Torchwood: Exodus Code

Vlad and Gwen.
    Isela put her hand out and gently stroked the puma’s neck. It nuzzled against Isela for a beat and then it turned, darted to the rim of the basin and roared, the sound bouncing off the steep rock walls and waking the mountain.
    Seconds later, the ground began to shake violently, throwing Vlad, Eva and Gwen to the rocky ground where they frantically crawled to the massive boulders for something to anchor themselves against. A flaming fissure broke from inside the basin and shot up along the edge of the mountain, circling it once, twice. And then the fissure shot out across the plateau following the area Isela had marked with the ceremonial feathers, creating three interlacing fiery circles, the peak of the third one descending into the flaming rim of the mountain itself.
    The puma leapt from the edge and landed in the centre of the top circle. The entire mountain trembled, a thunderous roar bursting from the bowels of the Earth, spewing ash and rock out across the plateau.
    Gwen scrambled forward, grabbing Jack by the arms. ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’
    ‘Each circle represents the three worlds that must be kept in balance for the Earth to survive. The world above, the world below and the world here and now. I was wrong. I thought that the Helix Intelligence – the astral force – was our enemy, that it was trying to break free, but she’s not. She needs this sacrifice, needs our genetic and cellular codes to heal herself. If Renso had let her have me all those years ago then we wouldn’t be here now.’
    Gwen had been here before. She’d seen Jack walk into the shadow of a demon and stare into a void in the heart of the Earth. And always – when anyone else would show fear, panic, or indecision – suddenly, this most heavy-hearted of men would become cold and rational. He’d clench his jaw and square up to the universe.
    Jack squeezed her shoulder. ‘Gwen Cooper, you know the drill.’
    ‘You bloody idiot,’ said Gwen.
    ‘Yup.’ Jack nodded, kissing her.
    Gwen brushed his hand and stepped away, walking on wobbly legs with as much determination and dignity as she could muster to the boulders where Vlad and Eva were clinging, shaken by the worsening tremors. She dropped behind the safety of the jagged outcropping next to Vlad and Eva. With images of Rhys and Anwen in her mind, Gwen prayed for a tomorrow. She glanced back at Jack, calmly waiting, and then she cleared her throat. ‘Come on, kids,’ she said. ‘Let’s get out of here before the world ends.’
    Jack was about to step into the circle that was burning next to his feet when Captain Anderson charged out of the canyon pass and fired a volley of shots into the air.
    ‘Hold it!’
    The puma leapt from the lip of the mountain, flew across the air and knocked Anderson back against her men. With her massive paws on Anderson’s shoulders she roared, opening her mouth as wide as the smouldering circles themselves.
    Cash broke through the dense jungle brush and fired at the massive cat that was about to swallow Anderson whole. The shot hit the puma’s hind leg. It howled. The ground thundered and shook in response, throwing anyone still standing off their feet. Fissures were shooting out across the plateau from every circle, crumbling and crushing anything and anyone in their path.
    ‘No!’ yelled Jack. ‘Don’t shoot her.’
    The puma leapt off Anderson and pounced into the lead circle. Jack turned and watched as Gaia now stood in the centre of the blazing rings, blood dripping from a bullet wound in her thigh.
    ‘I don’t know what weirdness is going on here,’ said Anderson, scrambling to her feet, ‘but give me the girl and you can all go about your private orgy when she and my unit are clear.’
    Jack turned and stared in horror as Isela began sinking into the earth, being pulled towards the edge of the basin next to him.
    ‘No, Isela! Not you,’ he screamed, his throat raw. ‘You don’t have to be part of this.’
    ‘But the sacrifice must be three,’ choked Isela, the smouldering ash thickening around her. ‘Gaia, the puma from the darkness of the underworld, you, the
cóndor
from the heavens, and someone of the Earth, bound intimately to our world. There is no one else. It must be three. That’s the prophesy.’
    Overwhelmed with the intoxicating fumes, Isela collapsed to the ground, silver veins shooting out of the mountain, darting along the smoking crevices and binding Isela’s feet, then her