Writer
Catherine Tregenna
Director
Ashley Way
Music
by Ben Foster and Murray Gold
With horn blaring, the
SUV sped along Sage road towards the abandoned Ritz Dance Hall, pulling up,
Captain Jack Harkness and passenger Toshiko Sato stepped out. Fly posters are pasted to walls and boarded
windows, one especially demands that people Vote for Saxon. Jack in his regular RAF surplus and Toshiko
dressed for her grandfather’s 80th birthday party, step inside the derelict
old building. It had marble flooring,
with an abandoned bar, wide staircase for traffic up and down, a large landing
and a further set of stairs leading up to the dance floor. Posters and plastic
wrapping and tape clung to the columns and fixtures, dust and debris cluttered
the walls and flooring.
Residents had reported
strange noises of dance hall music and chatter at odd intervals during the
day. It had been derelict since 1989 and
was due for demolition, but in its day, it contained a lavish dancehall where
Jack recalled the boys about to go to war whisking their ladies across the
dance floor, Toshiko was more mindful of her laptop case, over her
shoulder. Accepting that there was
nothing to see, he and Toshiko made their way down the stairs. On the landing wall was graffiti art, spray
paint artwork and in large letters ‘Bad
Wolf’. As Jack and Toshiko made it
down the stairs, a band played up and singing and laughter could be heard. Heading back up the stairs, both were
surprised by the busy dance floor.
Lively dancing, much merriment and the discovery that the people were
not ghosts, but a simple temporal shift Jack revelled in it, this was more like
it. Toshiko was a little uncomfortable
and felt it was time to leave in case they disappeared with it. Crossing the dance floor heading back out the
way they had arrived, an elderly gent held open the door for them.
“Do
call again.”
“I’d
love to.” Jack replied to him as he
stepped out into....darkness.
“Where’s
the SUV, has it been stolen?”
Toshiko asked glancing about her.
As Jack took readings a poster took his eye.
“No...we have.”
An irritating bleeping came
from Toshiko’s workstation that roused Owen out of his slumber on the
sofa. Ianto is already staring at the
screen where a series of data streams up before him. It’s Toshiko’s rift readings. She was working on a solution before she left,
if they could just find her laptop to finish the equation - only Toshiko never goes
anywhere without her laptop.
It’s 1941, Jack and
Toshiko are caught up in the time shift, there’s no alternative but to return
to the dance hall where they were when the time shift occurred.
“Flotsam
and jetsam slips through all the time, we’ll get back.” Jack replies,
smiling. “Look on the bright side, gives you one hell of an excuse not to go to
your party.”
“I have a life there and they can’t help us
back at the Hub because I have the latest readings in here.”
Toshiko replied angrily, raising her voice. People looked over, chattering voices
lowered.
Jack suggests that they try to blend
in. Toshiko isn’t so sure. “That’s
easy for you to say, you’re not the only Asian in the room.”
“Don’t
worry, you’re with the Captain.” He
flashes a smile again and they return upstairs.
Ianto contacts Gwen to
go to Sage Street and look out for Tosh and Jack as their Bluetooth signal has
disappeared. Owen brings up the data on
the computer screen, Toshiko’s last known readings from the rift, 24th
December, the day Diane flew through the rift.
Ianto watches as Owen taps away on the
keyboard bringing up more data, he can see how much Diane leaving had affected
Owen.
“You
were in love with her weren’t you?”
“If Tosh knows a way of opening the rift,
maybe I can get Diane back.”
“Jack would never allow that.”
Ianto replies quick to put a stop to any sudden impulses Owen might
harbour. “Opening the rift could devastate the city.”
Disgusted, Owen walks away. Ianto follows, knowing how volatile Owen can
be.
Jack walks to the
nearest bar beside the dance floor and orders a water and a brandy for him and
Toshiko, sadly his modern money won’t work in this time, but a young pilot, who
had observed the pair entering offers to pay for their drinks on one
condition. When Jack enquires after the
condition, George, the young officer, whisks Toshiko onto the dance floor. As Jack laughs and watches Toshiko dance with
George, Audrey frowns at his choice of dance partner, lowering the smile on
Jack’s face.
