- 3 -
"No need to manhandle me, Ianto," I said, shaking off his hand. "I'll happily accompany you to the Hub."
"How the heck do you know about the Hub," he asked suspiciously, "and how do you know my name?"
"All in good time," I said, as he led me to the visitor office that was the main entrance to the Hub, now pretty sure I knew what this was. "First I need to meet the rest of your Torchwood team."
Toshiko had once mentioned to me that when Ianto was a small child his father was offered a job in the US. He didn't take it, but if he had Ianto would've grown up over there and returned here as an adult with an American accent.
We descended into the Hub and there they were waiting for us: Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Suzie Costello, and Lisa Hallet, two of whom I'd encountered before and two of whom I knew only from photos.
"Look what the Rift spat out this time," said Ianto. "She looks human, but I'm guessing she's not."
"Not entirely, no," I said, "and where I'm from three of you are dead."
"Where you're from?" said Gwen, frowning.
"Another Earth in a parallel universe," I said, looking around me. "This looks like our Hub except for the absence of the paving stone lift and the pterodactyl roost."
"Pterodactyl roost?" said Suzie. "Are you serious? And who are you, anyway?"
"My name is Mary. I've had many surnames down the years, so depending on when this timeline diverged from my own, the name you're most likely to know me by is Lady Mary Fortis."
"Of course," said Lisa, who'd been looking at me strangely, "that's why you looked so familiar. The statue in Whitechapel - it's you! But how are you still so young?"
"Statue? What statue?"
"The one Queen Victoria commissioned of her friend Lady Mary Fortis, the woman who gave her life ridding the world of Jack the Ripper."
"I did what now?" I said, struggling to keep up.
Then Owen, who'd been frowning over a handheld device he had pointed in my direction, suddenly let out a whoop.
"She's Arcateenian!" he said, excitedly. "Which she definitely should've led with."
All the looks of suspicion I'd been seeing on their faces had now been replaced by ones of relief.
"Why ever didn't you say so?" said Gwen, smiling.
Okay, now I was deeply puzzled. What was going on?
"Great, now that that's sorted out Lisa and I can finally head over to Llantwit Major and catch some waves. C'mon, babe," said Ianto, donning a pair of sunglasses and taking his beautiful girlfriend's hand. "Laters, gang!"
Llantwit Major was around twenty miles from Cardiff, and the closest beach to it on this coast where you could surf.
"I'll take you up to the boardroom where you can watch the news channels on TV and familiarise yourself with our world while we wait for the boss to get back," said Owen.
"Jack Harkness?" I inquired, as we ascended to that room.
"Never heard of him," said Owen, shrugging and handing me the TV remote before leaving me there alone.
Settling back on the sofa opposite the large screen that occupied the wall at the rear of the boardroom I pointed the remote at the TV and turned it on. What it showed me was astonishing.
"The first item in today's planetary restoration news," said the authoritative voice of the news anchor over an image of several ships at work, "is that the commander of the fleet working on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has announced that more than ninety percent of the plastic in the area has now been removed. It's been a couple of years since the last of the large pieces were scooped up and since then the fleet has been sucking in and filtering the microplastics out of hundreds of thousands of tons of seawater each day. Concerns about the effect this would have on marine life have proven largely unfounded, the devices that scare sea creatures away being remarkably effective."
*CLICK*
"Building on the successes of his first term, President Al Gore today met with British Prime Minister Michael Portillo at the World Trade Center to discuss how the clean-up of orbital space garbage is progressing and..."
*CLICK*
"...having last executed someone in 1910, Sweden becomes the latest country to reinstate the death penalty with immediate effect..."
*CLICK*
"In other news, reforestation and de-encroachment policies have been even more successful than initial projections and wildlife has been returning to all the designated areas and thriving. As a result a further fifty animals were today removed from the endangered species list."
*CLICK*
As I clicked through the channels so news from the Sahara made my ears perk up.
"...achieved thirty percent de-desertification," said the news anchor. "How much more can practically be achieved is uncertain, but the large-scale techniques pioneered here are now being applied to deserts across the globe. A pilot scheme to test the feasibility of creating an inland sea in Australia was given the go ahead by the UN today, while in Asia the project to restore the remainder of the Aral Sea is reported to be..."
"Pretty impressive, I think you'll agree," came a voice from behind me, one I had given up all hope of ever hearing again. I turned and there she was, the love of my life, Toshiko Sato.
- 4 -
Only not, of course. No, this version of her was more stylish than my own darling but nerdy Toshiko ever managed to be. She was sharply dressed in an exquisitely tailored grey pant suit over a red silk blouse, her feet were clad in red Louboutins with a four inch heel, her jewellery was expensive but understated, and her hair and make-up were immaculate.
"Shall we move into my office?" she said.
Clearly 'the boss' that Owen had referred to, she led me into what was Jack's office in my world, sinking in to the high-backed leather chair behind the desk while I took the one in front of it. On the desk were my book and the device that had brought me here.
"It's so odd to have a new work by a dead author," she said, hefting the book. "Sara Paretsky died in a car crash years ago, yet here it is. Should we scan it for her estate, I wonder?"
"Your call," I said, unable to take my eyes off her.
"So," she said, eyeing me curiously, "a visitor from another Earth. That's a new one on us. And you say half my team are dead in your Torchwood?"
"Owen, Lisa, Suzy," I said, "and you."
"Seeing us must be hard on you," she said, sympathetically.
"Are your Ianto and Lisa survivors of Torchwood One?"
"Survivors?" she said, frowning. "Don't you mean transfers?"
"In my world Torchwood One was destroyed by Daleks and Cybermen."
"I don't know what a Cyberman is, but the Daleks and the Time Lords went to war and destroyed each other totally. Good riddance, too. The universe is better off without them. As for Torchwood One it's still there. Since Yvonne Hartman's tragic death it's been run by Adeola Oshodi, who reports to me."
At this point Gwen Cooper arrived with a tray bearing coffee and mugs.
"Thanks, babe," said Toshiko, fondling her rear as she set this down on the table. Gwen grinned and headed back out.
"Are you and she...?"
"Gwen is my wife," said Toshiko, pouring our coffees, "and Suzy is one of my lovers. Milk?"
"One of... Does Gwen know?" I said, stunned by the casualness of this admission.
"Of course. Gwen loves me totally and completely. She accepts that I'm sexually promiscuous because she knows my heart will only ever belong to her."
When the milk had been poured she opened the wooden box on her desk and offered it to me.
"Cigarette?" she said.
I took one and so did she, lighting them both with her lighter. It was odd to see Toshiko sucking on a cigarette, one more oddity to add to the many this world had shown me.
"The obvious question I have for you," she said, exhaling appreciatively, "is how you come to find yourself in our universe? Deliberate, or accidental?"
"A bit of both. I was facing an Inquisitor, I needed to get away, and Torchwood had just secured that little device in front of you. I activated it and I ended up here, which was unexpected. The device is clearly Arcateenian, but I don't think it was made by Arcateenians of my universe."
"Nor of this one," she said. "You referred to an Inquisitor. Does that mean your Arcateenians are still ruled by a rigid theocracy?"
"Yes, but... aren't yours?"
"No. A century ago we had an Enlightenment and threw off those shackles. Now science and rationality rule."
"'We'?"
"Oh, didn't you realise? I'm Arcateenian, too."