Chapter 43

Jack was pleased with his night's 'work'. He'd succeeded in his twin goals of sending Ianto to sleep with a smile on his face and making sure he knew just how much he meant to him. The marks on his wrists from the soft bindings he'd eventually had to resort to, in order to stop Ianto from gripping hold of either the sheets or his shoulders, causing himself pain, had almost completely faded away, which was just as well as he really didn't want to have to explain those to Owen. However, the marks he'd made just above Ianto's collar bone would still be there come morning, as would the ones on the insides of his thighs.

Ianto was curled around Jack's body, one leg hooked over his, holding him down and an arm draped across his chest. Jack cradled the bandaged hand in one of his own carefully, keeping it from harm. He had his other arm wrapped protectively about Ianto's bare shoulders, keeping him warm as he drew lazy circles on the exposed skin with his fingertips. Feeling Ianto's hips pressing against his thighs was testing Jack's resolve to let his lover sleep unmolested, but he resisted temptation, knowing just how exhausted he was. Instead of moving his hand down, under the sheets following the ridges of Ianto's spine, down towards the curves of his buttocks, he gently stroked Ianto's hair. Closing his eyes and focusing on the regular warm breaths caressing his chest, Jack let himself succumb to sleep as well.


Owen had been working throughout the night, scowling as the results of the DNA analysis came through. He'd need to sound out his conclusions with Tosh, but he couldn't see any other explanation. The sound of the alarm on the other side of the cog wheel door came as a welcome signal to him, there was no way that it could be Gwen, not at seven in the morning. Part of him felt bad that Tosh hadn't got as much sleep as she deserved, yet he couldn't help feeling relief that he had someone to share the bad news with before breaking it to Jack. If it was as bad as he thought it could be, he wanted a second opinion.

"Good morning … or is it?" Tosh was stopped in her tracks by the grim expression on Owen's face. "What's the matter? Is it Ianto? Is he alright?"

"As far as I know he's still in Jack's bed and I'm pretty sure Jack would have bellowed for me if he'd taken a turn for the worse."

"Thank goodness for that – but there is something wrong, isn't there? I can tell."

"You're getting as creepy as Ianto, you know." Owen pointed a finger at Tosh in accusation. "This is getting like how Ianto is with Jack - how he reads him like a book, one printed in large font size, with pictures, in colour."

"Is it the analysis?" Tosh pursued her prey, not put off by diversions.

"In a word, yes." Owen gestured at the computer screen he'd been gazing at for over half the night. "I need you to look at this – you set the program to hunt down sequences analogous to active sites on enzymes that break down peptide bonds, yes?" He waited for Tosh to nod, acknowledging that he'd correctly interpreted the aim of her program. "Right, well, as expected quite a few turned up. The program then extrapolated to seek out other hydrolytic enzymes and, amongst a whole load that are in all living cells, it ferreted out these two – I've double checked and they're almost perfect matches."

Owen pointed at the screen angrily and waited for Tosh to take in what he'd been staring at in disbelief.

"What do they match?" Tosh pulled over a seat to sit next to Owen.

"Restriction endonuclease enzymes. Enzymes that bacteria use to cut DNA. The bloody thing is equipped to slice and dice its own fucking DNA."

"Are you suggesting it can genetically modify itself? But that's not possible – plants don't have that capacity-"

"That's the snag – it's where we've been going wrong all along. We've been treating it like it's a plant – something familiar with chlorophyll, leaves and roots. Trouble is, it's not – it's an alien life form. It doesn't have to play by the rules for Earth plants."

"This changes everything – it's not mutating after all. It's transforming its own DNA – maybe there is still an environmental factor which is triggering the switching on of the genes to make restriction enzymes." Tosh frowned as she attempted to make sense of the new evidence. "Then the enzymes cut the DNA and rearrange it to form the genome we're seeing in the plants that attacked Jack."