“Why is George dancing with a Jap?”
Jack keeps a watchful eye on Toshiko.
Gwen pulls up outside
the derelict dance hall, the SUV is still parked outside but there’s no sign of
Jack or Toshiko. She is in communication
with the Hub and reports back to Ianto her findings. Entering the dark building she shines her
Maglite torch around the walls. Entering
the dance floor she hears the sounds of a band playing, echoing around the
dance floor. Having called out to Tosh
and Jack before stepping onto the dance floor, she calls out again, this time
Jack hears his name and turns towards the dance floor but doesn’t see Gwen
whose voice he recognises.
Toshiko doesn’t wish to dance any more; she glances back at Jack, hoping he’ll take her eye contact as a form of ‘Help me out here, boss’.
Toshiko doesn’t wish to dance any more; she glances back at Jack, hoping he’ll take her eye contact as a form of ‘Help me out here, boss’.
Jack wades through the dancing
couples. He taps George on the shoulder,
Toshiko is relieved, but George doesn’t want to stop dancing with her.
“I’m
only borrowing her mate.” George
replies to Jack’s intentions of breaking up the dancing partnership.
“Maybe she doesn’t want to be
borrowed.”
“You want to make something of it?”
George asks.
“You can always dance with me.”
Jack offers jovially. George
pushes him away. Jack laughs, taking it
in humour, stepping forward, towards George he suggests George play the female
to his lead and pushes George backwards, in the same fashion.
“Come
on Tosh.” He turns to escort Toshiko
from the dance floor as George pulls him back and engages his fist against
Jack’s jaw.
Jack retaliates by
pushing George harder, forcing him off his feet. As George scrambles up, a fight about to get
underway, Toshiko pulls Jack back, pleading with him, they were merely meant to
be blending in. Another man steps in front
of George, his commanding officer, a good looking American.
He turns to face Jack
and Toshiko and apologises for his men.
They’re on their last day of UTU tomorrow. He insists that George apologises, but George
insists he was only dancing.
“I
think it was your fist in his face he didn’t like, not your foxtrot.”
George apologises to
Jack who laughs it off, pointing out that George has barely marked him. George apologises to Toshiko who accepts
graciously.
As Jack and Toshiko turn
away to leave, the American officer calls after them. He enquires after Jack’s own reasons for
being at the dance hall, whether he too was a volunteer. Jack nods and shakes the other man’s hand. They announce in unison that they are both a
Captain. Jack laughs, suggesting the other
Captain goes first. It was a shock to Toshiko to learn that the man before them
was Captain Jack Harkness.
Jack falters for a
moment. He is shaking hands with the man
whose name he had taken. Now it was
Jack’s turn to feel uncomfortable.
An upper class English
voice called attention to the party, it is the old caretaker who had seen Jack
and Toshiko out of the building earlier.
He snaps a large camera encapsulating the moment for all time.
Back in real time, at
the Hub, Owen and Ianto stare at the old history archives up on the screen,
going back through newspaper clippings and articles of the era for which the
dance hall was at its most popular.
“Ritz dance hall opened in 1932 closed in
1989 due to be demolished...”
Owen reads from the sheet. “In one week.” He pulls a face discarding the sheet and
searches through more on the table. Ianto glances over, worried.
The screen posts up
images of the Ritz in its heyday down to the bingo takeover plans. Ianto skims through the photos of all the
young soldiers partying before going off to war. He stops, and stares, mouth open, there in
black and white is a photograph of two people who most definitely shouldn’t be
there.
“Owen! Look!
There!”
In an aged photograph,
the two Jack’s and a stunned Toshiko are imprinted forever in the newspaper of
the day.
The caretaker smiles,
releases the film from the camera and insists on another photograph with the
captains and Toshiko. After the photo,
Jack turns to leave with Toshiko.
