CHAPTER 7

It took Jack a good half hour to finish the last ten minutes of Ianto's work, but he was eventually heading down to the lower archives once more, returning to his own task of re-cataloguing.

He opened up the comms and made sure people knew to call him if he was needed and settled back, working his way through the rest of the box currently on the table and moving through another two before he looked at his watch again.

Two hours had passed and he'd barely noticed. With a small smile, he got up to collect the next box in need of his attention. He placed it on the table and pulled the lid off, looking inside with a slight frown.

Not only had it been much lighter than expected, but the label had gone missing from the front of it, easily having slipped out of the broken placement for the index card. He glanced inside at the solitary device before looking around briefly to see a rectangle of cream card lying on the floor.

He shrugged and decided to look for it later. Right now though, the strange, unremarkable object was itching for his attention – which he promptly gave it. He reached in and pulled it from its place, turning it round to find any defining features to the rectangular block the size of his palm.

He didn't notice the low, soft humming noise for several seconds, and when he did, he didn't realise what it was. Only when it began to grow in pitch and volume did he begin to realise something bad was about to happen.

Something very bad indeed.

He looked back down at the item in confusion and noticed small glyphs appearing on each of the long, thin sides of block, pulsing a gentle, red light outwards. As the sound became higher, the pulsing got faster – everything indicating a feeling of great urgency.

Less than a minute after it started, the pitch was so high that Jack had trouble concentrating on anything other than the noise itself, losing most of his awareness of his surroundings.

For that reason, when the noise came to a sudden stop, he had no time to brace himself against the wave of raw power that pulsed with a deep thud from the object, forcing him to stagger backwards until he hit the wall.

He groaned and rubbed his head where it had smacked off the brick and glanced down at the device once more, now sitting silently with it's throbbing red-

Wait. Not red, mauve.

Shit.

He promptly turned and scrabbled through the various boxes and shelves until he found the label that belonged with the box.

'Niarbenese Beacon – Signal changes depending on the actions perceived by the device'.

Shit.

He raced out of the room with the device and tag and didn't stop until he reached the main Hub, out of breath and white faced from the implications of sending a Mauve Alert out into space. The beacon would call anyone who read it down to Earth.

Anyone could pick it up.

Shit.

He didn't hear Tosh's concern and alarm and he didn't hear Gwen's torrent of questions. He just concentrated on looking up the item in the database on the Torchwood network. The discovery that it was old technology leant a slight relief, as most races would ignore it, but that was soon overpowered by the memory of a certain alien and the circumstances under which they'd met.

Fan-bloody-tastic.

Jack put the device down on the desk he'd ended his run at and sunk down into the chair. He buried his face in his hands and took several deep, calming breaths. He was slightly aware that it was Gwen's desk he'd collapsed at, but right now, that was the least of his problems.

"Jack?" Someone was shaking his shoulder, he lifted his head slightly and glanced around at the owner of the hand. Gwen was standing with Niamh on her hip, Owen was looking out from the autopsy bay and Tosh had her hand gently on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"I need you to set up extra CCTV and sensors in a hundred metre radius from here. I need to know the second anything shows up on them, understood?" He said slowly, every year of his heavily extended life showing in his eyes as he turned to look at the woman behind him.

Griffin peered across the room and saw the look on Jack's face. He got up hurriedly and rushed across to Jack. The captain scooped him up protectively and held him close, the little boy not protesting. It was a sign that everyone else recognised. Something serious must've happened for Griffin to allow himself to be treated like a toddler.

"Gwen, don't let Niamh out of your sight. Owen, I want you on alert." Jack stood up slowly and hoisted Griffin into his arms, holding him close. "We need Ianto back here. Now."

Everyone nodded slowly and Jack pickled up the device gingerly. He carried both the object and Griffin through to his office and put the little boy down in the visitor's chair and the block on his desk.

"How much do you think your Tad's going to kill me for this?" He asked the little boy with a grimace. Griffin just smirked at him and shrugged, settling back into his chair as Jack picked up his mobile and dialled.