Torchwood: Exodus Code

legs in threads of silver light.
    Suddenly Jack realised why the hydrothermal vents had been pulsing out the ecto-hormone; it needed to find the third sacrifice, the female whose connection to the Earth was strong, and who would be a worthy sacrifice.
    But not a child. The universe could not take another child. He would not allow it to take a child again.
    The pulsing veins of silver were whipping themselves round Jack’s ankles, and he felt himself welcome them, the sensation as wonderful as he now remembered it. Renso stepped into the circle with him, wrapped himself in his arms, kissed his lips, then took his hands in his. Jack tasted lemons and felt every fibre of his being ache with longing.
    ‘Get that girl out of there, now!’ screamed Anderson, shooting into the sky because she didn’t know what else to do.
    Jack was being sucked into the ground, being tugged towards the dark abyss of the basin. He turned to the outcropping of rocks where Vlad and Eva were hiding and watched in terror as Gwen shot out from their grasp, sprinted across the clearing, hit a sheet of rock and leapt from it, landing in the circle next to Isela.
    ‘Gwen! No,’ screamed Jack. He tried to clamber towards her, but his feet were encased in the earth, wrapped in the tightening silver veins that were dragging him fast towards the rim of the mountain. He threw himself flat on the ground and stretched out his hands towards Gwen.
    Behind him, the ground opened and the mountain swallowed Gaia, her descent marked with a thunderous boom that bounced across the mountain peaks.
    Anderson dropped her gun. Loosening her rappelling wire from her kit, she dodged the widening crevices on the plateau to get to Gwen, who ripped at the tendrils and veins, freeing Isela from the earth’s grip. At the edge of the circle, Anderson shot the hook into the trunk of a smouldering Kapok tree, tossing the other end to Gwen, who hooked it onto Isela’s belt. Anderson slammed her palm on the switch and the winch dragged an unconscious Isela from the circle of fire into Anderson’s arms.
    ‘Gwen, what are you doing?’ screamed Jack, most of the lower half of his body mummified in silver threads, the pain and the pleasure indistinguishable.
    ‘What any good mother would do,’ she sobbed, her eyes stinging from the sulphur and the burning chemicals in the rock, ‘saving the world for my children.’
    A fissure shot from the lip of the mountain into the circle, pulling Gwen to the ground, the silver veins quickly mummifying her. She stretched out her hand towards Jack, their fingers touching for a second, for the briefest moment in time.
    ‘You made my world a better place, Jack.’
    The earth shook, the circles tightened around Jack and Gwen like fiery lassos, pulling them over the lip and into the vast gaping abyss.
    *
    Rhys woke up suddenly, and stared in horror at the television in front of him.
    The news channel showed the picture out at sea, of the chimney of rock growing around the fountain of water appearing to spin out of control, rising higher and higher above the jet and then folding in on itself, falling down like a pile of building blocks, falling in on itself and the sea, sending an enormous wave crashing out towards Swansea.
    He was about to turn for the stairs, run to Anwen and carry her down to the basement, when a tower of silver threads, like electrical filaments, shot up from the sea, spiralling around the disintegrating chimney and then exploding like a flowery burst of brilliant fireworks, blasting the remnants of the chimney in a million points of light.

The Ice Maiden

73
    Off the coast of Miami, two weeks later
    ‘PERMISSION TO COME aboard, Captain,’ said Jack, climbing off a classy speed boat being driven by an expensively dressed sailor.
    ‘Are you sure that’s what you want?’ asked Hollis, steadying the boat as Jack climbed out and onto the
Ice Maiden
’s platform.
    ‘Permission granted,’ said Cash from the deck above.
    Jack laughed and embraced Hollis. ‘I’m more than sure. Besides I’ve been missing your po’boy sandwiches.’
    ‘I could go for one of them too,’ said Sam, leaning over the portside next to Dana.
    ‘I’m all about sharing,’ laughed Jack.
    ‘It’s going to be a long noisy voyage, I can tell,’ said Cash, grinning and slapping Jack’s back. ‘Glad to have Torchwood on board.’
    Climbing up the ladder to the
Ice Maiden
’s deck, Jack hesitated. He had a sudden memory of the