Torchwood: Exodus Code

you get this? Are we going to have the men in black chasing us?’
    Jack shook his head. ‘The few people who know of its existence are gone or deeply sedated or no longer care. I needed a secure home for my program and your system, your Shelley, seemed as good a place as any to be that home. For now, anyway.’
    ‘I’m gratified and honoured, Captain,’ said Shelley. ‘Torchwood and I are enjoying each other immensely.’
    Vlad was taking furious notes, unable to draw his eyes from his computer screens. ‘This shit is amazing!’
    Jack put his hand on Vlad’s shoulder. ‘You’ll have plenty of time to enjoy Shelley to her fullest later. Right now, I need to have her do a little work.’

49
    ‘SHELLEY,’ SAID VLAD, ‘show us what you’ve learned about the eruptions and the geysers from your analysis of our deep-water data, including their current activity and the order in which they occurred.’
    ‘It would be my pleasure, Vlad.’
    ‘What do you mean current activity?’ asked Cash, as he walked into the comms centre.
    ‘None of the underwater events are on expected plate boundaries, and none runs along traditional fault lines,’ explained Vlad. ‘But here’s the even stranger thing – each one is still active, low level right now, but active nonetheless.’
    ‘According to the data, Captain,’ said Shelley, ‘these tremors are not the result of earthquakes but of volcanic eruptions causing a number of hydrothermal vents to crack through the ocean floor.’ She was tapping her fountain pen on her journal. As she did so, aspects of the map were highlighted on the screen, red pulsing lights representing the epicentres. ‘These vents are similar to the one that has already risen through the surface in Wales and one or two other deep water sites’.’
    ‘What exactly is a hydrothermal vent?’ asked Vlad.
    ‘Essentially an underwater geyser.’
    ‘And the order of these disturbances?’ asked Jack, fitting this data into his own theories.
    ‘Eva has a hunch,’ cut in Vlad, ‘that these deep water events are synchronised in some way.’
    ‘The geysers beginning to erupt above the surface that the
Ice Maiden’s
probes are detecting,’ continued Shelley, ‘is a primary consequence of these hydrothermal vents. The first was off the coast of southern Peru, followed exactly one minute later by deep-water eruptions off the coast of Wales, Scotland, New Zealand and Indonesia. And, Captain, these hydrothermal vents are not registering on any of our traditional measurement scales. Currently, according to my data, only one other source is monitoring these vents.’
    ‘Who?’ asked Jack.
    ‘The information is being downloaded from a UK government satellite to an office in Thames House, London.’
    ‘Christ,’ said Vlad, ‘that’s MI5. I thought you said this software and this mission weren’t going to bring the men in black on us.’
    ‘This particular man in black is on our side,’ said Jack. ‘And although Shelley can monitor what they’re doing, they cannot–’ Vlad rolled his eyes. ‘Trust me. They’ve no idea what we’re doing, and I have my friend’s word, that we’ll be allowed some freedom. For now, anyway. He’s holding Big Brother and Big Sister at bay.’
    Eva was only half-listening to Jack and Vlad. She was much more interested in the unusual discovery that the ocean had a number of new hydrothermal vents erupting from deep within the Earth’s core. More than she’d tracked yesterday. As a scientist this was thrilling. Right now, it also helped her to suppress the desire for Vlad that was not far beneath her surface. Her desire was not helped one bit by the fact that the Captain, in a more refined and imposing way, was pretty gorgeous too.
    Focus, she thought. Focus.
    ‘According to my calculations,’ continued Shelley, ‘a highly unusual energy field from the first eruption is creating the ongoing tremors. They are not, in fact, the result of any shifting of tectonic plates as Eva and Vlad had originally speculated from the data.’
    ‘Is it morphic resonance?’ asked Jack.
    ‘I’ve been monitoring the morphic fields,’ said Vlad. ‘It’s one of my areas of interest – was, that is, until my funding was stolen. I’ve not noticed anything unusual.’
    Shelley continued. ‘The data also suggests that the water around each of the vents has a considerably higher measure of carbon, iron and sulphur than is normal. I’m also detecting traces of