PLAGUE
FOURTEEN
Owen had both Weevils splayed out in the autopsy room. Jack was standing next to him, examining one of the dissected corpses and trying not to feel queasy.
"Both of them died from what resembles a subarachnoid hemorrhage in a meninges layer of the brain. I've not spent 'quality time' like this with a Weevil before. They aren't physiologically so different than us… well, than me, actually." He gave Jack a pointed look before continuing.
"They've a similar complex brain structure – they have meninges membranes, neurons and glial cells. And their brains are divided into regions just like ours. Do you see the blood here?" Owen was pointing to a spot in the brain of one of the Weevils. "Blood has contaminated the cerebrospinal fluid. Both of them have subarachnoid bleeds in roughly the same area. Now, I don't normally believe in coincidences…"
Jack interrupted him. "This is no coincidence. Something killed these Weevils by giving them hemorrhagic strokes; quick, effective and absolutely deadly. The question is what was it?"
Owen shook his head. "I need to do a cerebral arteriography followed by an analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid and brain tissue. I'm guessing we might find something there that will tell us what caused the aneurysms."
Wil walked in speaking to her headset. "I'm talking to Gwen," she looked at Jack. "She and Tosh report that so far all the Weevils they've found beneath the city are dead."
"Jesus God," said Jack.
"They stopped counting at a three hundred bodies and are requesting further instructions."
"Are the police with them?"
Wil turned away, spoke softly for a moment and then turned back.
"PC Andy is there."
"Tell him to seal off the sewers. Have Gwen call London and advise them to start checking all the usual locations. Then she and Tosh should head for the abandoned mines outside the city and assess our other major cluster of extra-terrestrials."
"Right," Wil said as she walked off.
Jack looked at Owen. "I think we should put our astronaut on ice. Let's isolate him in the morgue and freeze him. Do you agree?"
Owen nodded. "I've got all the samples I want from him, including CSF. He's more of a hazard than I'm comfortable with at the moment. Unless there's something special about him like there is about you, Jack, I give him zero chance to recover."
His last sentence sounded like a leading question, but Jack let it go. It wasn't the time or place to open up about his past.
"Good, then I'll have Ianto take care of him. You get to work on those samples. Let me know as soon as you find something."
He turned to leave but was halted by the sound of Owen's voice. "Uh, Jack, I have one other question. What are we going to do about The Doctor?"
He didn't bother to look back. "Leave him alone."
And then he left the room.