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Ianto had heard Toshiko calling out to him from the tech room in her house, leaning out the window to wave energetically so he jogged over and paused to look up at her. She gasped "come in… you have to see this."
Ianto entered the home of Owen and Toshiko to wander into her office. There was a large screen on and to his shock is looked like a Zoom meeting in progress. "I… what is this?"
"You know how we theorized that those in the bunkers had military back up, and would eventually mobilize? Well… they also have cell towers and the satellites still up there are working. Look, it's some sort of meeting of the minds about the Bugs" she gushed.
Ianto pulled a chair over and sat to listen to the many voices as they talked, over twenty boxes along the bottom of the screen where the man sitting at the head of a large table seemed to hold sway. American President? Of course. Then the screen shifts as their British counterpart argued against a comment and when the French President demanded calm he was full screen.
"Wow, does your head in the way it jumps about" Ianto snorted.
"They don't like it wither, the first half hour was about this and I had no idea what the subject was until now." She agreed.
"Look, we need to be aggressive here. Looks like waiting them out is not going to work. Since we now know they are focusing on towns now, it's only a matter of time before they realize there are underground facilities too." The American President was arguing.
"And if we piss them off what then?" someone asked that Ianto did not recognize. Maybe some countries lost their heads of state and they were now being led by the highest ranking official?
It devolved into more arguments and Ianto sighed "so… not getting anywhere really."
"I guess some things never change" she agreed.
Ianto frowned as he listened and then started to rise "if they actually say anything that might be useful to us, let us know. Otherwise, I will get you some crisps yeah?"
She nodded happily settling with her feet tucked up under herself to watch the show.
..
.
Ianto was settled in the hay, hiding from everyone as he looked out over the fields below, the skylight wide open and the sun streaming in. It was a High Bug Day so everyone was sort of lying low. Ianto was going over and over the strange fact that technology was coming back on line and all those around the world were coming together to fight these Bugs but all they could do was bicker like children.
This planet is sort of doomed, ya know?
He didn't even realize he was falling asleep.
.
.
He was underground, a tunnel system with such smooth walls, they were like glass. Heat. A great immense heat had been used. Like maybe some sort of laser? They had been carved out with some sort of weapon or something. The floor was flat, the surface smooth but not slippery and as he walked he could see his reflection on the wall, moving with him.
He was a Bug.
His limbs were swinging in a rhythmic fashion as he motored along as a great rate, heading for something with an intense need to get there, exiting the tunnel into a huge cavern. Like a bubble. Circular. Full of Bugs all clicking and making weird noises as they… talked?
Then a tap to his shoulder had him turning his head to see one beside him, pointing up and so he automatically looked up immediately, seeing above them… oh. Wow. The Queen. She was huge, Bright red and she was laying eggs in weird pods in the ceiling, Bugs moving to cover them with…. Right. Like a royal jelly. He was right, they did work as a hive. Like bees.
Then the Queen's head swiveled around and looked at him, her mandibles opening as she made a strange shrieking noise that had the other Bugs all swiveling to face him, their mouths opening to scream as well.
.
.
Ianto's scream caught in his throat as he jerked awake, falling from the hay bakes onto the loft's floorboards.
What the fuck was that?
He gasped deeply, drawing in mouthfuls of air as he tried to calm himself. It was a dream, just a dream. Maybe thinking of those people in bunkers, he had sort of made tunnels and such from the….
Ianto sat back against the hay bales as he went over I again. They didn't talk about that. The Queen laying egg like that, they had not thought about that part at all. What the hell was that? Would they not be on the floor?
Ianto rose and felt the scratchy hay inside his clothing, lifting his shirt to brush his side and freezing as he stared at the scar across his waist, the claw scrape that had healed to a soft pink scar. He ran his fingers over it and felt himself shiver at the tickle of his own touch, then he looked at the fine lines that still exited from the scar tissue. Like roots.
Was this something that was real?
He decided to keep this to himself.
.
.
Sorry you've not heard from me for a few days, it was my foster sister's wedding and as she is mother's pet project you can guess who did most of the work? Yeah. It's over now and i m allowed some freedom once more... bar all the photos i will now have to print off and 'adjust' a bit. At least being a photographer means i get to stay out of almost all the photos LOL