"Yeah, it's more like a natural progression, not a chance lucky mutation. Something is stimulating these things to develop into different forms, with a different life cycle, producing chemicals that can paralyse and digest animals. All we need now is for them to start moving around and then we're really up shit creek without a paddle-"

"Oh my god." Tosh's face fell as something awful occurred to her. "There's something else, Owen. I didn't mention it before, because it didn't seem to make sense. It was late last night and I thought I must have made a mistake… maybe I contaminated the DNA sample… misread the profile ... but now it doesn't seem so far fetched-"

"Tosh, you're babbling." Owen reached out and placed his hand on Tosh's shoulder, attempting to ground her. "Spit it out – what did you find?"

"Base sequences for polypeptide chains integral to actin and myosin molecules."

"You've got to be kidding me." Owen wasn't surprised that Tosh had initially dismissed that finding. He would have done the same. "Bollocks – Ianto's going to have a field day when he finds out. Muscle proteins – no wonder they're looking for a protein rich diet."

"Just as well he dragged Jack's body away from them." Tosh shuddered, imagining what would have happened if the plants had digested Jack and used his amino acids to embark on the next stage of their accelerated evolutionary development.

"We've got to kill the bastards – every single one of them. We've got to do it before they reach the next stage."

Owen thought back to the innocuous looking purple leaved plant he'd peeled off the floor of the garage. He'd never thought for one moment that it had what it took to become an independently mobile, carnivorous monster. There had to be a clue in the DNA profile to help them find a weakness, a vulnerability, some way of killing the damn things.

"Tosh, take the keyboard for me, you're better at this than me." Owen wheeled his chair to one side allowing Tosh to sit at the computer. "Pull up the rearranged DNA sequences – all of them. I want to look through them again. I've got a hunch."

It didn't take long for Tosh to bring up the relevant display. She highlighted all the transformed regions of DNA in a different colour and as they peered over the details, scrolling along the strands, Owen saw the pattern that had eluded him earlier. The segments of transformed DNA had telltale staggered ends from where the ligase enzymes had inserted them into the plant's original genome, that was to be expected, but as they moved to the next integrated strand the sticky end was complementary to the previous one – meaning that they'd fit together like pieces from a jigsaw if removed and put next to one another.

"Can you copy out all those inserted sequences and assemble them together?"

"What are you thinking, Owen?"

"Just do it."

Tosh quickly set the program to select the highlighted sequences and drag them across to a line parallel to the recombinant DNA. As Owen suspected, each piece's staggered end neatly joined up to the next until there was one complete stretch of genetic material.

"Now I want you to fold it up and join the ends."

"What – make it into a loop? Oh my god, are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"

"That I'm a fucking genius? Probably." Owen grinned, although he wasn't in the least bit amused by the prospects they were revealing.

"Plasmids, small loops of bacterial DNA – they have bacterial genes incorporated into their genome." Tosh's eyes shone with excitement at the discovery they'd made. "That would account for the restriction enzymes as well. The enzymes used for genetic engineering are all sourced from bacteria."

"I'm beginning to think it's a symbiotic organism - part plant, part bacteria. Like lichens but with bacteria instead of fungi-"

"And more ambition," noted Tosh wryly.

"Yeah, most lichens are happy enough clinging to a lump of rock." Owen shook his head with disgust. "Why do we always get the aliens with attitude problems?"

"But, Owen – if the plant's development is determined by genetic modification by bacteria, it probably relies on the bacterial component for other vital processes." Tosh was talking fast now, as she began to formulate a way of using the information to their advantage. "If we can find a way to kill the bacteria, we might be able to wipe out the plants."

"Fuck, that would be a bloody miracle if it worked, but I think you're onto something. All we've got to do is figure out what type of antibiotic the bacteria are susceptible to. There are antibiotic multi discs in the fridge, all we need is a culture of the bacteria. A quick Gram staining even, that would at least let us know if penicillin would do the trick."

Owen stood up and pulled Tosh to her feet, spun her round and gave her a big kiss on the lips.

"You're a bloody genius, Tosh, have I told you that?"

"Let's keep our fingers crossed that it's a nice regular Gram positive staining species then." Tosh grinned, delighted at not only having stumbled upon their best chance so far of destroying the plants, but also of having gained Owen's admiration.

"We need to get hold of some living bacteria to culture. Think our plants will be ready to harvest?"

"Only one way to find out. I haven't checked them since before I left last night."