“Hey
I didn’t catch your names.”
Jack looked back at the
other Captain and pauses a moment.
Toshiko introduced herself, Jack introduced himself as Captain James
Harper, of the 71st. Captain
Jack seem impressed, it was where he is hoping to be posted next. He offer James a drink but the Captain
declines, insisting he has some business to take care of with Toshiko.
Walking through the
corridors away from the dance hall Toshiko’s Jack mulls over the events. Toshiko calls him back, it is too much to
take in. There are now two Jack
Harkness’. She demands Jack tell her the
truth but he can’t. He knew it would be
too much for him to open up to and too much for Toshiko to take. To know the truth about Jack would be too
much of a cross to bear.
Changing the subject,
Jack asks if Toshiko has the readings.
Toshiko knew half of her readings were on the computers back at the Hub,
the others were on her laptop, if there was some way of getting them back to
the Hub...
Gwen can’t locate Jack
or Toshiko and as she walks along the corridors away from the dance floor she
shouts again hoping they’ll hear. Back
in 1941, Toshiko spins around hearing her name called, but sees nobody.
In the Hub as the
readings float up the screen, Owen decides that the Rift readings are enough to
bring back Jack and Tosh. Ianto again
could see only trouble ahead. But Owen isn’t
prepared to discuss this. Opening the
Rift means bringing back those who are lost, why couldn’t Ianto see this?
Locating an unlocked and
empty office, Jack pulls open the door and steps inside. He raises a brow. Inside the room are objects of the occult,
from skulls of animals to horns of beasts hanging on walls or sat on the
desk. On the wooden desk sits a name
plate reading Bilis Manger, hanging on the wall is a large photograph of a man
wearing a cravat. A door leads off from
the main office. Toshiko enters and carries
her laptop to the desk. She locates a
scrap of paper and a fountain pen and as the battery light begins to fail,
quickly jots down the last of the equation, Jack helping rattle of the last of
the numbers.
As Toshiko explains to
Jack what she has to do next, a voice interrupts them, forcing them to stop
what they’re doing.. Toshiko quickly
shuts the laptop, taking it with her as she steps away from the desk. Bilis
Manger, as he introduces himself, walks around the desk and eye them both
curiously. He notes that Jack is not in
proper uniform. Jack informs him he is
on 48 hour leave.
Toshiko is curious about
the camera on Bilis’ desk, those types hadn’t been invented in 1941. Bilis counters that metal attaché cases
hadn’t been invented either. As the
grandfather clock chimes, he asks Toshiko where she had bought it, and was told
London. Jack narrows his eyes and stares
at the clock. Bilis is acting
suspiciously and Jack is on his guard.
Jack completely
suspicious of the old gentleman leaves the room with Toshiko, while Bilis pulls
open a drawer in his desk, lifting out a dated folder with the word Torchwood
on the front cover.
Gwen patches in to the
Hub as she exits the derelict building and reports that she’s been around the
building and has seen nothing of Jack and Toshiko, and that most of the doors are
locked. She stares back at the building and
is taken by surprise by an old gentleman standing behind her. He introduces himself as Bilis the caretaker
of the old dance hall. She tells him she
thinks a few of her friends might have been locked inside and wonders if he
could open it up for her.
“Pearl
Harbor Jack.”
“It doesn’t happen till the end of the year.”
“Grandad stayed in London but he was
persecuted. If I stay stuck here what
will happen to me?”
Jack smiles softly. “I’ll
take care of you.”
“This
period, you fit in, have you been here before?” Toshiko asks Jack as she climbs the stairs a
few steps, while he continues to stare down at the Captain below.
He turns to look at her and nods. “Yeah.
I can’t explain but I served in the war in 1941. I was undercover. I needed a false identity so...I chose his
name.” He glances back to the
Captain with his men. Toshiko follows
his gaze.
“Who were you before you took his name?”
Jack doesn’t answer. “Why him?”
“It was convenient.”
“But if you chose his identity to steal
then...”
