SIX MONTHS EARLIER
The air was incredibly thin as their stamina was put to the ultimate test.
Sir Andrew Prescott defied the highest and most dangerous mountain in the world with his servant by his side. He gazed at the sun through his dark sunglasses and he swiftly and subtly touched his upper lip using his tongue.
'I wish could touch it, Peter.' Andrew spoke to his servant, lifting his lip in an amused smile.
The sun was shining brightly upon the two gentlemen who had wrapped themselves in many layers of clothing to fight off the cold.
Sir Andrew clung to the mountainside with his big, black gloves, groaning as he pulled himself on to the snowy ledge.
'If only I could reach out…' he continued as he got up on his feet and looked at the sun.
He helped his servant and best friend by pulling the rope which connected them, and then he grabbed his hand and pulled him up on to the snowy ledge.
'…and touch it's fiery, warm surface.'
'If you could ever fit it in the palm of your hand.' Peter said.
Sir Andrew smiled as he imagined himself holding the sun in his gloved hand.
'I envy Icarus.' Sir Andrew said, reminiscing the ancient mythology he loved to read about.
'Icarus fell.' his servant Peter said. 'He died.'
'Well, some things are worth dying for.' Sir Andrew spoke.
Sir Andrew Prescott gathered his rope and pickaxes before he turned around and left. He continued up the slope and path of the snowy ledge, which lead to a bright and white, untouched valley of snow. Peter followed him.
They saw dark clouds haunting other sections of the mountains. White clouds which surrounded the mountains blinded the two travellers from seeing the beautiful mountaintops.
'If we go that way,' Peter said, pointing at a rift between the mountains,' we could reach the next checkpoint within three hours. All we have to do is avoid the chasm and all the possible danger-zones and we'll definitely survive this trip, what do you say, sir?'
Sir Andrew didn't answer his servant and travelling companion.
He gazed upon the snow with a petrified and terrified look upon his face.
'Sir?' Peter asked again.
Sir Andrew then raised his gloved hand and pointed at the snow, not far away from them.
A hand was sticking out of the snow: a gloved, white and shining hand.
It was almost unseen in the white landscape, but Sir Andrew saw it.
'Oh, my god,' Peter said as he grabbed his friend's hand and followed him towards it.
As they approached it, they saw how the hand twitched.
'He's still alive!' Andrew gasped and he quickly rushed to come to the buried man's aid.
The hand moved again.
'Dig, my friend!' Sir Andrew yelled. 'Dig!'
They started digging with their pickaxes into the snow surrounding the hand.
The hand wore a silver glove which glistened in the bright sunlight.
'We have to get him out of here, quickly!' Peter cried. 'Back to the encampment! We have to keep him warm, or he'll die!'
They scratched away the snow and ice which covered the poor man's hand, discovering that the person wore an outfit which matched his silver gloves.
The hand felt heavy. With every touch they felt like they were touching metal, not clothing and skin.
'Hold on!' Sir Andrew yelled at the snow beneath him.
Then the hand attacked, grabbing Sir Andrew's throat in a deadly lock.
Peter kept on digging for a second before he realized his master was in danger.
He tried to loosen the silver hand's grip but it seemed useless.
The man was going to die right here in front of him, by this ungrateful, frozen man in the ground.
'Master!' Peter cried.
And then the hand let go.
Sir Andrew Prescott lived and gasped for air as he cradled his sore throat.
His sunglasses had fallen upon the ground during his struggle. He squinted his eyes as he gazed upon the hand in the snow.
Another hand emerged from the snow, not far away from the first hand.
And then another, and another.
The snow started to shake as silver hands emerged from the snow around them and grabbed their feet.
They tried to walk, but it was impossible. Blinded by sunlight and unable to move, Sir Andrew and his servant dropped to the ground as they lost balance.
The hands grabbed their arms and feet, binding them to the soil with an iron grip.
Their cries of help echoed through the valley.
Figures seemed to emerge from the snow.
Sir Andrew couldn't see anything but dark silhouettes standing over him.
'Resistance is pointless.' the dark figure spoke in a metallic voice as the grip of the hands tightened, pulling them deeper and deeper into the cold snow, until everything turned black.
