In he Beginning….. Chapter 4

Gwen, Owen and I arrived at a crime scene once, to find Torchwood written in the dead couples blood, on the wall over the bed.

It appeared that retcon - a drug devised by me - had been used. I asked Ianto how many victims of retcon, the amnesia pill, there had been.

"2008," he replied.

We had to do something. Owen suggested the resurrection gauntlet. We could bring back people from the dead and ask them questions.

Owen said that the gauntlet deserved a cool name.

"What about the 'risen mitten'." Suggested Ianto.

We just stared at him.

"I think it's catchy." said Ianto.

I tried using the glove, but it didn't work for me. Gwen tried. It worked for exactly 24 seconds. Ianto was timing with that stopwatch [read on].

"Give Ianto a stopwatch and he's happy." said Owen.

"It's the button on the top," replied Ianto, smiling.

The next person we resurrected lasted 1 minute 24 seconds.

It wasn't working for us, we had to get the person it worked for, Suzie Costello.

But she's dead, remember?

We had to get her out of the freezer.

Owen wired Suzie up and asked Ianto if he had his stopwatch ready.

"Always," came the reply.

Suzie couldn't be revived. Gwen suggested we also use the knife that Suzie used to kill people with. I got it out and Owen turned to Ianto.

"Ianto?"

"The 'life knife'."

Good one, Ianto.

I plunged the knife into her heart and she started to breath. She kept breathing.

She'd been dead for three months later. Now she was alive, of sorts.

Owen saw that Suzie was draining life from Gwen without her knowing. It seemed that whoever wore the glove and brought someone back, lost their life to that person - namely Suzie.

Suzie and Gwen left the Hub, sealing us in.

"I've got reception, sir." called Ianto.

"How do you do that? We're sealed off." I asked.

"Just used the Water Tower as a relay."

"Nice work Ianto. But who the hell do we phone?"

We called the police. They had a laugh at our expense. Being locked in our own base. They thought it was funny.

We needed a book of poetry to unlock the Hub.

The longer it took, the less time Gwen had. Suzie was getting stronger.

It turned out we just needed a number of the back of the book.

In the end, all Suzie wanted to do was kill her own father.

We had to get to Suzie and Gwen before Gwen died and Suzie took over. Gwen had minutes to live. I broke the speed limit big time trying to get to them.

I shot Suzie, breaking the connection, but nothing happened. I shot Suzie again and again.

"The glove! Tosh, destroy the glove." I yelled into my coms devise. "It's keeping them connected."

"Ianto! Code 5." said Tosh.

Ianto grabbed a gun and threw it to Tosh. She destroyed the glove. At that moment, Suzie died and Gwen was saved.

Ianto put Suzie back into the freezer.

"Thank you for doing this." I said to him

"Part of my job, sir."

"No. I should be doing it, but…. Phew. One day we're gonna run out of space." I looked around me.

"If your interested, I've still got that stopwatch."

"So?"

"Well, think about it. Lots of things you can do with a stopwatch."

"Oh, yeah." I smiled knowingly. "I can think of a few."

"There's quite a list."

"I'll send the others home early. See you in my office in ten."

"That's ten minutes and counting." Ianto started the watch.

I began to walk away.

"Oh, Jack? What do you want me to say on the death certificate?"

"Good question."

"She had quite a few deaths in the end."

"I don't know." I thought for a moment. "Death by Torchwood."

"I'll put a lock on the door just in case she goes walking again."

"Nah. No chance of that. The resurrection days are over, thank god."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure. That's the thing about gloves, sir. They come in pairs."

I turned and looked at Ianto. He continued to write out the death certificate. Unaware of my look, or the significant of his last remark.

The speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second. Pain travels through the body at 350 feet per second. Even a sneeze can reach a 100 miles per hour. And as for life, that just whizzes by. This is according to Eugene Jones.

We found him dead at the side of the road. Apparently a victim of a road traffic accident. A hit-and-run.

