It's almost two months since the day I eventually persuaded the Captain to give me a job here at Torchwood, and I must say that have grown quite accustomed to the originally strange and exciting ways of the institute. I am by no means bored of it though, every day is still completely different from the previous, besides the standard supplying of coffee and completion of paperwork that is. Everyday there are new alien species discovered, or another impossible decision to be made, I am even getting closer to finding help for Lisa. My programme has finally found some matches and I have written to four doctors who appear to specialise in cybertechnics, explaining mine and Lisa's current situation, and hopefully I'll get a positive response.
Despite still being in an unbearable, unthinkable amount of pain, Lisa seems a little happier I think. Being here with me at the hub, means I can check up on her whenever I like, chat to her if she is awake, and hopefully give her just the tiniest sense of normality, something for her to hold on for. I used to feel awful before, working such long hours and missing the times of the day when she was awake and conscious.
I still haven't told anyone, I can't face telling the Captain yet. I'm not sure if that's because I am worried he'll be cross that I have gone behind his back, bringing her here, or that he just won't see it from my point of view, or worse still he'll see it as some sort of joke, the teaboy in love with the cybergirl. It an unusual situation admittedly, but I do think that the latter is unlikely; I don't think the Captain is like that. Then again, there are so many sides to his personality it is impossible to tell how he'll react to anything. I often worry about what he thinks of me. He treats me the same as the rest of the team, and to my face he's nicer than nice, but that's his way. He's told me several times that I don't need to make the coffee all the time, or clear up after the team, I think he's given up now. Perhaps that's how he sees me. I've created this persona for myself as 'the teaboy' as Owen delicately puts it. I'd probably be moaned at for not doing those things, if not by him then by Owen at least.
Speaking of Owen, I've recently noticed that Tosh has a little bit of a thing for him! I'd already noticed that she can be particularly she around him, and laughs a lot more than a person with a sense of humour would do at his jokes. And Since moving down next to her in the hub, I've watched her as she looks over to him occasionally, with a look in her eyes which says 'turn around and look at me back', but he never does.
Typical Owen he can't see what's staring him right in the face. He doesn't deserved Tosh any way, she's too sweet and lovely for him, and he'd break her heart. I've seen the way he treats women, as accomplishments not equals, I have a sneaking suspicion that that is why Suzie is always so off with him…. I'd ask Tosh but I imagine she'd be a bit sensitive about it. And of course I can't ask Suzie or Owen, and the Captain would probably make a suggestive remark about office relationships that would make me blush. (Update: still haven't got used to his 'manner', still calling him Sir) .So I guess I'll have to wait until someone mentions anything.
Last week we came across the most peculiar creature, the latest to have unfortunately wandered through the rift into our world. An 'Ood' the Captain said it was. It had the most extraordinary face, a slightly elongated skull covered in a thick pale skin, a wrinkled face with thin slits for eyes and a mass of pinkish 'tentacles' dangling down from where a nose might sit if they had one. I asked the Captain what we would do with it, but he told me that the Ood were born to serve, he (/she?) would be no bother to us. He made it clear that he did not agree with using the Ood as slaves, which didn't surprise me but none the less was nice to hear. I couldn't have stood it if he had decided to use him as our servant. Instead the Ood will be kept in our most comfortable vault, he's around 27 which is old for and Ood, so we will make him as comfortable as possible for the time he has left.
It is gestures like this that give me hope that the Captain will understand and want to help Lisa, after all she is not a threat.
The Captain found something unusual that had fallen through the rift, some sort of metal glove. He brought it back to the hub and gave it to Suzie to analyse and try and deduce what it was, and I almost can't believe its purpose is possible. It has the power to resurrect those who have died for a short while, we don't know exactly how long yet. Suzie is calling it the 'resurrection gauntlet'.
From the analysis Suzie was able to identify that it was made of the same metal as, and clearly resembled, a pair of gloves that Torchwood had found in 1895, used for that purpose. We all had an attempt at using the glove, to find out if and how it worked. For Owen, Tosh, myself and even the Captain the glove had no effect on the victim of a Weevil attack that we were trying to resurrect.
But Suzie managed it straight off, the second she put the glove on I could tell that she would be able to do it; she just had that determined look on her face. Perhaps you need to really want it to work before anything will happen. I myself only had a turn to be polite, secretly a little wary of raising some one back from the dead, and perhaps the others felt the same.
All I know is that Suzie showed no signs of apprehension, and the glove brought him, Chris, back to life in a matter of seconds. Having thought ahead, I had my stopwatch at the ready so we would know how long we would have with future use of the glove, so we'd know how to make best use of the time we had.
"Nice stopwatch" The Captain said with a wink.
Sometimes I am sure he is mocking me. Chris was brought back for about two minutes, 1 minute and 52 seconds to be precise. Suzie was sure she could do longer with practise. As she said it, something seemed to flash across her eyes for just a second, she looked too eager to use the glove again. I didn't say anything there and then, but Suzie tends to become obsessive about things, like the time she discovered this dealer in antique microscopes that she couldn't stop going on and on about, I could see the glove becoming like that. We'd better keep an eye on that.
Another issue I see with the glove is that poor Chris was so disorientated when he 'woke up' that he spent a large amount of his time asking us to call him an ambulance. And by the time we managed to get him to listen, and told him what had actually happened, that he was dead and we'd temporarily resurrected him, he started screaming and thrashing on the floor, saying it wasn't true. And then he was gone. Part of me worried what it may have done to him, and could do to others. Disturbing them forever more in the afterlife, or leaving them in purgatory. Further suffering after an already painful and unjust death.