Snowflakes lingered like fog in the cold air, lit up by an approaching flashlight in the distance. 'This way,' Ianto said. 'I'm sure of it.'
'Or at least you think you're sure of it.' Owen added, shining his flashlight in Ianto's face.
Their big boots sank into the snow as they struggled through its thick layers, ignoring the intimidating black clouds above their heads as they followed Ianto's trail.
'It was here,' Ianto said, waving at the snow beneath him. 'Right here...'
'Tell me you're joking.' Gwen said.
'He's not joking.' Owen said, as he started to examine his surroundings.
Ianto's heart was beating in his neck. His chest was hurting and he was covered in sweat.
Gwen gazed at the white mountains and the black rocks which were sticking out of its white, snowy surface.
'Tosh?' Gwen said, touching her ear pod with two gloved fingers. 'Tosh, can you hear me? We're looking for you. Tosh, if you're out there…if you can hear us…'
Down in the depths below, down the white hillside of the mountain, the frozen lake reflected pale, almost invisible, soft sunlight which only hurt their eyes slightly. Gwen sadly stopped trying to reach Toshiko, however she never stopped hoping that she was still out there somewhere, alive and well.
'We're lost.' Owen spoke.
Gwen searched through the snow with her gloves for Ianto's old footprints.
The wind was blowing wildly across the white plains, blowing snow in their faces. That same snow buried the footprints and tracks, making it impossible to find.
'This is weird.' Owen said, touching the snow with his big boot. 'The snow seems less thick at this end. Almost as if it's recently been dug…or filled.'
Ianto didn't dare to look them in the eyes. He could only look back to the direction from which they had come. It was the only road of which he knew where it would lead him.
He angrily bit his lip and scratched the top of his head. He didn't know what to do.
He had made a mistake. He had made a promise.
Toshiko could be dying, and he's lead them to the wrong place. Brilliant, that was.
He wanted to yell, but he did the exact opposite. He froze and awaited orders. Something he was used to. Something he felt safe doing, because Jack would know what to do.
But then he remembered: Jack was gone.
'Well, well…' Owen mused. 'What do we have here?'
He shined his flashlight upon the snow in front of him, revealing the marks of a giant footprint.
'What the hell?' Gwen said.
The giant shape in the snow looked like the print of a giant paw. The silhouette and shadow were visible whenever Owen would shine his flashlight upon the snow.
'You know what this is?' Owen said proudly.
'The abominable snowman,' Ianto said witty, hiding his inner turmoil with jokes. 'Bigfoot's big brother.'
'The Yeti.' Owen whispered.
'Or sister,' Ianto added when he saw that Gwen looked at him strangely.
Owen curled his lip, fascinated by the huge print as he gazed upon the snow. He immediately opened his rucksack and took out his camera, after which he started to make photos of the footprint.
It didn't take long for him to find more giant tracks in the snow. The footprints were disappearing somewhere into the distance. Sunlight hid most of them; the white snow blinded them and prevented them from seeing detail in the beautiful snow.
'And I was starting to think this little assignment was a waste of our time.' Owen said, as he put on his sunglasses. 'Now we've gone and found ourselves a real mission...'
They weren't even sure whether this trail of giant footprints would lead them to Toshiko and Gwen feared that Owen's enthusiasm would result in her death. He was eager to follow the creature's footprints, almost forgetting that one of their teammates was missing and almost definitely in mortal danger.
Owen was already following the trail down into the snow valley when Gwen decided to confront him about it.
'Wait, Owen.' she tried to say, but he wouldn't stop. 'Owen! Stop it.'
Ianto silently backed Gwen, remembering his promise. The life of a friend was far more important than a possible alien encounter.
'Owen, you can't do this!' Gwen cried.
'Do what?' Owen replied.
'You're leaving Toshiko to die!' Gwen yelled.
Her voice slightly echoed through the valley below. Further down they could see the frozen lake, the brown, sand mountains and the tropical forests which grew below them. The mountaintops seemed like ants from where they were standing, and they hadn't even gone close towards the tops of the huge, snow-capped mountains.
'This doesn't make sense, Gwen.' Owen spoke. 'Something's wrong about this, all of this: Toshiko's disappearance, the appearance of these prints in the snow, Ianto somehow forgetting where he left Tosh, and we know he never forgets anything.'