“He dies in battle..”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
George entertains the
group with an old story involving rats as Toshiko and Jack join them. Toshiko enquires after someone who knows
about navigations, George introduces her to Tim, a man who is hopeless at
flying but will know where he lands. While
the pair head off to discuss weather patterns and sunrises, Jack joins George
and the real Jack Harkness at a table across from Toshiko who is sat at the
other end of the bar room. George is
proud of his Captain, impressed by how many planes he’s taken down in the
Battle of Britain, but it is clear to see by Torchwood’s Jack, that the real
Captain doesn’t like to brag about his exploits, in fact he would rather not
talk about them at all. Breaking from
the subject of missions after insisting that George and the team remember their
training he goes to the bar to order another round of drinks. Nancy calls in and meets him at the bar. While Jack waits for a glass of water, he
watches the pair together. He’s never
seen a man look so desperately uncomfortable.
Back in modern day, Gwen
shines her torch around the empty basement, cluttered with old heaters and
rubbish. Bilis thinks she looks worried
and insist he make her a cup of tea.
Entering the office Bilis enquires if anyone knows she is at the dance
hall. She tells him they do. Bilis suggests she phones them in case they think
she is missing too. As the clocks chime,
Bilis lifts a kettle and disappear in to a back room.
Gwen presses her
earpiece connecting her to the Hub as she looks about the office, aware that
Bilis could reappear at any moment.
“Anything you’re end?”
She asks Ianto.
“There
are no more photographs of Jack and Tosh after that night, which is
encouraging.” He says placing a
sheet down onto the desk. Through the
glass and Jack’s calculations, Owen has his own feelings and thoughts about why
that might be.
“Yeah,
unless the bomb’s gone.”
“The manager, Bilis Manger kept them for
posterity.”
Gwen caught sight of the name on the
desk.
“Bilis Manger? That’s the name of the
caretaker.” She says glancing back towards the back room.
“Can’t be the same guy can it?” Ianto replies through the ear piece.
“Not
old enough.” Gwen stares at the portrait hanging on the wall. “Although
he does look out of his time, he wears a cravat!”
Ianto returns to look at the
photograph. Quickly he presses his ear
piece.
“He’s in the photo with Jack and Tosh.”
Owen enters the
office. “He’s the answer, he’s come through the rift, find out what he’s
after.”
Ianto doesn’t want to lose any more of the
team insisting that this could be a trap and Bilis is behind it. He could be sending the team back one at a
time.
Gwen leaves the office backwards, in case
Bilis spies her.
With the navigational codes
at hand, Toshiko has to find a way of preserving the details in order for them
to last through time. On their way back
towards the staircase, Audrey, a local lass stops them, demanding to know who
Toshiko is, having not seen her around before.
She accuses her of being a spy.
Jack watches but doesn’t engage in the conversation.
Audrey demands to know
what is inside the attaché case. Toshiko
laughs it off telling her there is nothing, but this makes Audrey even more
inquisitive and grabs at the attaché case insisting that if there’s nothing in
it, she won’t mind showing her. Jack
grabs hold of Audrey and tells her that her work is top secret, she’s a decoder
for the Brits. The real Jack Harkness
steps in commending Toshiko’s work for the country and declares a toast to
Toshiko.
Toshiko takes her leave
and heads off towards Bilis’ office for the camera. Jack offers to go with her, but the real
Harkness insists that he stays for a drink, having just ordered him a glass of
water. Toshiko instructs Jack to stay
with his friends and heads up to Bilis’ office.
Having positioned the
camera over her equations, Toshiko takes the photo and tears the film from the
camera with a tug. Watching her from the
door is Bilis. As he enters enquiring
after her business in his office, she quickly hides the film behind her back. She tells him she’s curious about the camera,
Bilis laughs and says it’s a curious little thing, not unlike herself. As she’s about to leave he lifts up the sheet
of paper still sitting on the desk and calls after her.
“Don’t
go without this.” He says holding it
out for her. As Toshiko holds out to get
it, he retracts it. “I could think of better things to take
photographs of than numbers my dear.”
