Chapter 15
Leveled Block; Liverpool, England
The device was mildly disorienting. Jack Harkness wondered if he'd used it correctly. At least he arrived where he intended; a block from the destruction area. He sent Gwen a text message and started walking.
A figure stood near the rubble. He recognized Aman Oliveira in the dim light.
"What are you doing?"
"Seismic readings," Oliveira said without looking up.
"According to a psychic, if it's shook, it'll escape."
Oliveira looked at him. "Keara?"
"Would it make a difference?"
"It might. What does she predict will happen?"
"World destruction."
He crossed his arms. "Why are you here?"
"There is an alien warship in the Rift. We don't have a lot of options."
Oliveira laughed. "And I am the crazy one."
"Do you have a better idea?"
"No."
Using his wrist-strap, he reprogrammed the portal device to transport the clockwork god. He hadn't been sure it would work. Ten minutes later, he was ready. He hoped the connection survived entry into the Rift, there weren't a lot of options for destroying the clockwork god. It had to be destabilized at the quantum level. The portal device might work and it might cause other problems.
Jack called Gwen as he walked away from Oliveira. They needed to coordinate. "Are you ready?"
"I don't know." Gwen was worried.
"How's she doing?"
"Not good."
"Put me on speaker."
"Done."
"Anwen, can you hear me?"
"The universe glows." She sounded high.
"I'm going to teleport a weapon into the Rift. It will destroy the ship."
"Good."
Jack emphasized, "I need to know what happens to the weapon after that."
"It will find peace."
"Are you ready?"
"Hurry."
Hughes Flats
The Rift energy changed. The evil weapon entered the Rift. An impossible creature made of gears. The warship tried to flee. There was nothing it could do. The gears shifted and spun creating a web of energy around the ship. The pressure increased, crushing it. Anwen used the new energy, and the Rift, to fill the negative space around the gears. The weapon wasn't sentient, and couldn't out think her. It screamed a horrible sound like scraping metal and ceased to exist.
"I killed it." She felt so warm. Something wet on her lip felt like a nose bleed.
"Medical emergency," the wrist strap announced.
Mom was hovering. Anwen could hear her but she couldn't understand.
The she felt another person, a man. She tried calling out to her mother, but she couldn't talk. Unable to physically do anything, she wondered if she could use her connection to the Rift instead. She focused on him. She didn't have the strength to throw him in the Rift. But she had energy.
The hallway glowed as she focused energy at the man. The last thing she heard was him scream.
Leveled Block; Liverpool, England
"Gwen?" Jack asked, hearing the scream.
The called disconnected. Jack attempted to call her three time, but it went straight to voicemail.
Jack checked the transport device. Sending the clockwork god into the Rift damaged it. There was nothing he could do.
"What happened?" Oliveira walked over to him.
"Something went wrong." Jack wasn't sure who to call. Ianto couldn't handle emergencies. Rhys would flip out. He didn't want to call John.
"My device works. I can take you back."
Jack looked at Aman.
"Twenty years, Jack. I know about Gwen. I know you love her."
Before he could respond, Oliveira grabbed him around the waist. A portal opened and Olveira pulled him through.
Coffi Chwerthinllyd; Cardiff, Wales
Felda Eirmann sat across from the strange woman, wondering if she'd made the right decision. Keara offered a lot of money for a variety for unusual projects, including Colin's vendetta. Working felt good, even if it was questionable. She needed both the challenge and the money. Brexit made finding either difficult.
She knew next to nothing about Keara. Not where she came from or what motivated her. A quick estimate placed her age between thirty and thirty-five. She originally assumed Keara was former military. PTSD or similar psychological problems could explain how the woman went from composed and articulate to dissociated in a matter of moments. She had a few contacts but could find no evidence she served.
Politics had been the original assumption. But Keara's targets and goals were all over the place. The personal demons she was fighting were obvious, and probably what drove her.
What really confused her was Colin's friend Keara. The young woman looked so much like the woman across from her. They had the same name. One of this Keara's projects was hacking Moss-Probert, in general, and Liberty Dowsett specifically. The insane information read like science fiction The Doctor, Torchwood and aliens really existed. Which suggested time travel might be possible. She tried not to think about it to much. But she wondered if the Kearas were somehow the same person.
"Explain this to me. How are we solving anything?" The woman told her the projects would change the future.
Keara focused on her with cold eyes. "We're changing people." She sounded distant. "Experience changes perception. Perception changes how they will react under any given circumstance."
"What?"
"Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime."
To be continued...