'That's true.' Ianto spoke softly, unable to resist the temptation to make a joke.
Gwen didn't look at him, but he could tell she didn't like his attitude, so from that moment on he stopped making jokes and focused on the situation at hand. He was supposed to be serious, not cracking jokes to ease the tension, or hide his true fears.
Fear of losing Toshiko. Fear of breaking a promise.
Like he did once before, when he said to Lisa everything would be all right.
'Something's going on here, Gwen.' Owen continued. 'And you know it.'
Gwen knew he was true, but she couldn't risk Toshiko's life.
'We don't know what's out there!' she spoke.
She tried to be kind and friendly, as not to anger Owen. She knew he had been bottling up his anger for the past few days, these terribly long days which they had spent here in the Himalayas: without Captain Jack Harkness.
They were left on their own. Now they had to make their own decisions, only this time, Toshiko's life depended on it.
Small drops of sweat slipped on to Gwen's forehead, which she tried to ignore.
Owen felt the same need to censor his anger. He, like Gwen, knew the team's morale was low, and their mental state was fragile without the good captain's support.
When they heard the news that they were ordered to the Himalayas to examine the signs of extraterrestrial life in these cold mountains, they thought that Jack would be waiting for them there. In their minds he would be standing there, smiling at them as he wore his familiar long, blue coat in the freezing cold, but he never showed up.
He had abandoned them.
'Look, Gwen,' Owen said. 'I know what you must be going through right now, with you trying to be a good leader and all…'
'I'm not your leader.' Gwen replied, lifting his sunglasses to look at Gwen with his own eyes.
'I might be second in command,' Owen said, glancing for a moment in Ianto's direction before he continued. 'But I'm no good leader. You see, I don't want all that responsibility.'
Gwen didn't dare to interrupt him. She slowly breathed out warm air which then started to rise and fade away into the sky.
'We need a leader, ' Owen said, 'and it might as well be you.'
Gwen wanted to say thanks, but didn't. Instead a short pause lingered as Owen put his sunglasses back on properly.
'Well, then you might as well do as I say.' Gwen said. 'I'm telling you, Owen Harper, don't follow that trail. Finding Toshiko should be our first priority!'
'She is my first priority!' Owen yelled.
Another silence followed as wind howled across the icy plains.
'Listen.' Owen spoke to Gwen. 'We might as well split up. You take Scooby (he points at Ianto) and I'll go and find the monster, now how's that for a fucking, genius plan?'
He turned around and walked away.
'Owen!' Gwen yelled.
'This is a bad idea…' Ianto mused.
Gwen wasn't listening to Ianto, but she was feeling the exact same thing he was feeling.
A very bad feeling.
'No, no, no…' Gwen said. 'He's not going to get away with this! We are not splitting up! The last thing we need is another missing team-member!'
So Gwen and Ianto joined Owen in his quest to find the monster that made those footprints, hoping that this same path would lead them towards the missing Toshiko.
Torchwood would stick together. They would never abandon each other.
Not like Jack had done to them.
Toshiko forgot time during her wanderings through the dark and endless corridors beneath the mountains, counting lifetimes instead of hours as her hope diminished.
The tunnels seemed untouched, yet a freezing layer of ice covered everything. Everything seemed to be made of metal. There were no lights, only darkness.
The only thing she saw was darkness. The only thing she heard was her own erratic breathing.
Toshiko trampled the ice on the ground with her boots, almost tripping over hardened stalagmites in the process. Sometimes she couldn't help but slip away; the ground was one icy surface, which reflected the light of the flashlight at Toshiko. At some points even the walls ended, but the ice had continued to grow, and it now blocked entire corridors out of Toshiko's range.
The air was terribly cold. Toshiko now entered a fork in her path: two tunnels leading in opposite directions, and Tosh didn't know what to do.
A sound in the distance made her heart jump. It could have been anything, but Toshiko knew there was only one dark answer.
Toshiko hesitated. Her gut instinct was telling her to run back to the door. Something was wrong.
Something was definitely wrong here. Something was out of place.
And ironically, everything was out of place, making the only thing which didn't belong there Toshiko herself. She wasn't supposed to be there.
