"Doctor Joseph Fischer, please," Miranda said, shifting away from her usual Irish brogue into an American accent, as she tucked the phone receiver into her shoulder, making sure she used the correct name. "This is Doctor Evelyn Wei returning his call."
"Of course, Dr. Wei, please hold," said the cheery woman. Her voice was replaced with hold music.
Miranda reached out and pressed the speaker phone button. The chemist was extremely busy. She knew she'd be on hold for some time. She was surprised there was even a receptionist working at Dr. Fischer's office on a Sunday morning.
The tests she had run yesterday had revealed an organic compound. She'd been able to isolate some of the compound herself from the blood samples but impurities had been playing havoc on her ability to identify the compound successfully. Without an identification, she couldn't find it in Torchwood's database, if it was even in the database.
She'd instantly thought of Joseph Fischer or 'Fish' as Miranda affectionately called him, a chemical engineer she'd met in the spring 1995. Miranda had been living in Boston, working as a surgeon under the name Evelyn Wei. Fish had been a child prodigy and genius, and was at MIT finishing his doctorate despite being only twenty three. They'd been standing in line together, late at night in a convenience store. The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night's sleep he'd said from behind her, but not for the two of us it would seem. Joseph Fischer had a quote for every occasion. Charmed by the Australian accent, Miranda had struck up a conversation. The two had exchanged phone numbers and had gone on a positively disastrous first date, in the end agreeing they were better off as friends. Miranda hadn't spoken to the man since he'd moved to the UK in 1998.
She'd looked the young man up when the compound had started to prove problematic and learned that Fish was working for a company called ECO UK, a renewable energy research firm in northern England. Miranda didn't understand the man's work in the slightest, despite being well educated in chemistry but she knew it had something to do with batteries for hybrid cars. After assurances that Fish wouldn't be able to identify the compound as alien, Jack had given Miranda permission to contact the chemist and then send samples via a private courier. Despite being the weekend, Fish had been delighted to help, even more delighted to hear his old friend was now living in the UK as well.
The hold music abruptly stopped and Fish's voice came over the line. "Evie! This is one sexy problem you've sent me."
"Having trouble, Fish?" she furrowed her brow in concern as she reached for the receiver.
"Nope, I should have the main compound isolated for you by tomorrow at the latest. I'll e-mail the results to you as soon as I have them."
"I appreciate you working through the weekend on this." Miranda had tried several times to get him to send an invoice for his time but the man had refused.
The other man laughed. "Come visit me in Manchester, let me buy you dinner and we're even."
"How is you buying me a meal making us even?" Miranda smiled with regret. She knew she had to avoid seeing the man face to face. When they'd met in 1995, she'd told Fish she was thirty, the age that matched the alias she'd been using. It was now 2009, nearly fifteen years later and Miranda still looked like a woman in her 20's, not a woman of her mid forties.
"Well, you could let me have my wicked way with you after I ply you with food and drink," he said with a laugh. "I am a lover of the human race, especially of women!"
He'd taken to quoting Dylan Thomas since he'd learned she was living in Wales.
"I may be up by Manchester sometime next month," she lied, "I'll give you the details."
"Looking forward to it, Evie. You try to keep dry down there," he joked. "Listen I've got to run, I think that spec I was running has finished."
"Of course, don't want to keep you, Fish. Thank you again."
"Next month, Evie!" he disconnected the line.
Miranda hung up the phone sadly, knowing she had no intention of seeing him. The rest of the day passed without incident, Miranda using it mostly to update her paperwork. Without the compound, her part of the investigation was at a standstill.
Later that afternoon, she was in the middle of tidying up the Hub when her fax machine beeped. She saw ECO UK's logo on the paper from across the room. Fish is a genius!