Torchwood: Exodus Code

place. Every space is small, every sound big, every voice amplified.
    Cash thumped on Jack’s cabin door at 6.15 the next morning.
    ‘Hollis Jefferson Albert the third,’ called Cash, thumping again, ‘this is your captain speaking. The one you work for not the one you’re screwing. If you don’t get your worn-out ass into the kitchen and feed me, you’ll be sorry you ever set foot on my ship.’
    Hollis rolled away from Jack, grabbed his clothes and headed for the door. ‘Later, mon cher. He’s just cranky because Dana’s not here and he had to sleep alone.’ Hollis blew Jack a kiss and darted down the passageway naked, his clothes bundled in his arms.
    ‘I can see where you’ve been, you know,’ yelled Sam, sticking his head out of his cabin.
    ‘I’m willing to share,’ laughed Hollis.
    Jack was climbing off his bunk when Eva pushed into his cabin. She sounded breathless and looked exhausted.
    Jack grabbed the sheet, wrapping it around his waist.
    ‘Oh, sorry,’ she said. ‘I saw Hollis head to the showers. I figured you were free.’ She shrugged. ‘It’s a small ship.’
    Jack took two quick strides towards her. She backed into the door. Jack leaned closer, his hip brushing against hers, his hand trailing along her bare arm, lifting her head to his. She exhaled, but she didn’t move.
    ‘What can I do for you?’ Jack whispered.
    ‘Not that.’ She blushed, but didn’t duck out of his way.
    Jack grinned and backed off, sitting on the edge of the bunk. ‘Are you always this easy to embarrass?’
    ‘Not usually,’ she admitted, looking away from Jack’s piercing stare.
    ‘Been a while, has it? Vlad not fast on the uptake?’
    This time even her ears burned. ‘Vlad might be if I looked like Shelley.’
    ‘Hmm. Don’t confuse Vlad’s fantasy with what he really wants; otherwise, it wouldn’t be a fantasy.’ Jack pulled on his trousers, letting his braces hang loose. ‘What brought you charging along here so early this morning?’
    ‘Shelley did.’
    Eva set the Torchwood disc on the cabin’s small desk and tapped it. Shelley appeared in front of Jack.
    ‘Good morning, Captain. You slept well, I hope?’
    ‘I did.’
    For a fleeting moment Jack wondered if Shelley had been in his cabin during the night. He’d left his laptop on in case Rhys or Andy had tried to get in touch and some of Shelley’s intelligence was from an alien program, after all.
    Nah, he thought. She’d not been sentient long enough to think fully for herself. Had she?
    Jack decided he’d need to monitor her evolution. He knew that when you lived in a world with so many powerful machines wired together eventually a consciousness develops. He’d have to keep an eye on Shelley.
    ‘Captain, I wanted to inform you of the results of my analysis from the water that has been surging from the hydrothermal vents.’
    ‘Which,’ added Eva, leaning on the door jamb, ‘have increased significantly in number.’
    ‘How many more?’ asked Jack.
    ‘At least seven additional ones in the clusters we’re monitoring, and they’re growing as quickly as the others.’
    ‘That’s not good news,’ said Jack, sitting back on the bed. ‘Is my friend still monitoring them, too?’
    ‘Yes, Captain.’
    ‘We may have to do something about that, Shelley.’
    ‘Yes, Captain.’
    ‘Tell him what you’ve learned, Shelley,’ said Eva, wary of hearing too many covert details from this man; after a thorough web search, she’d found only two significant things about him: he’d disappeared after the funeral of a CIA agent and he liked to read.
    ‘Three critical points, Captain,’ said Shelley. ‘First, I’ve pinpointed the elements that were proving difficult to detect last night. The first is an ecto-hormone with a high density of androstenal, and the second element is carnosine.’
    ‘Carnosine is a toxic hormone that affects the nervous system,’ said Eva. ‘It can create birth defects if you’re not born with the genetic inhibiter, which has to come from both parents. Geologists will have a field day with this. Who knew it was percolating beneath the ocean? We’ve never found anything like carnosine in the Earth’s crust before.’
    ‘Not so fast, Eva. You can’t share any of this until we can stop what’s happening. If the world learns the oceans are filling with a toxic hormone we’ll have global panic, and we don’t behave so well towards each other when that happens.’
    ‘But you can’t ignore