3
Secretariat Lobby. Back entrances to the meeting rooms. Fifties Old Earth Deco. All the rage. Black and white linoleum floors. Green marble walls. Silver elevator shafts. Old-fashioned mail chutes. Ianto clutches his satchel as he moves through various alien types. He looks behind him.
He enters the interpreter's locker room.
A narrow room lined with square personal lockers, each one has a combination lock. Various Interpreters come and go. The Locker Room is open on to the Lounge and Computer Area. Ianto goes to his locker and dials in the combination. As he does so, two men near-by stop talking. He notices.
He nods to himself as he puts his satchel away and closes the locker. He turns around.
And jumps.
A man is right there. A janitor. He smiles apologetically.
Ianto does likewise.
.
.
SECURITY COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM
A much smaller version of the Council. Fifteen planets crowd around a rectangular table. Two walls are lined with booths. This is where the real business is done. The room is tight; the atmosphere, tense. The French Ambassador speaks loudly, impromptu. The New American Ambassador's face doesn't hide her disagreement. We hear Ianto's voice, flat, efficient ... "The Matobean vote puts this Council exactly in position the Romulan treaty envisions it."
Inside the Interrupter's booth Ianto is at the mic.
A colleague sits and reads a thick novel behind him. The door to the back hallway is open. As Ianto interprets, he nervously eyes the Conference Room. "Firmly behind an interplanetary criminal court. For that reason alone, this is an important vote?"
Ianto hears quick footsteps behind him in the access hallway. "However, it also allows this body to communicate a vision of itself."
The footsteps get closer.
"We must prove our belief in galactic justice is free of bureaucratic ..." Ianto struggles to ignore it as he continues to translate but he can't help but look back: a Chinese Interpreter hurries past, late for his shift. Ianto catches himself, "... free of bureaucracy and selfinterest."
Ianto's Colleague makes a flicking motion with his finger; he turns off the mic.
"You okay?"
"Fine." Ianto turns on the mic and resumes "... We must put today's human rights ... "
Mic off, he explains "I didn't sleep well."
Mic on, he continues "... on a higher plain than our fears about tomorrow's sovereignty."
.
.
.
Later Ianto take refuge in the balcony over the public lobby. Ianto sips the last of a latte from a to-go cup. He sets it on the railing and looks down on the Lobby below. The last of the tourists leave, a few mill around the Ferizzian sculpture. A Mysterious Man stands near an exit. Ianto watches him.
There's a loud bang.
A Young Woman has dropped a book. She picks it up off the floor.
Ianto looks back to the Mysterious Man.
A Woman and Two Kids approach the Mysterious Man - a tourist family - and they go to the exit. Ianto bumps the empty to-go cup. He watches as it tumbles from the balcony and bounces off the side of the sculpture, which sends it flying somewhere beneath the balcony. Unsure what to do, Ianto makes a face and moves away from the edge of the balcony.
Typical. Clumsy oaf, not even Myfanwy here to blame for that one.
.
.
INTERPRETERS' LOCKER AREA
Ianto smiles at himself - and his crazy fears - as he dials his lock's combination. He opens the locker door.
IANTO FREEZES.
The locker is empty.
.
..
POLICE OFFICE (CONFERENCE BUILDING) - DUSK
Almost everyone has gone home. An Alien Tour Guide (they wear national dress) moves past Toshiko who waits for Owen near the exit. He's down at the other end of the office with Ianto. Ianto's signing a theft report; his hand shakes a bit.
"Don't worry. Likely just a locker theft. We get shoulder surfers over there from time to time." Owen assures him, "third one this month."
Ianto forces a smile.
"You want an officer to take you home?"
"No, thanks. I have to go pick up my extra set of keys of Jack, he's working late." Ianto answers as he reads the report one more time. "I have another hour of catch-up from today's transcripts then I am going to Jack, then home."
"Alright." Owen pats Ianto's arm "Don't worry. Okay?"
Ianto nods a thanks and moves for the exit.
Owen watches him. He then holds up a just-a-second finder to his wife and goes to a near-by cubicle. Owen picks up the phone to send a message.
Toshiko turned her back to him and taps her own coms so Jack has two messages pop up in quick succession.
.
.
Ianto waits as John enters. He looks like he hasn't slept yet. Ianto closes the door behind him. "Sorry to call you in so late John, I know you had that stake out last night. Jack is trying to finish up his invoicing and get here to pick me up. I keep getting calls. No matter where I am. This booth. The GA. It rings until someone picks up."
Ianto points to the phone. Like all phones in the building, it has a clunky retro quality.
"What do they say?"
"Nothing. They hang up, wait five minutes and call again. But they never say anything. It's happened thirty-five, forty times." Ianto shrugs.
"What if your mic's on. "
"The light flashes."
John looks down onto the Council below. The Brilleron Ambassador has the floor. "Are you sure this where you need to be today?"
"No. But I didn't want to be alone." Ianto sighs "Jack is working late so… I was going to go home with him later."
John watches him a moment. The phone rings. Ianto jumps. John answers as the second ring starts. "Hello?"
A distant John puts his fingers on the cradle. "Is this an outside line?"
Ianto nods. He hits redial and waits. "It's ringing."
He gestures for Ianto come closer. They share the ear piece. Their cheeks almost touch. A distant ring. John and Ianto listen to ring four. A machine answers ... "Sorry. we can't come to the phone right now, but here's the beep."
Ianto gasps.
"What?! Who is it?!"
" Me. "
"From your machine at home?!"
Ianto can only nod.
.
.
HALLWAY TO JACK AND IANTO'S APARTMENT
Jack clicks off his gun's safety. Ianto is behind him. John gingerly turns the key in the lock and pushes the door open.
Jack and John enter: the place has been completely ransacked. The take a moment to register the chaos. Ianto stands in the doorway.
"I think it's safe to say whoever's behind our threat isn't back home watching Lifestyles of the Rich and Dictatorial" Jack growls.
Ianto views the room without emotion.
None of them like this at all.