Whitchurch Library; Cardiff, Wales
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Dmitri Petrescu found comfort wandering the towering library shelves. Few things felt familiar anymore. The world and most of what he understood changed. He barely recognized himself. But the library with its knowledge for all to access regardless of labels welcomed him. Books had always been his friends. He used them to teach himself. With beautiful public libraries and the Internet, people of this time took knowledge for granted. The same with school. While he wouldn't wish his experiences on anyone, general ignorance annoyed him.
Amidst the topics and genres, he met kindred souls. The boy hiding from the kids who taunted him for reading instead of participating in the sports. The teenage girl devouring nonfiction books and showing her father teen fiction when he arrived to drive her home. An elderly man flipping through WWII history books and remembering ghosts from battlefields most cared nothing for. An elderly woman asking a librarian less than half her age to print recipes off the Internet because she barely understood the computer. Libraries were wonderful places where asking questions wasn't a crime and ignorance wasn't promoted.
Many sought refuge. Telyn Lewison hovered among the paperback romance novels as she often did. She worked too many hours and slept to few. It hadn't taken much to realize why she shied away from him. Loud noises, quick movements, and men in general scared her. One thing he could appreciate about the new world was that family abuse was no longer legal.
"Good morning."
She eyed him a moment. "Morning."
"Anything interesting?"
"New Christmas novel." She held up a hardcover with a red and green cover.
"Neurology." While there was hope the Pierro group was gone, he still needed to update his knowledge.
"Are you really a doctor?" She led over to a small table against a wall.
Dmitri smiled, sitting across from her. She'd asked him that before. "Yeah. I earned my degree from Oxford and did foundation training in London." Which was true.
"You don't have set hours?"
"My duties vary. I don't have patients and office hours." He'd avoided telling her he worked in law enforcement. She'd previous reacted badly to seeing a police officer picking up his kids' book over his lunch hour one day.
"What kind of doctor?"
That was a new question. "Unusual situations. Everything from unexplained injuries to pathology."
Telyn made the connection and fear took over. "Police?"
"Torchwood."
"Aliens?"
"Not generally. I consulted with Dr. Guenevere Floyd, the local medical examiner, last week on a strange illness. A tropical fish can cause hallucinations." Which Dr. Floyd already knew. She'd been ordered to consult by the detective constable assigned the case. A ridiculous situation in which she walked him through the evidence and documentation, some of which were journal articles she had written herself. "No aliens involved."
"I clean offices."
"Nothing wrong with that." He'd mucked stalls, various hard labor and pretended to be a faith healer. He couldn't judge.
"I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was a kid." She sounded wistful.
"Not too late."
She smiled. "I'm allergic to anything with fur."
"It's not too late for new dreams."
"I've seen too much to be an optimist." She shook her head.
He'd seen more than she could imagine. "I came from nothing. My family was poor. No one expected us to accomplish anything. But I did. Not because I was the best or brightest, but because I was determined."
"Determination takes energy."
Dmitri's mobile vibrated. He checked the screen. "I need to take this," he said reluctantly.
The call had thankfully not gone to voice mail by the time he reached the stairwell. "Good morning."
"Morning. I have two more bodies. Witnesses describe the same behavior as last week."
That wasn't good. "The arse demanded another consult?"
"No. Evidence was found in the flat of the deceased indicating they were using the dreamfish to produce a hallucinogenic. It could be similar to CN."
Dmitri glanced through the notes on the drug. It was created by incubating alien reptile eggs with growing mushrooms. "Similar how?"
"Weird drug. Dead bodies," Dr. Floyd said sarcastically.
"I need to call Jack."
"Captain Harkness and Mrs. Williams are dealing with two young men at Forest Farm convinced they're being chased by a dragon." She paused. "A neon blue dragon named George."
"No."
"Yes."
"Text me your location."
Forest Farm; Cardiff, Wales
Jack Harkness laughed, catching Gwen around the waist before she could fall. Tracking the two young men was simple enough. Catching them was another story. There had to be a lot more to their hyper, child-like behavior than drug-induced hallucinations.
"Are they even trying to escape from us?" Gwen held onto a tree. The ground was slick.
"No." From their actions, he doubted the men knew he and Gwen were chasing them.
"Do you have stun pellets?"
Ianto suggested it and he forgot. "No."
"We can't keep this up. I will break an ankle."
One of the men screamed.
"Stay here," Jack said.
Gwen glared at him. "I'm not Ianto."
Another scream filled the air.
"No." Jack smiled. "Ianto would have worn decent boots."
The humor faded when he found the first of the two men they'd been chasing for more than half-an-hour. The man was mangled; his injuries looked like a large animal attack. Jack looked around at the surrounding trees. Nothing indicated an animal. The ground was frozen solid and wouldn't yield prints.
Jack tapped his ear com. "Gwen."
"Yeah."
"Do you have a portal device?"
"Yeah."
"Get back to the hub and get everything we can on the area. They might not have been completely hallucinating the creature."
"Jack," Ianto injected, "Dr. Floyd called about another body. Dmitri is headed there now."
"Call John and notify the general, in case I need back-up." Jack crouched by the body. "I have no idea what killed this guy." The gashes looked like claw marks. The type a large reptile would inflict.
The CN dragons came to mind, except they'd shown no indication of general aggression. The adult he saw at Cattrel industries months prior was the size of a small car. There was no way there was one in the area. Although they knew dragons could conceal themselves, bending light and running through a forest without a trace were two different things.
Roath (neighborhood); Cardiff, Wales
Dmitri Petrescu couldn't help but admire the tree-lined streets and Victorian architecture. According to the information, he read on the Internet it was a diverse area with both fancy historical homes and university students wanting nearby housing.
He parked Ianto's car behind a police cruiser. Driving was definitely a different experience he needed to get used to. Jack offered to get him a car. As he understood Ianto's small, simple one, Dmitri said he wasn't ready yet. He wasn't sure how asking Ianto to get a new car would go over.
A constable waited on the sidewalk and lead him through the gate and into the house. He wondered if it was a place young people rented rooms. It was impressive outside but had mismatch furnishing, and needed maintenance. Dr. Floyd was waiting in a room in the back.
Aquariums lined the far wall. Supplies for maintaining them were stacked against the other side of the room. It was impressive set-up saying the person or persons responsible cared more for the aquariums than the rest of the house. A quick glance around the room showed no indication of a drug.
"How can I help?"
"These fish," Dr. Floyd said, "Are being used to create a hallucinogenic drug. How?"
"Anything from the autopsy last week?"
"After consuming dreamfish, and having what was described as severe hallucinations, he had a fatal heart attack."
Dmitri knew that much. "Could they have increased the concentration of natural hallucinogen?"
"Yeah. It's caused by what the fish eat. These were either laced or genetically modified."
Dmitri lowered his voice. "DCI Sawyer is questioning you again?"
"Yes. Please take jurisdiction. You have better equipment for tests." She smiled was an unpleasant expression. "He's retiring at the end of the year and wants the media on this case."
"It's similar to CN," Dmitri said, thinking aloud. "A fatal drug that causes hallucinations and is created by modifying something normally harmless."