Torchwood: Exodus Code

do?’ asked Vlad. ‘Other than call our families and say goodbye.’
    ‘I’m going to convince the Helix Intelligence that it’s made a mistake – that it needs to stop its self-destruct.’
    ‘How the hell are you going to do that? If the Helix Intelligence is at the centre of the Earth, you’ll need to go there to stop it.’
    ‘That’s the plan.’
    ‘That’s the plan?’ asked Eva.
    ‘Well, sort of,’ said Jack. ‘But we do have one or two obstacles to overcome before we get there.’
    ‘We?’ repeated Eva and Hollis in unison.
    ‘One or two obstacles,’ said Vlad.
    ‘Maybe three.’

58
    AN HOUR LATER, the comms room was taking on the look and the feel of a Hub. The tequila had been put away and maps, graphs, notes and calculations spread across Vlad and Eva’s desk. Shelley was running diagnostics with Vlad’s help and Jack’s supervision. Jack smiled to himself, glad to be part of a team again, and then he remembered that if his hunches were wrong, if his plan didn’t work, they’d all be dead in four days.
    All. Everyone. The entire human race. No reset. Nothing. The End.
    Except what would the complete destruction of the world do to him?
    Best not to find out.
    ‘Can I help?’ said a slurred voice from the passageway. Jack jumped from behind the desk as Gwen stepped into the room. ‘You didn’t think I’d let you save the world without me. We’re a team, remember.’
    Jack took Gwen’s arm and helped her over to chair. ‘How are you not comatose?’
    ‘Oh, you know.’ Gwen managed an easy shrug. ‘If a Welsh girl can shake off six pints and four jaegerbombs and then order a flaming Sambuca, don’t expect the strongest tranquillisers known to man to keep her down for long.’ She smiled wearily. ‘Although I could murder a bacon sandwich.’
    ‘Me too,’ said Vlad.
    Cash was taking apart a computer drive in the back corner of the room. Without taking his eyes off the task, he raised his hand. ‘Me three.’
    ‘Coming right up.’ Hollis headed off to the galley.
    Jack brought Gwen up to speed on his plan, the others passing her notes and graphs when she needed them for clarification. By the time Hollis returned with a platter of sandiwches, Shelley was playing them the video of the vents building under the oceans.
    The footage ended on the feed of the chimney rising higher off the coast of Wales. Gwen stood at the screen with Jack, watching the rocks around the geyser get taller.
    ‘Are Anwen and Rhys OK?’
    ‘They are, and so is your mum.’
    ‘Do you think Rhys will ever forgive me for what I tried to do?’
    ‘Of course. It’s Rhys. He loves you unconditionally.’ Jack pulled his handkerchief and dried her tears. And so do I, he thought.
    ‘Are you sure this plan is going to work, Jack?’
    ‘Have I ever been wrong?’
    Suddenly everyone stopped what they were doing, waiting for Gwen’s answer.
    ‘Well, there was that time…’ She let her voice trail off.
    Eva’s eyes widened.
    ‘Trust him,’ said Gwen. ‘He’s the world’s last best hope.’
    Eva put down the notes she was looking at, and said to Gwen, ‘So you don’t think we should let someone in power – I don’t know, like the President or the United Nations – know what’s about to happen so they can create some kind of evacuation plan?’
    ‘And flee to where?’ asked Vlad. ‘Anyway, even if every country had their own space shuttles, it still wouldn’t be enough to save everyone.’
    Eva tore into her sandwich, hot sauce dripping down her chin. Vlad reached over and wiped it off with his thumb.
    ‘You don’t think anyone else could be monitoring the hydrothermal vents who can hypothesise, as we did,’ said Eva, her mouth full, her pulse quickening, ‘about what’s going to happen when they all seal themselves?’
    ‘The US Navy and the Royal Navy have submarines full of scientists already examining the vents in Wales and off the coast of New Zealand,’ said Shelley. ‘For the past twenty-four hours, they’ve been trying unsuccessfully to take a rock sample. Nothing is permeating the structures. They’ve tried an array of weapons from their arsenal. It will take them longer to trace the ecto-hormones in the atmosphere and the increase of carnosine in the water; most of their technology is not yet equipped for the tests.’
    ‘Unlike ours,’ said Eva.
    ‘Unlike ours,’ said Jack.
    ‘Because some of our technology is alien,’ said Vlad.
    Jack scanned the room,