Taking the paper Toshiko quickly leaves
the office.
Back at the Hub and Owen
pulls up the mesh cover and reaches into the bowels of the floor, pulling out a
length of cabling. A plan set in his
mind.
Ianto watches and calls
to him demanding he tell him his plans, whatever it is, Ianto hopes to talk him
around.
“We
haven’t got the missing numbers so we’ll have to improvise with the rift
manipulator.”
“We can’t, it’s risky enough with the
equation.” Ianto tells him as Owen grabs more cabling
from the hole in the flooring. “If we do this then anything could happen.”
“Bombs are falling. They’re stuck in the middle of the Cardiff
Blitz, it’s our duty to get them out.”
As Gwen exits the dance
floor Jack’s laughter is heard echoing around it, she turns expecting to see
him, but there is nothing there. She
calls his name as two dancers caught in the time shift dance past her, she
turns but they are gone.
“Open the rift now and the whole world could
suffer. We could all get sucked in. Well who knows what could come out?”
Ianto says as Owen continues to work around him to get the Rift
open. “This is about Diane isn’t it? When will you accept that she chose to
leave you?”
Owen glowers at Ianto - that hurt.
“Oh where was your cyber girlfriend, stuck
around the course, not that she had much choice wired up in the cellar.”
“That was different.”
“Yeah it was, mainly because Diane didn’t
try and kill us all, oh yeah and she also happened to be a human being.”
“Stop it.”
“Not some screwed up metal monster.”
“I thought she was still Lisa, I loved her.”
Owen continues to work. “You only knew Diane for a week.”
Owen retaliates, growling his
reactions. “And it wasn’t enough. Maybe the
manipulator can calculate the missing figures.”
As Ianto paces the
floor, Owen after plugging in the cabling discovers that it still won’t
work. Ianto is pleased. Owen discovers a piece is missing, the piece
that sits in the base. He has to find
it. Ianto suggests he goes home, and
after telling Ianto that he has no power over him, decides to play it his way –
safe and boring.
A musical piece ends and
all applause. The real Jack enquires
after Torchwood’s Jack’s next mission.
“Careless talk costs lives.”
He says smiling. Nancy feels
that’s her cue to leave. Jack apologises
but she makes her excuses. The real Jack
kisses her cheek telling her he’ll call her when he’s next on leave, insisting
that he’ll stay with his men tonight rather than walk her home and stay the
night as she had hoped. Dejected she
turns to leave to collect her coat.
The real Jack calls
after her, telling her it’s been a good few weeks. He retakes his seat opposite a stunned Jack.
“Was
that it?” Jack (tw) asks.
“She’s
a sweet kid but I have to look after my men tonight. It’s their last day
tomorrow.”
Jack leans towards the fully uniformed
Captain. “Go after her, kiss her
goodbye. Anything can happen tomorrow.”
“It’s just a routine training exercise.” The uniformed Jack says smiling. “Hardly
gonna die.”
“Yeah that’s when they catch you, when you
least expect it. You don’t know what’s
ahead. Kiss her...goodbye!”
After a few moments of
mulling that over, the uniformed Jack knocks back his remaining whisky and gets
up. He calls to Nancy who is about to
leave, and kisses her on the lips before helping her on with her coat. As she embraces him, she whispers in his ear
that she loves him. Striding back to the
table to collect his hat he scowls at Jack.
“That’s
just made it a hundred times worse, now she thinks she’s in love with me.” He leaves heading down the stairs.
“Hey her falling for you is hardly my
fault. Play it cool in front of your men
but not in front of me, look it’s ok to be scared.”
The uniformed Jack spins around to face
Jack on the stairs. He waves his finger at Jack. “A
Captain has to keep his head.”
“A Captain needs to explain the risks, tell
them what to expect.”
“So what do I do, tell them that I saw a
young boy get shot in the eyes mid flight?” He argues, losing
his cool.
“I
understand.”
