23
Jack sits at the meeting table and watches Ianto's face as Ianto slowly places down pictures of something he has been looking for… what he believes someone else was looking for in Toshiko's work bag last night …. the chip Jack had dug from Lisa's scull. Jack sits back and waits for the explanation he knows he is due.
He did not expect Toshiko to be the one who speaks "Kingsmen's purview includes the development of genetics, robotics, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology, as well as data mining, Deep Net salvage, cryptanalysis, and protection of the Global Information Grid. Alien tech deconstruction. And then there's Clockwork."
"Clockwork?" Jack asks.
"Last year, 60 Minutes first aired a story about a quadriplegic that could operate a robotic arm with her mind. The microchip attached to her brain was created right here. But Clockwork took it further than we could ever imagine." Toshiko nods, then leans forward with her hands clasped together on the meeting table "Once we started translating the brain's signals - phase synchrony, neural integration, proteomics - we realized we could facilitate a direct neural interface that could access the entire electromagnetic spectrum - telephone, internet, radio, satellite..."
"We. You too? You are one… you …" Jack struggles then asks "Are you saying you put a computer in her brain?"
"We built an agency complex around the host - analysts, tack teams, field ops. When a situation rises to a certain level of security, the Agency brings us in." Toshiko pauses as she clicks a button on her laptop and the screen behind her comes to life, Lisa standing there with a grace and elegance to her that they never got to see, their version already a turned thing that needed to be put down in the end. Jack motions her to continue "Operation Cube had been active for six months prior to the outbreak and since then, we've enjoyed an 85% success rate. Included in that success is the thwarting of the Millennium Stadium Bowl bomber."
"I thought that was UNIT?"
"You haven't been cleared to think anything different." Toshiko is calm "This is not UNIT or even Torchwood level. This is something else"
"So … Lisa was not the only one?" Jack frowns "There are others? If you have someone acting beyond the outbreak?"
"There….there were" she sighs "There was a hiccup. While connected to the Mainframe of T1 a chip contracted…. Stuxnet Two"
"Stuxnet? The computer virus?" Jack looks at Toshiko. She nods again.
"ATMOS Virus? Please. Stuxnet is the world's first weaponized cyber worm, a digital cruise missile. We took out Iran's nuke program first, and now North Korea. Boo-yah. (beat) Of course, the only way to plant it in an isolated, bunkerized system, four stories underground, was for Operation Cube to carry it herself... (points to Operation Cube's head) Which is why we need to make sure none of the code burrowed in."
"How?"
"We have a Trojan, it is what Lisa had in her head. Trying to download it to the servers to counteract Stuxnet."
Owen put a hand up "I have a question. If you don't mind."
"No, go ahead" Toshiko nods.
"If there's nothing left of her brain and the chip is not functioning right now and it's encrypted, why does it need to checked anyway?" Owen points out and Jack agrees.
"The Zombie virus came from somewhere, we know it was not extraterrestrial in nature… whatever… whoever created it must have left a footprint. The chip will have it imbedded." Toshiko explains, "There were several agents in the building, we know those infected were burned along with the other bodies, we were unable to get to them in time. Only the one in Lisa would be viable for downloading into a safe subnet." Toshiko sighs as she throws her hands up "but it was not there. Lisa was so badly mangled that the chip seems to have… I don't know. Flown out somewhere? Despite best efforts to check and recheck the Hub… we cannot find it anywhere."
Owen looks at Ianto "And so … its the last one?"
"The last one that was in an infected host" Ianto says softly.
"So… you have a chip too? Since you are a Kingsman too … you have one in your head? Do all of you have one in your head? Toshiko? Do you have one? I mean … you scrubbed out but was one implanted at the beginning of your training? Is it still…."
"OWEN" Ianto is angry now, evident in the way he has stood and is glowering at him "For fucksake. The only other person that was exposed to the virus with a chip implant was me. Me. IF we don't find it… I have to give up mine. Why certain elements are trying to work out if we found it or not. If we do not produce that chip …I am the sacrificial lamb as it were."
Jack stares at Ianto with open confusion "What? Wait… what?"
"They need the information from that day. It will lead them to whoever still has a form of that virus and can release it again if they wish. Why do you think there are people stalking us? Not just Fish out there… other things are in the shadows trying to see if we have the chip or not." Ianto sighs as he slumps back in the chair "Soon they will decide we do not have it, then they will refocus. They have already made a play for Toshiko, her car is toast by the way… whatever they think … her laptop was taken from the backseat by a Zaixel so they will have cracked that .. know the chip is not found … the only option left is me. So … I guess we have to go through some protocols to sign me out of Mainframe before I hand over the chip to the Kingsmen. It will be able to access this place unless I am shut out."
"But… how do they get it out?" Owen is the one to think about it, as always his mind hooks to the medical side of it.
"They crack my skull open, cut into the cortex… extract the chip near the brainstem and then access it by plugging it into …"
"But what about you!" Owen demands "How the fuck do they do that without killing you!"
Ianto doesn't speak… he simply sighs as he stares back at Owen who rears back "FUCK! Fuck, NO NO! They are gonna kill you?"
"Gotta save the world" Ianto whispers as he looks to the far wall "Not like I will be that much of a loss. For the betterment of mankind."
Jack's world is spinning, unable to speak as he reaches into his pocket and removes the ring box, placing it on the table.
"I knew it" Toshiko groans "all the time. Jack. Christ almighty, you've had it… Ianto was supposed to go in last night for the extraction but my car crash …. That was close."
Ianto does not look at Jack, he is unsure if he has been saved out of love… or if Jack just wants to see what is on the chip first.
He regretfully accepts it is probably the latter.
