26
Jack was in the Africa Room, the grass still as the artificial attmo was turned off. He was on a ladder, reaching for one side of the Dome, as high as he could reach, trying to get the film off it. Yeah. All the work put in over two years in preparation for these fucking things, and one of the dome panels still had the protective film for construction attached.
He was humming to himself as he pulled at an edge, then cursed as the pair of scissors he had used to pick the edge away fell from his fingers. He looked down and froze as, to his shock, a penguin wobbled past.
Jack blinked, and then looked around for an explanation of this, calling out in a stage whisper to the man in a yen pose on the grass nearby "Ianto. Yan. Hey… Tiger. Look… a penguin."
Ianto opened his eyes and looked up at him, the answer as he opened his mouth was a roar as loud as…
Jack woke with a start, sitting bolt upright to look around with confusion as nearby Ianto lay flat on his back humming the exact song he had been humming himself, in the dream. "Tiger?"
"Hmmmm?"
"I saw a penguin in my dream."
"That's nice honey" came the dreamy reply "then the racing car I heard in the… wait."
"In the wait?"
Ianto sat up, looking around, "Fuck. Do you have a headache too? Turn the amto on. Quick, check the levels. Carbon monoxide."
"You think?" Jack was alarmed as well, rising to check the levels on the nearby tablet, then cursing softly "You're right. Levels are way up… shit. The filtering system is not working?"
"I don't like this" Ianto said as he paused, then flicked his hand at him "come on. Get out of here. Check the others."
They moved off to check and Jack found Ianto waist deep in the system's core, muttering as he and Suzie pulled out parts, blew on things and then reached into a box full of fuses like … for a car… and replaced some, then settled back, pushing a button. Both working independent of one another but at the same time, sort of in sync. It was like watching a well rehearsed dance or something, it was impressive.
Finally Ianto stopped and sat back in his heels as she clipped in the last hose.
"Firing" Toshiko said as she knelt with her hand on a part, then she nodded as the large machine suddenly kicked over and began to hum in a familiar way.
"So it was just a misfiring thingee?" Owen asked.
"I don't know. Things seemed fine… like maybe something just came loose?" she shrugged in reply.
Ianto seemed to be standing still as if listening as well, then he lifted the walkie-talkie "Alignment compete?"
"Yep" Andy's voice came over the speakers "The two solar shields to the south were tilted the wrong way just like you thought. Weird, one and you could blame an animal or something rubbing on it, but two of them totally turned towards the ground. I was worried the motorized swivel mounts were damaged but they moved back into place no problem."
Ianto frowned as he stared at the walkie-talkie like Andy was speaking a foreign language, the frown deepening as he replied "Place some cameras so we can watch."
"You thinking sabotage? It's just animals rubbing on them like deer or something, surely!"
"I am thinking lots of things Andy, you know me. Just… monitor please. Oh and Andy? Don't call me Shirley around the others, you know that is our special thing" Ianto finally turned and looked at Jack as Andy cackled over the speakers at the old joke.
"You think they are trying to smoke us out so to speak?" Jack asked with concern, turning to look at the others present, everyone knowing Ianto had swung his massive dick and given many a black eye recently.
Everyone moved to check their allotted emergency areas, in case of sabotage.
.
.
"Right, I found damage to the Agriculture Dome, alone one edge. Like someone had been at it with a grinder, but of course the glass is bulletproof so they didn't' do much damage our side. I reinforced it mind." Mari said as they all sat around the table for a debrief.
"The water supply to the northern feed was tainted with something so I shut it down and purged the lines. We don't need it, the spring from in here can sustain us, it was only ever for effect as another setup would not likely have a spring" Mickey added "I think you are right boss. One or two things might be a coincidence but… this is getting stupid. Someone is fucking with us in the most subtle way possible."
"The real question here is …. For how much longer before they decide to up the ante?" Jack asked everyone, looking around the table "Look, I have a meeting with Morty this avo, I will talk to him and see if he can get some of his people looking around outside, we will be vigilant in here right? We are on the home stretch. We don't need someone to fuck this up for us now."
"agreed" came the unanimous answer.
Everyone moved to their specific areas assigned in case of an emergency. Now in effect… everyone was in emergency mode.
And waiting for the next thing.