“Do
you? Did you hear him on the radio calling for his mom while the Messerschmidt
pumped him full of holes and blew his plane apart? All I can hear on the radio is..”
“His screams.” Adds Jack nodding. “I
went to war when I was a boy. I was with
my best friend. We got caught crossing
the border over enemy lines. They tortured him not me because he was weaker,
but they made me watch him die.” Jack
said. “Then they let me go.”
“Who were they?”
Uniformed Jack asks.
“The worst possible creatures you could
imagine.” Jack replies unfolding his arms and heading
down the stairs, stopping half way. He
turns to face the other Jack to explain further. “I persuaded him to join
up. I said it would be an adventure. He
hadn’t lived.”
“Have any of us?”
Outside of the dance
hall Toshiko takes a seat beside the wall.
Opening her bag she removes a card she had bought, presumably for her
grandfather, and carefully removes the plastic wrapping. Peeling off the paper from the photograph she
slips the photograph into the plastic wrapper and seals it.
“Ok team, I hope you like treasure hunts.”
Ianto angles the cctv
around the Ritz dance hall but there are no signs of Bilis leaving the
building. Owen grabs his coat and heads
out, the security door rolls open. Ianto calls after him. Owen has a feeling that Bilis knows something
about the Rift, and heads to the dance hall to find him.
Gwen steps out of the
building and tries to think like Jack and Tosh.
A figure catches the corner of her eye and she turns in time to see
Bilis walk around the side of the building.
She calls after him and follows only to find a broken lock and an
abandoned metal cupboard, containing the electric meter for the building. Above the shelf there is a plastic sleeve containing
the equations. She reads them through to
Ianto but there’s numbers missing.
Gwen stares at the
equations and wonders what happened, it would be unusual for Toshiko to miss
anything out, being the most meticulous of people.
In 1941 Toshiko realises
herself that some of the numbers have been missed out on the photograph. She looks for somewhere to store the
photograph and comes across a locked and padlocked cupboard just as the air
raid siren begins to wail. She quickly
slips it through the gap in the cupboard and hurriedly makes her way back to
the dance hall but the doors are locked, she runs as a bomb hits lighting the
whole road up, scaring those inside the dance hall. They head to the basement for shelter.
Jack calls for Toshiko
who finds a way in and follows him down to the shelter. She tells him some of the equations were
missing and will have to write the remaining out but when all she has is a
pencil she knows it’s not enough as pencil fades over time.
Returning to the front
entrance of the dance hall Gwen notices that Owen has arrived. Pressing her Bluetooth she contacts Owen to
find out where he is. He informs her
he’s inside the building and asks where Bilis’ office is. Gwen tells him it’s at the far side of the
building, and tells him she’ll keep watch outside.
Inside the office Owen
roots through boxes and behind books in search of rift evidence. Rifling through drawers he comes up empty
handed. Pausing he takes stock of the
room, his eyes settling on a blanket thrown over a box behind the desk. Pulling away the blanket he sees a safe and
attempts to break into it.
In the basement the
dance hall folk shelter, gasping as each bomb gets closer and closer outside.
Toshiko informs Jack that she has to get the last of the equations to the team
and heads into the back of the room to find something to work with. Locating an air tight container once
containing coffee she sets to work.
Using the birthday card, she bites down on the pencil as she cuts the
tin into her palm, pencil fading, she has to use something that will last. She writes the last of the numbers in blood,
including a message.
Cracking the safe brings him nothing but an
empty safe and bare shelves. The clocks
begin to chime, every single clock.
“Timepieces.”
As the grandfather clock
begins to chime, Owen opens the front to find on the pendulum a circular piece
that fits into the rift manipulator back at the Hub. He takes it, stowing it into his bag and
exits the office. He tells Gwen he
didn’t find any equations and tells her he will get back to the Hub. Gwen decides to stay a bit longer, they have
to be somewhere.
Jack looks in on
Toshiko as the other Captain walks over to join him and admits to Toshiko’s
Jack that of course he’s scared.