Toshiko backed away from the tunnel in front of her, feeling fear take a hold of her, forcing her to turn back. She ran back towards the door, through the dusty, freezing darkness and through snow and ice. She slipped and fell; even her hand could not grip the wall, for everything was ice.
Her fall was painful, for the ice was hard. She bruised her upper lip, and her flashlight rolled out of her hands.
Its light shined on the icy wall, revealing a ghostly face which seemed to be painted on it.
A dark and mysterious silhouette of a man buried or stuck within the icy wall.
Toshiko gasped for air as she crawled away from that particular wall before getting up with difficulty, grasping a freezing stalagmite with her arms to help herself up.
The ghostly apparition seemed like a reflection of a man standing in the centre of the dark and icy corridor, only there was no man standing in the centre of the corridor.
Toshiko's warm breath faded away into the air, upwards towards the ceiling and shadows.
She approached the figure inside the ice. She examined it.
It seemed like it had been carved into the ice, but then she looked closer and saw that it stood within the ice, as if the ice had grown around it.
Toshiko gazed into the tunnels at either side of her. Total darkness and a freezing cold surrounded her.
Her lips shivered as her curiosity managed to get a hold of her.
Perhaps this was a clue which could help solve the mystery of these tunnels.
Was it a statue? Was it an alien? Was it dead?
How did it end up in there? Toshiko wondered how long this figure had stood there as the ice absorbed him. Was it years? Decades, centuries, even millennia?
Toshiko gazed into the frozen figure's hollow eyes.
She recognised it from somewhere. She didn't know where.
Was it a suit this frozen man was wearing, and a mask?
More rumblings in the distance of the dark tunnels agitated Tosh. The ghostly apparition next to her only made her more nervous, more afraid.
A voice in her earpiece spoke to her like voices in her head, but the distortions had disappeared as quickly as they appeared and Toshiko's hope that her team-mates were looking for her faded away with every heartbeat.
'Hello?' she asked to the darkness, clutching her flashlight with both of her gloved hands.
The light was shaking, trembling, just as her hands were.
Toshiko wondered whether this would be the place where she would die.
The mountain seemed to shake, like an earthquake was occurring somewhere close.
The three remaining Torchwood members feared the sight of avalanches as the snow beneath their feet started to shiver.
'What on Earth…' Owen tried to say, but just as he finished saying those words he knew that this was not from Earth. The tracks in the snow: it had to be alien.
A giant roar echoed through the mountains.
'I hate it when I'm right.' Owen said as a gust of snow was blown into their faces, as another roar sent shivers down the spine of the mountain. Ianto was the only one not to grab for his gun as the echo rumbled across the skies. The snow was trembling beneath their feet.
Something was moving.
'Gwen!' Owen cried.
'I'm not going anywhere.' Gwen replied.
'Ianto!' Owen yelled, waving his gun around in search for a threat and a target.
'I'm right here.' Ianto replied.
The sound came from far away, yet it seemed to be approaching them.
'Do we hide?' Ianto asked.
'No way.' Owen said.
Something was moving in the dark. Toshiko gasped for air. She stopped breathing so that she would be able to listen in depth to the sounds within the darkness.
Something was crawling, slithering, in the dark.
'Leave.' a terrible, deep voice spoke.
'Jesus!' Owen cried as he quickly turned around and pointed his gun at the huge, white monster which stood in front of them.
It was as white as the snow, with claws as big as the tires of a car. The creature had twisted, yellow horns attached to its forehead, and a big fur which covered his entire body; it even obscured its eyes from the team's sight.
Ianto backed away and fell down in the snow.
Gwen lost her voice, her courage and her sanity, as the Yeti gazed down upon them all.
The Yeti was almost twice their size and seemed humanoid; his proportions seemed not so different from the average human. Only the hunch on its back made the creature lean forward a little, and its big hands dangled in the air if they did not touch the snow.
'Leave now.' the creature spoke without moving his lips.
His fur was slowly brushed by the cold wind.
Owen's heart was beating madly in his chest as he kept on gasping for breath.
They didn't understand what was happening. They didn't understand why they were still alive.
'Toshiko's life is in danger, but soon yours will be too.'
'Was that a threat?' Owen spoke. 'I think that was a threat. Did you hear that?'