"Hey there – you OK?"

Jack had been roused from his light slumber by the sounds of heavier breathing next to him and the agitated movements of his lover's limbs. Ianto appeared to be in the midst of a particularly vivid dream and was becoming increasingly restless.

Switching on the bedside lamp to get a better look, Jack leaned over Ianto to see if he was awake or not. He almost appeared feverish and it didn't take long for Jack to confirm that he was definitely warmer than he should be. There was nothing covering them but a crumpled sheet and a solitary blanket that barely reached as high as their hips.

"Ianto? Wake up – come on, wake up for me."

Jack gathered up Ianto's hands and held them to his face, pressing the fingers against his lips. Definitely warmer than they had been, maybe the treatment had caused a reaction and Ianto's body was responding and causing the fever. Either that, or it hadn't worked and he was getting sick. Jack slipped out of the bed and made his way to the bathroom to fetch a washcloth, soak it with cold water and wring it out.

By the time he'd returned, Ianto had crawled further under the blanket, clutching it to his chest to compensate for the lost source of heat, and was now shivering. That convinced Jack that all was not well and he pulled the bedclothes back and put the chilly cloth against Ianto's forehead. The reaction was instant, Ianto's eyes shot open and flicked from side to side, seeking out the cause of his rude awakening.

"What the fuck's going on?" Ianto was shocked to find Jack leaning over him looking worried sick.

"How are you feeling?" Jack cupped Ianto's chin in one hand to keep him focused.

"Why?"

"Stop asking questions and just answer them. How do you feel?"

"My head aches – but that might be because you chose to wake me up with a wet flannel. A kiss is more traditional you know and is more likely to put me in a good mood."

If Jack hadn't been so anxious he might have submitted to Ianto's oblique invitation. At least he was coherent, no slurring of words and his eyes seemed bright enough, maybe too bright, perhaps a little watery. But at least he had woken up.

"Fair comment, but you were tossing and turning – more so than usual. I was worried." Jack admitted in a quieter voice. "So a headache – anything else?"

Ianto looked up at Jack and was touched by the undisguised concern in his lover's eyes. He could lie and say it was nothing but a headache brought on by intense sex and dehydration, or he could confess to how he was really feeling. Seeing the look on Jack's face, he opted for honesty.

"Yeah, I do feel a bit shivery, but not cold … and I think that if I move my head too fast I might throw up."

"That does it- I want Owen to take a look at you."


"When did you last check the trials in the hot- I mean the herbarium?" Tosh asked as she followed Owen up the stairs towards the room that had once served as the boardroom.

"It was about four hours ago – they all seemed to be doing well, even those we'd treated. This had better work because nothing else seems to be touching the bastards."

Owen pushed open the door to the hot house, which he'd insisted on renaming the 'herbarium' after Gwen had taken great delight in describing how she'd found Jack and Ianto in flagrante amongst the alien foliage. He wouldn't mind betting they wouldn't be taking their clothes off anywhere near any alien plants in the foreseeable future, even those two weren't that reckless.

"Fucking hell! They're all dead!" Owen couldn't believe it.

Every single plantlet that had been nurtured in its own separate sealed unit was shrivelled up and no longer thriving. The lights above them hadn't failed and the steady hum of the air pump was still going, but at some time in the past few hours all the plants they had carefully cultured had died.

"Isn't this good news?" Tosh asked tentatively. "Doesn't it mean we must have discovered something that kills them?"

"No such luck – they're all dead, including the fucking controls! We'll have to start from scratch, this is a bloody disaster!"


A/N - Science stuff ... the alien plants are part plant, part bacteria, not like earth plants at all. They can alter their own DNA to code for whatever the plant needs to make the most of where it's living ... it has now changed its DNA so its cells can make actin and myosin, the proteins that allow muscle cells to contract ... it was digesting Jack to use his proteins to build plant muscles ... once it has absorbed enough protein from its 'food' it can then start to make muscles and begin to move around ... it's nasty ...

Meanwhile, Tosh thinks that if they can get the bacteria cultured they could find out how to kill them and then the plants will die as well...

As for Ianto... any ideas what's going on with him now?