Chapter 10

Owen looked at the results he had just collected from the computer, a frown on his face. He looked down at Rhys on the table next to him, then back at the piece of paper in his hand. Jack reappeared at the top of the stairs to the lab area, his usual mug of coffee in his hand.

"What is it?" He called down in response to Owen's confused look.

"I'm not sure...The scans say that he's totally normal, completely healthy. But clearly as we can see, he's not"

Jack looked down at the results. "Have you got any clue as to what that thing did to him? Anything at all? Because whatever it is its dangerous. And we have to stop it"

Owen shook his head. "No, the only thing I can tell is that Rhys is in a very deep sleep, and for whatever reason, nothing we do can wake him up. There's nothing more I can do for him."

"Ok well, make him as comfortable as you can and keep monitoring him. I want to know immediately if there's any change in his condition. Oh also..." His voice quietened as he turned to leave again "If its ok with you, I'm gonna let Gwen come down here. She should be with him"

Owen merely nodded as Jacks footsteps receded into the distance.

'Owen'

He looked up sharply at the faint whisper; half believing what he'd heard was simply a breeze rustling the papers on the desk next to him and not that eerie voice he'd been hearing all day.

Shaking himself, he got back to sorting his files and setting up his equipment so that he could give Gwen some space when she came down.

'Owen'

This time there was no mistaking his name.

"Tosh? Gwen? Anyone there?" as always, his voice came out practical and calm, though he could feel himself growing tense and his fingers itched to reach for the weapon in the back of his jeans.

'E lyh caa oui. E lyh rayn oui. E ghuf ouin tnaysc yht ouin hekrdsynac'

This time they came from all around, harsh and cold. The words penetrated into his head and burned into his mind, making him gasp and clutch at his ears, trying to block them out. A sudden wind seemed to have whipped up from nowhere, disturbing the paper and random items in the room.

'E ghuf ouin tacenac yht vaync' E lyh caa ajanodrehk eh ouin seht'

"What do you want from us?" Owen growled through gritted teeth, the pain steadily building in his head. He could feel something in the wind tugging at him, trying to make him turn around to look at something. He closed his eyes and stubbornly fought against it

'Fro fuh'd oui muug yd sa? Fro fuh'd oui caa sa?'

"Leave me alone!"

'Bmayca...'

Just as suddenly as it had appeared, all activity ceased. Paper fluttered to the floor, and a final clatter sounded as a pencil tumbled from the desk. Standing up straighter and cautiously lowering his hands, Owen looked around him at the devastation. Rhys was in an island of calm, none of the mess having touched him. The rest of the room was covered in bits and pieces that had a few moments ago been neatly tidied away.

Jack, Tosh and Gwen appeared at the top of the stairs at that moment. Tosh and Jack looked around at the mess in shock; Gwen only had eyes for her fiancé.

"Owen, what the hell just happened here? I leave you for 5 minutes and you trash the place" Jack said, half joking, half deadly serious.

"Are you alright?" Tosh hurried down the stairs to him, checking him over. "You're bleeding..." She touched his ear gently.

"Yeah I'm fine" Owen said brusquely, stepping away from her and quickly wiping the side of his head with the back of his hand. "I don't know what just happened, there seemed to be some kind of breeze in here, just appeared out of nowhere."

"Well you and Tosh get this cleared up quickly, we got work to do. Gwen..." Jack spoke to her gently, taking her arm, "You don't have to stay here if you don't want to. Likewise you can take as long as you want."

"I...I want to stay here" Her voice came out husky and empty as she slowly stepped forwards and lowered herself into the chair next to Rhys. After a moment, her hand reached out and their fingers became intertwined. Jack motioned to the other two to follow him back up the stairs.

"Give her a few minutes and then get clearing up. I'm gonna go through some of the old reports; see if nothing like this has ever happened before." Jack swept off before they had a chance to get a word in edgeways. They looked at each other for a moment before looking away again awkwardly. They were both thinking the same thing, but neither of them wanted to be the one to say it. Whatever it was that was going on, it was clearly specifically targeting the Torchwood team. The thing that wasn't clear was how far it would go before they could work something out