'His lips aren't moving!' Ianto spoke crazily as he tried to make a point. 'Why aren't his lips moving?'
The creature stood there, silently and calm, watching how the three remaining members of Torchwood freaked out.
'We are here to save our friend.' Gwen spoke to the creature, hoping it was a kind creature, sentient and capable of understanding their words.
'Your friend will die…' the creature replied.
Owen could see his big and sharp yellow teeth glistening in the bright sunlight.
'That's it.' Owen said.
He fired at the Yeti and a small grapple hook was launched into the creature's shoulder.
The creature yelled as it endured painful agony, whilst Owen pulled the rope tighter, until he shot another hook in the snow.
'Owen, what are you doing?' Ianto asked.
Blood smeared across the creature's beautiful white fur.
'He threatened us!' Owen yelled. 'Didn't you hear his voice inside your head? Didn't you hear what he said? He's going to kill Tosh and afterwards, he's going to kill us as well!'
Gwen gazed upon the roaring creature which lay in the snow in front of her, angered and in pain. It fell to his knees and tried to reach out with its claw towards Owen.
'Tosh is the appetizer, and we're the main course.'
Owen evaded the Yeti, tied to the rope which bound him to the snow, and the grapple hook which was stuck in its shoulder.
'He won't sneak up on us ever again.' Owen said.
Ianto wondered if he should take a picture of the creature. After all, they did capture the legendary Yeti…
'Where is she?' Owen asked the creature, who pulled the hook out of his body, groaning loudly. 'Where's Tosh?'
The big monster's cries echoed through the valley.
'Gwen!' Owen yelled, hoping for support as the creature stood up.
He aimed his weapon at the monster, but he hesitated to shoot again.
There was something about it which seemed…wrong.
Why did it not defend itself?
'Leave this place.' the monster said again, speaking to the trio telepathically as it cradled its wounded shoulder with a mild interest.
'Why?' Gwen asked. 'Tell us why. Give us a reason!'
'Gwen! Don't encourage it!' Owen yelled.
'Evil has been awakened.' the Yeti spoke. 'It will rise from the snow like the Doctor said it would.'
'The Doctor?' Gwen asked.
'LEAVE!' the Yeti roared.
With one final roar the creature frightened them, before a mysterious blizzard blinded them and the monster dug into the snow, leaving only his drops of blood in the snow behind, and the rope and grapple hook he had ripped from his shoulder, as proof he had actually been there.
As they pulled themselves up from the snow, Torchwood checked its surroundings, but there were no signs of the beast. It was gone.
'Evil has been awakened.' Ianto repeated.
'It was here to warn us, Owen.' Gwen spoke, as she put away her weapon. 'And you had to shoot it.'
'No.' Owen said stubborn. 'Something's wrong here. Something's behind all this and that something doesn't want us to know about it.'
'What about Tosh?' Ianto asked. 'She's out there somewhere, probably right in the middle of it...'
'We need to find her.' Owen spoke.
'And fast.' Gwen added.
What was that sound?
Somewhere in the darkness, something was moving.
Toshiko backed away from the left tunnel, and she fearfully glanced at the corridor to her right. She soundlessly gasped for air as she saw a light at the far end of the tunnel.
She took her first step towards the light and shined her flashlight at the frozen figure she was leaving behind. Then she shined its light at the dark corridor in front of her.
'Oh, god!' she gasped as she saw four eyes gaze back into hers.
She started to run, run, run like the wind.
Two snake-like figures with cold, lifeless eyes had gazed into her eyes; their bodies seemed to be made of a dozen of round, seemingly elegant parts of metal, attached to each other.
Toshiko ran down the corridor, towards the light, and in her mind the eyes of the two metal snakes haunted her. They had been white and cold and without life.
And Toshiko knew they were after her.
Her fast steps trampled the ice beneath her feet. At some points she slipped and her flashlight shined on the walls beside her.
The snakes…
They were part of the walls. They were gliding across the walls as if they were swimming, not crawling.
Toshiko yelled as she tried to outrun them. The metal snakes grabbed her foot and arm and pulled her down to the icy ground.
She struggled and fought to rid herself of the grip of the snakes, but they seemed to be twisted around her in a unbreakable lock.
'Let go of me!' Toshiko cried to the lifeless snakes.