Toshiko puts the card
into the tin, and the tin where she hopes the team will find it.
Gwen walks down the
stone steps into the basement again for one last look. As she searches through an old filing cabinet
she hears the echoes of a Vera Lynn song around the room.
Bilis switches the
lights back on as the siren for the ‘all clear’ sounds.
“Let
the dancing continue.” He says to
cheers from the crowd. Toshiko returns
to Jack, her hand still bleeding. Observant Tim offers to fix up her hand,
leaving Jack with the Captain.
Walking into the room
that Toshiko had exited in 1941, Gwen peers into the wardrobe that stands
against the far wall. Turning back she
notices a coffee tin on the ground, picking it up she prises open the lid to
discover a card, opening it she sees that the contents are written in blood.
As she relays the
details of the equations to Ianto at the Hub, Owen arrives to hear the news,
but not all the numbers are there. Owen
asks if they would be somewhere else, but Gwen confirms they won’t be as
someone has rubbed the last part out.
Bilis Manger is seen
scribbling out the last part of the equation.
The team despair.
Back in 1941
“Why did you make me kiss her goodbye?”
“I just think you should live each day like
it’s your last. Make tonight the best
night of your life. You’re alive, right
here, right now. Your men are fine.”
“What are you trying to say?”
Swallowing back his emotional feelings,
Jack looks to at the Captain. “Go to her. Go to your woman and lose
yourself in it.”
“Maybe I should.”
“Yeah.”
“Is Toshiko your woman?”
“No. There’s no-one. Go to her.” Jack urges.
Ianto is still not happy
that Owen wants to try the manipulator again, more so now that he has the disk
that fits inside the manipulator.
“We still don’t have all the equations.”
“Maybe the machine will work it all out.”
Owen replies pushing the disk into place. The machine begins to power up, then stalls. Owen stalks past Ianto pulling off his coat
as he reachs Jack’s office. Whatever was
halting his progress has to be in the office.
He rifles through Jack’s desk drawers till he finds an official folder,
pulling it out he locates a little black book with dates, names and data. He has a set of passwords.
“Rhea
Silver, the god of war’s missus and a nine digit number.”
Opening the safe
archives he lifts out boxes large and small from the safe itself, while Ianto looks
on. He locates the box containing the most important file of all – the
blueprints for the manipulator.
Jack sits in a quiet
alcove away from the hustle and bustle of the dance floor, bunting hung from
the walls and a pot plant hiding him from view. He looks up as the airman comes
through. He informs the airman that
tonight was his last chance. The real
Jack is aware of this and takes a seat beside Torchwood Jack.
“I might have to leave before the night is
over.” Jack tells the
real Jack.
“Well let’s make the most of now.”
He stares down at Jack’s
hand and slips his own into it. But
before they can do much else, they are interrupted by two young lovers. The real Jack pulls free and leaves,
discovering all he needs to know. Curious
as to what that means, Jack follows shortly after.
Back in the Hub and
Ianto attempts to pull the contents of the folder away from Owen. He implores with the man that this is a trap
laid down by Bilis. He wants them to
open the rift, who knows why. But Owen
refuses to believe this and continues to skim through the details to find what
they need to open the rift machine and pull everyone back, including Diane if
he can.
Ianto begs Owen not to attempt to open the
rift. He tells Owen that the calls to
the police about the noises at the rift were anonymous, it can only mean one
thing, Bilis wants the rift opened. But
Owen is tired of being in awe of the rift, he is going to open it, and Ianto isn’t
going to stop him.
Ianto wrestles Owen to
the ground determined as ever to stop him but Owen fights dirty and elbows
Ianto in the guts, getting to his feet he lays in the boot.
Jack is in deep thought
when Toshiko catches up with him as she nears he tells her about the events
that will occur the next day.
“Tomorrow
is their last training exercise.” He
says. “Just another day. They go out
on a sortee and are surprised by two formations of Messerschmitts.” He turns to face the men drinking at the side
of the dance floor. “He destroys the enemy. His men
listen to his whoops of joy over the radio.
