Jack looked through the door at the Hub, the scream had stopped. This was not a good sign. The only other person he could see was Tosh who was standing somewhat nervously at his side. This was also not a good sign. The heavy door rolled open, and he entered gun in hand, the first thing he saw was a shattered containment unit. He walked onward; Owen was lying sprawled awkwardly next to the unit. Jack pressed his fingers to the medic's throat and was relieved to feel a pulse. He looked round the Hub once again there was no sign of the now missing Kalarian. Tosh knelt beside him.

"Gwen's over by the obelisk, she's unconscious as well." Jack sighed in response.

"That leaves Ianto, Crystal and an absent alien. We've got work to do." He looked around again; he had noted that there were lights on in the medical bay. He walked slowly forward; despite the lights, there did not seem to be anyone in the medical bay. He stepped through the door and felt the prickle of steel at his neck.

"Drop the gun." The voice was brisk and female. Jack span the gun in his hand so it couldn't easily be fired. "I said 'drop it'." The voice was insistent, the knife was even more so. He knew there was at least one way out of this, but he was trying to think of a way that didn't involve him getting his throat cut. He liked this shirt. He dropped the gun. "Now kick it away and turn round slowly. Keep your hands where I can see them." Jack did as instructed. He could see a flicker in Crystal's eyes that did not seem to belong. He had to get through to her.

*************************

Crys opened her eyes. Her head hurt and it felt as if someone had punched her in the chest a couple of times. That had happened, once or twice, and it wasn't an experience she was keen to repeat. The room she was in was empty and grey; it seemed to be some sort of medical area, but no one was around.

Crys got gingerly to her feet; everything seemed to be in working order. She checked her weapons, her gun was gone and her emergency blade but her favourite knife was still in it's sheath at her side. She drew the blade feeling comforted by the weight in her hand.

A slight noise outside the room caught her attention; she whirled and stared out the door. She saw two people in the area outside. One was the dark haired man from the racetrack, the other an oriental woman. The man turned towards Crys and she ducked, hoping he hadn't seen her. He was the key to all this, he knew what was going on; Crys was sure of that.

She glanced upwards and saw that he was coming towards her. She pressed her back to the wall and waited in silence, her knife held ready. As he stepped through the door she slipped behind him and placed the knife to the back of his neck, stand to one side to avoid being kicked.

"Drop the gun," she said.

*************************

Jack wondered how long this stand off could last before someone got seriously hurt. He knew he had rather walked into this situation but now he had to deal with it. He crossed his eyes for a moment to look at the blade at this throat and then smiled.

"Hello, I'm Captain Jack Harkness. Pleased to meet you." Crys was puzzled by this response but said nothing. "Anyway," Jack continued brightly "There's an escaped alien on the loose and I'm rather afraid it's going to kill someone if we don't contain it quickly." He knew he sounded rather like an old friend, who would have been surprised to see him trying a non-violent approach. He sighed "Would you mind letting me go? I've got a lot of work to do."

"Did you just say alien?" Crys asked. He hopes of getting some sort of answer were fading as it was obvious he was completely nuts. She pressed the knife a little harder into Jack's throat, a trickle of blood started to flow. Jack ignored the cut; that was easy; the trick was getting the blood out of his shirt collars afterwards. He was about to reply when a deep inhuman growl rang out. He had a moment to brace himself and then he felt claws in his back and a weight driving him down.

Crys stepped backwards as a white skinned being with slit eyes bore Jack to the floor. It wasn't human; she realised that in a moment of shock. She could feel the air crackling with electricity, the hair on her arms was standing on end. She thought about running, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to watch someone else be killed like this.

She lashed out with her knife, working on instinct. Her hand stung as the blade bit into the thing's side. Crys was flung backwards by what felt like a kick in the chest; but nothing actually touched her.

The Kalarian got off Jack and stalked towards the semi-conscious Crys. She struggled to get to her feet but stumbled amongst the debris her flying body had knocked from the shelves. The thing had got between her and the door. This wasn't good.

Jack's gun cracked. The Kalarian staggered. Jack kept firing. It went down; he stepped over the body, smiled and offered a hand to Crystal. She took his hand and got, slightly shakily, to her feet.

"What on earth was that?" She asked.

"A Kalarian" Jack said flatly, he continued "and as I said, it isn't anything on earth." Crys gaped at him for a second; her shock addled brain hadn't finished dealing with this idea yet. The body on the floor groaned. "Come on," Jack said catching her hand again. "We have to move, it won't stay out forever." Crys following him numbly, she stared around the expanse of the Hub.

"What is this place?" She asked. A faint hint of awe in her voice. She was impressed despite herself.

"Torchwood 3" Jack answered.

"And you guys hunt aliens?"

"Amongst other things," Jack said with an all encompassing shrug. Crys slowly turned a full circle.

"You've got some really cool stuff here but," she paused considering "you guys are really disorganised." She smiled and looked at the knife in her hand. "Want me to help?"