The rumbling appeared again. It was coming for her.
Toshiko knew this.
The snakes had pulled her to the ground with their enormous weight, and as the rumbling approached, Toshiko tried to reach for her gun.
One snake entwined its tail around Toshiko's other arm. As it shined in the light which came from the other end of the tunnel, the snake's tail seemed like a huge, metal bracelet which cut off the blood to Toshiko's hand.
Toshiko saw a silhouette of a man approaching her.
The same figure she saw before trapped within the ice; it was exactly the same.
'Help me!' Toshiko cried. 'Please!'
Both the light and the darkness prevented Toshiko from seeing the figure's face.
It seemed to be raising its arm. Toshiko could barely tell.
The figure touched some buttons on the back of his hand, and suddenly the snakes let go.
Toshiko didn't know why the snakes had released her. She saw how the metal snakes returned to their place in the walls, as if they were part of it.
However, Toshiko could still see their eyes light up in the darkness, and they were watching her.
One snake was still not letting go of Toshiko's foot. The grip had loosened, but the snake would not let go.
Toshiko stood up and tried to shake it off.
'Release her.' A strange, hollow voice spoke and Toshiko realised it was coming from the silhouetted figure. 'Cybermat, you will comply.'
The cybermat finally let go of her foot, and also returned to the walls, but now Toshiko was worried.
'Cyber?' Toshiko asked. 'What do you mean by that?'
The figure did not answer her.
Then Toshiko finally realised who stood in front of her.
She reached for her gun, but with one swift motion by the silhouetted man the gun seemed to be pulled out of her hand by an invisible wire.
A powerful magnet attracted the weapon's metal, and now Toshiko was unarmed.
The silhouetted figure touched the keypad on his wrist again, and the cybermats wrapped themselves around Toshiko's arms. They were so heavy, Toshiko almost found herself on the floor again, but she managed to stand upright nevertheless. The snakes formed a powerful lock around her hands, so she couldn't resist.
Two strong hands were suddenly placed on her shoulder and they lifted her off the ground.
She couldn't walk, because of the weight of the cybermats around her arms, but now she didn't need to anymore.
Her feet were hovering, dangling, above the metal floor as the metal men carried her through the tunnels, away from the light and back into the darkness she had tried to escape.
'Evil has awakened, he said.' Gwen spoke.
'It has to be asleep before it can wake up.' Owen added.
Owen's naked, freezing fingers were typing away on the small laptop's keyboard as a cold wind howled across the snowy valleys.
Owen searched for information of strange phenomenon or alien sightings around the Himalayas for the past fifty years.
It wasn't easy: neither the Chinese or the Indians keep any sort of record of such activity (at least, as far as they knew), to access UNIT's files they needed Jack's password, and the only plausible thing they could find were some classified files from an American organization called 'Area 51'.
'There we go,' Owen said. 'Nothing much, but it's definitely something.'
'It says it fell down from the skies fifty years ago.' Ianto said, reading the captions of the blurry, black and white photo.
The photo showed a strange ship which descended the white mountains. It seemed like a dot in the distance, if it had not been enhanced and digitally modified by specialists.
'A group of Asian climbers took this picture,' Owen said as he looked up at Ianto.
'They died 24 hours later.'
Gwen nodded and swallowed, as she put her sunglasses ack on.
Owen closed his laptop and put it back in his rucksack.
Prime Minister Harold Saxon had sent them on a mission.
A mission they thought to be a waste of time.
But now they wondered whether he knew of this threat which was buried in the snow somewhere. They weren't told. They weren't informed.
Torchwood was sent there without a reason, without a cause or purpose.
And they wondered: Had the Prime Minister known?
Had he sent them to their doom?
Toshiko was out there somewhere; in danger, dead, or dying.
And so was the monster which warned them not to go further.
They heard his words; but ignored them.
If Jack had taught them a thing or two, this would be one of them.
'If there's evil out there,' Gwen said. 'We'll find it.'
'No doubt about it.' Owen simply said, as he put on his sunglasses as well after he closed his rucksack and put it on his back.
'Ladies and gentlemen,' Owen spoke. 'It's time to save the world.'
'Is it that time already?' Ianto quipped as he followed Owen through the mountains, to the place where the ship had supposedly crashed.