Then it all goes quiet. He can’t
bale out as his whole plane is on fire. But his men all make it back to
safety.”
Back at the Hub Ianto
holds the higher ground – raising his pistol towards Owen he instructs him to
put the key down or he will shoot.
“Who were you?”
Toshiko asks as the pair take a seat at a table across from the dance
floor.
“A conman, that’s why I took his name.”
He replies, glancing across the room at Jack. “I falsified
his records so it seemed like he was still alive.”
“How did you end up in Torchwood?”
Toshiko asked
“Someone
saved my life, brought me back from death and ever since then its been like
they’re been keeping me for something but I don’t know what it is. I’m sorry
for dragging you into this.” He says,
swallowing back his feelings.
“It was my choice.”
Toshiko smiles.
“I’ll look after you.”
He promises. “But there’s nothing I can do for him.” Jack’s emotions break as he looks back at the
other Jack, aware of the fate that greets him the next day.
“You
have to let Diane go.” Ianto advises
Owen as he points the gun firmly at him.
“Like I did with Lisa.”
“Don’t compare yourself with me.” Laughs Owen. “You’re just the teaboy.”
“Oh I’m much more than that. Jack needs me.”
“In your dreams Ianto, in your sad wet dreams
Ianto when you’re his part time shag maybe.”
Ianto forces a bullet
into the chamber and strides with purpose towards Owen, he points the gun
again, this time with more determination.
“That
rift took my lover and our Captain, so if I die trying to beat it then it will
all be in the line of duty.” Owen replies,
gauging how sure he is that Ianto would pull the trigger. Owen takes the chance and resets the disk into
the tray as Ianto fires, hitting him in the shoulder, but determined as ever,
Owen secures the key into place, and the machine takes over. There is no going back.
Jack Harkness plucks up
the courage and walks over to Toshiko and Jack at the table. He takes his hand and leads him onto the dance
floor and aware that all eyes are upon them, holds him close as he dances the
slow dance. So desperate for the
contact, so aware that tomorrow might be his last, so aware that tomorrow was
his last, both men grew closer and closer till...
The rift opens with a
crackle and a flash of brilliant light in the doorway off the dance floor. Toshiko calls to her Jack as she makes a run
for the light, grabbing Jack’s coat on the way.
She begs for him to come with her, they need him, in their time.
It takes all of his strength to step away
from the captain.
“I
have to go.” He tells him tearfully.
“It’s my duty.”
Pulling away and walking
towards the light he stops, turns and walks back to Jack, kissing him
emotionally, kissing him goodbye. As he
pulls away again, he looks back at the dance floor, back at the captain, who stands
to attention and salutes Jack, as the past fades out of existence for good.
As they run into the
light, leaving the empty dance hall, Bilis Manger stands on the derelict dance
floor in the daylight hours of modern times.
Outside of the building
Toshiko is pleased to see that they have made it, so is Gwen who greets Jack
with an enormous hug. Pleased as he is
to see her, his heart is elsewhere, as he stares back at the empty building.
“I knew we did the right thing opening the
rift.” Says Owen as he fixes up his own wound with
the assistance of Toshiko. Ianto looks
over but says nothing for a few moments.
He glances back at the screen.
“Still no sign of Bilis.”
He says.
“World
didn’t end after all.” Owen says,
injecting himself with painkillers. “Good job you’re a crap shot.”
“I was aiming for your shoulder.”
“It was wartime, it was beautiful.”
Toshiko recalls.
“There
were angels dancing at the Ritz.”
Jack says sauntering into view, and heading towards his office.
Toshiko puts down the
kidney dish and follows him in, closing the door after her. Jack pours Toshiko a glass of brandy.
“He would have been so proud that you took
his name.” Toshiko said as Jack poured himself a glass
too. “Because here you are, saving the world. To Captain Jack.” She toasted.
Sighing heavily Jack
raises his glass. “To Captain Jack.”
©BBC Torchwood 2006
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