been dabbling for about ten years, but… last year… something odd happened."

"What odd?" asked Jack.

"Reports say he caught his wife cheating on him, moved away, and was never heard from again," said Ianto.

Owen snickered. "What's so odd about that?"

"He's never had a wife," said Ianto.

Tosh pounded the keyboard in triumph, as the first bit of information flooded the screen. "I got it!" she cried out. "Report from UNIT, 1971!"

One small individual report, out of a whole bunch that Tosh should have been able to hack easily. But at least it was something. Somewhere to start from.

She scrolled through it, skimming the text as the others ran over to her, leaning down and peering over her shoulder.

The report spoke of bodies appearing out of nowhere. Burned beyond recognition. Of one young lady coming through unscathed, apparently from the early 21st century, claiming she'd been part of an experiment in time travel. In the report, Alison had given a full and complete description of everything that she'd seen in the complex.

Jack pointed to the screen. "Now, that's interesting."

Tosh's eyes fell down to where he was pointing. At the very bottom of the report.

"Our scientific advisor asserts," Tosh read, "that time travel, in the way Miss Korjensky described, would be impossible."


"Impossible?" Alison cried. She spread her arms. "I'm here, aren't I? How'd I get here, if it's impossible?!"

"I have no idea, child," the Doctor snapped. "If you ask me, the entire thing is preposterous!"

The Brigadier considered. "Well, much as I hate to contradict you, Doctor, the facts remain. Miss Korjensky is here. And judging by the technology she has on-hand, I'd say it's fairly clear she's from the future."

The Doctor leaned over the Brigadier's desk. "Listen to me, Brigadier," he said. "Any device using the Cardiff Rift would be impossible to control. Much less to use as an accurate time machine." He swept out with his hand, to illustrate the point. "Those bodies should be appearing scattered at random, spatially, not all delivered to one particular spot on the UNIT base — and should be spread out over decades, instead of the past 24 hours!"

"And should all be in Cardiff," muttered Alison.

"And, as she says, should be in Cardiff," the Doctor agreed. "Whatever these scientists constructed, it's certainly not a time machine."

"Then how do you explain it, Doctor?" the Brigadier asked.

The Doctor stepped back. His voice falling a little. "I… don't know," he admitted. He took a seat in front of the Brigadier. "But I'm beginning to believe there's more to this than we suspected."

"Like what?" said the Brigadier.

The Doctor turned on Alison. "You know, Miss Korjensky," he observed, "for someone who's just traveled forty years into her own past, you seem remarkably unfazed."

Alison blinked at him. "Sorry?" Shook her head. "Did you see me when I first turned up here?"

"In fact," the Doctor continued, "you seem perfectly fine with the entire concept of time travel. You don't doubt that it's possible. You don't doubt that this really is the 1970's. And you certainly don't seem the least bit bothered by the fact that… you're trapped here."

"I'm not trapped," said Alison, before she could stop herself.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Aren't you?"

"Well… well… you're the one with the time machine!" Alison snapped back. "You tell me."

"And how did you know I had a time machine?" the Doctor continued.

Alison opened her mouth to answer. Then realized… she'd just put her foot in it.

"Well," said the Doctor. "I suppose that explains how and why she's here, the only one unscathed."

The Brigadier looked between Alison and the Doctor. "I don't understand," he admitted.

"She was sent, Brigadier," said the Doctor. "And not by her 'Professor Feldman'. She was purposely sent here by some higher power. The only power out there who could manipulate something like a space-time rift."

Alison's mind spun. "The… Key?"

"The Time Lords, Miss Korjensky!" the Doctor snapped, banging his fist down on the Brigadier's desk. "Should have seen it right away. Typical Celestial Intervention Agency!"

"Time Lords?" said Alison. She shook her head. "What are you on about? There aren't any Time Lords, anymore. I remember."

Hard to forget, when there were only two in existence, and the other had been shot while attempting to take over the world.

"Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they aren't there!" shouted the Doctor. He jumped to his feet. "Now, if you don't mind staying out of business that doesn't concern you, I think it's time I got on with the real work!"

"Business that doesn't…?" Alison's jaw dropped. Hands bunching into fists, as she advanced on him. "Excuse me! This is my case! My investigation!"

"And I suppose you're a fully qualified scientist," said the Doctor, "who knows all the ins and outs of time travel theory, as well?"

"I… I… know how to program computers!" Alison insisted.

"Do you, now?" the Doctor replied. Crossed his arms. "And you know how to program Fortran 66 standard? Simula? The human race hasn't even gotten to 'C basic', yet, you know. And things like exception handling and object oriented programming are still well in the future."

Alison opened her mouth to reply, but… no words came out.

"You know nothing, Miss Korjensky," the Doctor said. "You're an ignorant child who's been pulled into an affair beyond anything you can handle." He swept his opera cape behind him, turning to the door. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd feel much happier if you and your CIA masters gave me the space I needed to fix this!"

And slammed it behind him.

"Pompous git!" Alison shouted after him.

The Brigadier sighed, the look of a man who'd seen this all before. "I wouldn't antagonize him, Miss Korjensky," he said, grabbing up a report and beginning to write in his account of the situation. "The Doctor may be temperamental, but he does tend to be right."

Alison just kept seething. Unable to calm down. That man might be her lift home, but she wasn't going to have anything more to do with him than she had to.

"Tends to be right?" Alison cried. "Half of what he said was just rubbish. CIA? I'm not an American — why would I have anything to do with the CIA?" She turned on the Brigadier. "And how dare he say I'm not qualified? I was the one investigating this in the first place! I…"

She stopped. As she realized she was shouting at someone who very clearly didn't deserve it. And probably faced far too much of it, already, from the Doctor.

"Sorry," said Alison, sitting down at the desk. Head in her hands. "This… just… isn't how I expected my first day at Torchwood to wind up."

The Brigadier looked up at her. Raising an eyebrow. "Torchwood?"

Alison nodded.

The Brigadier put aside his papers and clasped his hands in front of him. "In that case, Miss Korjensky," he said, "I think we might need to have a little chat about the Doctor."


"Which, according to our mathematical formula," said Owen, in the Torchwood Hub, pointing to a map, "means the complex moved to… right about… here. Just pop in there and—"

"And they'll be waiting for us!" said Gwen. She spun the map around. "Look. After the next transfer, it'll be here." She pointed. "That's directly under an underground tunnel. We wait for that, we can storm the complex easily."

"By waiting for someone else to be kidnapped and sent back in time, you mean?" said Owen.

Gwen looked up from the map. "They're not being killed. Just transported."

"We hope," Ianto chimed in.

Jack went over to Tosh's computer. Staring at the screen. "Any other information about Alison?"

"A little more," Tosh said. Not missing a beat in her typing. "UNIT seems rather distrustful of her, when she first turns up. Particularly when they find out she's Torchwood."

Jack stiffened. Cringed.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "I should have thought of that."

Tosh glanced back at him. "What?"

"Let's just say I… altered Torchwood's mission statement, when I took charge," Jack muttered. Sighed. "Of course, UNIT in the 70's wouldn't know that…"

Everyone in the Hub gave Jack the same apprehensive stare. Demanding answers.

Jack didn't give any.

"Jack," said Gwen. "Torchwood's previous mission statement. Is it something that's going to put Alison in danger?"

Jack turned, heading back to his office. "Doesn't matter. I'm getting her back."

"Jack!" shouted Gwen, trying to follow him.

He slammed the door in her face.