He used to follow us around, well Gwen, really. Eugene had a kind of crush on her. He said he had something to show us. But we never really had the time, or the patients, it turned out.

We had to tell his mom that he had been killed. Owen and Ianto went up to Eugene's room to check it out. While searching it, Ianto found his 'stash' of alien type memorabilia.

Owen thought Eugene was a geek.

"Okay," began Ianto, hearing news coming through on is coms devise. "A red Vauxhall has been stopped outside Carmarthan. Very drunk guy. Has admits knocking a man over near Cardiff. Fits Eugene's description. The man says he thought he'd be okay, so he drove on."

Eugene believed in aliens. Believed he had quite a few authentic articles in his collection.

He had an alien eye - a Dogon sixth eye -that he was going to sell on eBay. It started at £2.50, then went up to £75. Then £200, £300. It just kept going up. £1000. Then it topped £15,000.

Eugene met up with the winner of the eye in a local café. Of course, the guy who bid, didn't really have £15,000. Was only willing to pay £34. Eugene thought he was going to sell it again on eBay, for a huge profit. He wasn't going to have that.

After a scuffle, Eugene swallowed the eye.

After talking to the guy who 'won' the eye, They found out that Eugene had swallows the eye. It wasn't picked up on the Autopsy when Gwen performed it back in the Hub. Gwen managed to get it back from the local morgue.

Eugene's father had walked out 14 years before, but he was at the funeral and came back to the house after.

Eugene was being kept earthbound because of the eye. He 'appeared' to everyone, just as a car was about to knock Gwen over. He saved her life.

We all saw him at that moment. Just before he turned into a pure white light, and ascended into heaven.

No one knew it, not even Eugene, but he was special.

We had a plane from 1953 come through the Rift once. Three people onboard. We took them back to the Hub and I explained to them that they could never go back. They were now stuck in our time.

I entrusted them to Ianto. Gave them each some money to go out and buy stuff with it. Ianto took them to the local Asda supermarket. They were first intrigued by the automatic door, then one of them spied the bananas. The door was forgotten.

"Of course, bananas are far more interesting." Ianto said, surprised.

They began shopping.

"How much food money have I got left?" Emma asked.

"£15.40."

She began filling her basket with sweet things.

"£12.10. You'll ruin your teeth."

"You sound like my mum."

The man, John picked up a girlie magazine.

"Good god!"

"Welcome to the wonderful world of scantily dressed TV celebrities," explained Ianto.

John looked around him. "But there are children around."

"She's a children's TV presenter."

Ianto played chauffeur, and was good at it, too.

The two girls seemed to be coping with the time change, but not the man. He was having problems coping. He asked to be dropped off at the Millennium Stadium.

I managed to track down John's son, Alan. He was in a home, suffering from Alzheimer's. Of course, Alan didn't recognise him. And it broke John's heart to see his son this way.

Owen fell for the pilot, Diane. Fell hard. Fell in love.

I went for a drink with John. He was good company.

He asked me, "Did you fall through time too?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

He was an okay guy who was lost in a time not his own. We chatted for a while longer, and then went back to the Hub.

John went into the Information Centre. He waited until Ianto had his back turned, picking up his car keys. Then he spoke with Ianto.

"I was looking for a bus timetable when I get out of the DIY store. See if there's any work going."

Ianto handed him one.

"Best of luck."

"Thank you."

Then John left.

Later that evening, Ianto phoned from the Information Centre.

"Hello." I said.

"My car keys are missin'. John was behind the counter earlier on, and I can't get hold of him."

Ianto came into the Hub and we checked the computer.

"He's gone home!" I said.

Ianto held out my coat to me as I rushed from the Hub.

John was in the car, trying to kill himself. I tried talking him out of it, but he said he would keep trying and finish the job with of without my help.

I sat in the car with him, while the exhaust fumes come in via the pipe. Held his hand while he died. While I died.

Emma went off to a job in London.

Diane took off in her plane, leaving Owen heartbroken.

But life had to go on.