Torchwood: Exodus Code

not good, right?’
    ‘It’s not good at all,’ said Jack. ‘Shelley, we need to know exactly what these hydrothermal chimneys are spewing into the oceans and quickly.’
    ‘It will take me a little more time to analyse fully, but on a superficial glance I would say that it’s iron, sulphur, carbonic acid, hydrogen and something else that I cannot categorise yet from my samples.’
    ‘Run the data as quickly as you can.’
    ‘It would help if I didn’t need to use part of my program for projection.’
    ‘Of course.’ Jack tapped the disc, and Shelley disappeared.

51
    Southern Ocean, a week before Isela’s shot
    THE FIRST HYDROTHERMAL chimney erupted from the ocean’s surface and became visible a hundred miles off the southern coast of New Zealand, forming a shell around one of the smaller geysers to erupt.
    A charter fishing cruiser was the only boat close enough to witness the event, but the passengers on board, a honeymooning couple from California and two retired lawyers had no chance to report it, photograph it, tweet it, or even comment about it among themselves.
    Along with their four passengers, the cruiser’s first and second mates watched in awe as an uneven rocky shell began to encase the geyser as if the water was shooting out rocks and building a wall around itself.
    In 10 minutes and 42 seconds the geyser was encased completely, leaving a massive conical structure visible above sea level, thin veins of pulsing silver flashing across its ribbed uneven surface.
    ‘Jesus Christ! What the hell is that?’ said one of the lawyers, digging around under his seat for his camera. He never reached it.
    Seconds before the hydrothermal vent was sealed, his new wife let out a low anguished howl, picked up her fishing spear and stabbed her husband through his back.
    ‘You should have taken me to Rome,’ she mumbled.
    She whipped round and slashed the throats of the two retirees with her husband’s fillet knife before they knew what was happening.
    ‘I hate the stink of fish.’
    The first mate saw the young wife charge at his friend with a bloody spear.
    ‘Danny! Look out,’ he screamed, pushing his friend away from the control panel as the woman stabbed the harpoon through the back of his chair.
    While Danny scrambled across the floor in a desperate attempt to get away from the woman, his mate darted down to the cabin tearing open all the cabinets, pulling everything from drawers in a panicked search for the hand gun that he knew the owner kept hidden for emergencies. He was tossing books from the locker above one of the spare bunks when he heard his friend’s dying screams from above.
    Then silence.
    Dropping to his knees, he dragged the extra fishing gear from a metal storage locker from beneath the lower bunk.
    ‘Please be here. Please be here.’
    ‘It’s not,’ the woman said, a beat before she shot him.
    Blood-splattered and muttering angrily to herself, the new wife climbed up on deck, surveyed her carnage, then with a trembling hand lifted the gun to her own head and fired.

52
    JACK PUSHED OPEN the iron door of Dana’s cabin, stepping quietly inside. He stood over Gwen’s bunk, brushing a wisp of hair from her forehead, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest, hearing the slow drip of the IV sedative, hanging from the bunk above. Gwen’s arms were covered in bruises and she had a purple target around her eye, but the wound on her arm was healing, the image no longer as visible as it had been.
    ‘You are one tough lady,’ Jack whispered.
    Lifting her hand, Jack checked her pulse. Normal. He’d been checking every couple of hours, not only afraid of a reaction to the IV sedative but also afraid she might break through the sedation and hurt herself again.
    Jack kissed her forehead, tucked her arm under the blankets and backed out into the passageway where he bumped into Hollis.
    ‘Bon ami, perfect timing,’ said Hollis, following close behind Jack as he navigated the tight passage to his cabin.
    ‘What can I do for you?’ asked Jack when he got to his door.
    ‘I wanted to offer you dessert,’ said Hollis.
    ‘I appreciate that, Hollis, but I don’t think I could eat another slice of your grandmother’s pecan pie no matter how delicious it was.’
    Hollis stepped directly in front of Jack, placing his hand flat on Jack’s chest. ‘Ah wasn’t offerin’ pie.’
    Jack grinned. ‘In that case, you’d better come inside.’
    *
    A ship at dawn is never a quiet